INDIA - Child Sex Slavery

When I started this blog, I promised myself that no legitimate news would be taboo for me to report.  After watching this video, I almost wish I hadn't made that promise to myself.  This is probably the most difficult topic for me to handle.  The person who sent it to be also sent along a note:

"No one should have to go through this kind of torture.I can not believe how a human being is capable of thinking and inflicting such immense torture onto another person.I saw this video a few days back and was completely disgusted with the kind of men we have in our society... it shows the ghastly things a man is capable of doing.  In today's world,there are beasts everywhere.Societies in all the parts of the worlds are degrading.There is a war between good and evil with evil winning.Until and unless good starts winning,nothing can change..."

The woman in the video Sunitha Krishnan, who has made a career of rescuing trafficking victims (who then become trafficking survivors) shows immense courage and conviction.  Please take the time to watch this.  Surely you can spend 13 minutes of your day to inform yourself and perhaps to feel grateful thazt, with all the troubles in your life, at least you haven't suffered this.  Unless, of course, you have.  If you have, then skip this video;  you have already suffered enough.  Or watch it and passs it on, so others will know.


WARNING:  THIS VIDEO SHOWS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF TORTURED CHILDREN.

INDIA - ONE DEAD SINGH

This post is about a burnt body, the body of a man murdered in the antiSikh riots of 1984. Read it and weep.


On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was shot and killed by her Sikh bodyguards reacting to her ordering the Army to storm the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) in Amritsar, killing an unknown number of pilgrims gathered there in honour of the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev Ji.

There followed several days of mayhem directed toward the Sikhs of India, especially in the city of Delhi. Many Sikhs were doused with fire and burned alive. these are my thoughts on one of the dead. (What follows is reprinted from The Road To Khalistan.)





Who is he? Who is this Singh? I have spend countless hours staring at this photograph asking myself questions. Whose son is he? Whose husband, whose dad, whose brother, whose uncle, cousin, friend? Is someone waiting anxiously at home for him, waiting for a footfall that will never come?

Where is he from? Does he live in Delhi or is he just visiting? Where was he born? What is his pind? When was he born? How old is he?

What is his occupation? Is he an engineer, a doctor, a professor? Or is he a taxi driver or a trucker?

What are his politics? Is he an Akali or a member of Congress? Is he a Khalistani or a Bharata Mata lover? Or is he political at all? Is he just trying to live his life and not really concerned about the niceties of the larger world.

Why is he keshdhari? Is it just habit, following family custom? Or is it deeply meaningful to him? Does he pray each day, do naam jap, love Vaheguru? Or are those just incidentals that have fallen by the wayside of his life? Where is his turban? How does he feel as it is ripped from his head and his kesh is exposed?

How does he feel as he realises the mob is coming for him, chasing him down the street or dragging him from his home or his car or from the bus? What goes on in his brain as the petrol is poured on him and set alight? What is he thinking as his body burns? Or is he beyond thought? Is he aware of the laughing jeering mob around him, enjoying watching his final agonising moments of life on this earth?

What is his last awareness as he dies alone, surrounded by merciless thugs?

Questions without answers. Whoever he is, he deserves to be remembered. I doubt he had even a death certificate, so I have made him one.

(Click to enlarge)

There is something so very final about the certificate. And, of course, I realise that all I have written is wrong and must be rewritten to reflect the truth of 25 years later...

Who was he? Who was this Singh? I have spent countless hours staring at this photograph asking myself questions. Whose son was he? Whose husband, whose dad, whose brother, whose uncle, cousin, friend? Was someone waiting anxiously at home for him, waiting for a footfall that never came?

Where was he from? Did he live in Delhi or was he just visiting? Where was he born? What was his pind? When was he born? How old was he?

What was his occupation? Was he an engineer, a doctor, a professor? Or was he a taxi driver or a trucker?

What were his politics? Was he an Akali or a member of Congress? Was he a Khalistani or a Bharata Mata lover? Or was he political at all? Was he just trying to live his life and not really concerned about the niceties of the larger world.

Why was he keshdhari? Was it just habit, following family custom? Or was it deeply meaningful to him? Did he pray each day, do naam jap, love Vaheguru? Or were those just incidentals that had fallen by the wayside of his life? Where was his turban? How did he feel as it was ripped from his head and his kesh was exposed?

How did he feel as he realised the mob was coming for him, chasing him down the street or dragging him from his home or his car or from the bus? What went on in his brain as the petrol was poured on him and set alight? What was he thinking as his body burned? Or was he beyond thought? Was he aware of the laughing jeering mob around him, enjoying watching his final agonising moments of life on this earth?

What was his last awareness as he died alone, surrounded by merciless thugs?

He was our brother and he was one single human being, one Sikh among the thousands murdered during the madness of those days in 1984.

He is our brother and he deserves justice.

One final, unanswered question: When?

INDIA - Naked Lady Farmers

And what on earth could I possibly say about this? It's more likely that the gods - or at least the local males - would enjoy the display. Stay turn ed to find out if it rained!

Naked girls plow fields for rain
July 23, 2009

Reuters


PATNA, India (Reuters) - Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plow parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday.
Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state plowed the fields and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly village women helped the girls drag the plows.
"They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council official, said from Bihar's remote Banke Bazaar town.
"This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."
India this year suffered its worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some states.

(Writing by Bappa Majumdar Editing by Sugita Katyal)

INDIA - MOTHER EARTH IS HUNGRY FOR - VIRGINS?

I have said that, while most weird stuff seems to come from either Saudi Arabia or India, most of the stuff from the Saudis is tragic, while the Indian stuff has a comic or tragicomic aspect. I can find nothing comic in this story from Orissa, India. Orissa must be a troubled place. I have read about Orissan Hindus burning Christians alive, raping nuns and the like. Sounds like the same bunch that was in Delhi 1984.



This story is equally tragic, but perhaps even more appalling, more unbelievable, definitely sickening.

Usually, I don't publish stuff that might degrade Indian Tribals or Dalits, as I figure they have enough problems without my adding to them. This time I am making a sad exception. This article is necessary.

Sorry to upset anybody's sensibilities, but what do you expect from a blog called Weird Stuff From All Over? Popcycles and ice cream?

Tribal man beheads his grand daughter in Orissa

In a grotesque and shocking incident, a 55-year-old tribal named Rajesh Hembram sacrificed his nine-year-old granddaughter in a remote village of Orissa to appease "Mother Earth" for a bumper crop. He was been arrested by the police.

IN A bizarre incident, a 55-year-old tribal named Rajesh Hembram sacrificed his nine-year-old granddaughter in a remote village of Orissa on Monday afternoon (April 27), to appease ‘Mother Earth’ for a bumper crop.



The grotesque incident took place at Adapathar village under Kulundi gram panchayat in Sambalpur district of Orissa. Rajesh carried out this brutal act before ‘Akshaya Tritiya’, which is considered an auspicious day for sowing seeds.

Such a barbaric incident has sent shockwaves throughout the district. The Orissa police has arrested Rajesh. While speaking to the media, Sanjay Kumar, Sambalpur SP termed the incident as ‘shocking’. He also said that the accused has lost his balance of mind. Further investigation is going on.

Rajesh has been living in the Adapathar village along with his wife, three sons and grand-daughter Veronica Kandulana, for years. Veronica’s father Jagdish Kandulana died of illness six years ago. While Veronica was staying with her grandparents, her mother Sylvina is living in Jharkhand at her in-laws place. Veronica was a student of Class IV in Kadlipal primary school.

On that fateful day, while Veronica was taking her lunch, Rajesh asked his wife to fetch some nuts from the market. After his wife had left, Rajesh locked the door from inside and gagged Veronica. Then he decapitated Veronica with an axe and collected her blood in a small utensil.






When Rajesh’s wife came back, she found the door locked from inside. She broke into the room and shouted in fear after seeing this barbaric act. People from the neighbourhood rushed in and caught Rajesh red handed. Rajesh later confessed to the police that he had planned to mix his grand daughter’s blood with seeds before sowing them on ‘Akshaya Tritiya’ to satisfy ‘Mother Earth’. Rajesh owns three acres of land.

According to the local sources, human sacrifice is a very old ritual of the tribals and Kandh tribals used to practise it. The tribals still believe that offering of blood would deepen the colour of turmeric.

Turmeric Plant

BTW, the picture is of another nine year old Indian girl, not Veronica. This little girl, Karnamoni Handsa, married the dog to break an "evil spell" having to do with a misgrown tooth. But that's another story...

INDIA 3 - Till Divorce Do Us Part

Does it seem that I pick on India? Well, I suppose I do. But so much really bizarre stuff happens there and I choose neither to ignore nor resist. So here is yet another wild and wooly tale from the Asian subcontinent.

Don't these two look annoyed? Read on and discover why.

From the BBC


The couple say their marriage is a question of honour (Photos: Devendra Uppal)

Couple's surprise over 'divorce'


An Indian couple who married 25 years ago have discovered they were divorced without their consent in 1998.

Meena and Virender Verma, who are in their 40s with two teenaged children, say they are shocked by the news.

Meena found out about the divorce when she went to the authorities to complain that her brother-in-law was violent.

She and her husband hope the courts will "restore their honour". The brother-in-law is reported denying having anything to do with the divorce.

'Shock of my life'

The couple, from the town of Hisar in the state of Haryana, told the BBC that they never sought the divorce which was granted by a local court.

They insist that their neighbours and relatives are prepared to vouch for their story.

Meena Verma said that she received the "shock of her life" when she filed a

case of violence against her brother-in-law only to be told that she had in fact also been divorced from her husband nearly a decade ago.


"I don't know why this has been done to me. We never filed for divorce anywhere.

"My husband has always been with me. I had kept quiet about my family matters and the violence for the sake of my family's reputation," she said.

"But I don't know how it is that we stand divorced now."

'Hope for justice'

A local district officer in the government-run women's welfare department who investigated Meena's case told the BBC they had not found any evidence that the couple had divorced.

"We asked people in the neighbourhood and some family and relatives of the couple and they all denied any knowledge about the couple's separation," Dr Poonam Raman, district protection officer, told the BBC.

Meena Verma's husband, Virender, said that he was solidly behind his wife and hoped for justice in court.

Virender alleged that his elder brother - a lawyer - cooked up the divorce theory around about the first time the couple sought to complain against his violent behaviour 10 years ago.

But The Times of India newspaper quoted the brother, Surinder Singh, denying the allegation.

Surinder and a number of other lawyers now face charges of misleading the court on the issue of divorce.

"Sheer injustice has been done to us and our reputation. We are hoping the court will help us restore our honour," Meena Verma said.


Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2008/06/03 17:46:43 GMT

Perhaps the brother-in-law should marry - and divorce - a pooch, eh?

INDIA 2 and UNKNOWN - Transforming The Human Form

I came across this article and these pictures that follow the other day. They got me thinking about the ways hunmans are mutilated or mutilate themselves.

Some are fairly innocuous, such as the holes many people choose to poke in their ears and noses. Today, of course, there are many piercings, none of which I personally find very attractive.

Then there are the ritual mutilations, the religiously based ones. My religion, Sikhi, believes that Vaheguru (God) knew what s/he was doing in making our bodies and we believe in leaving the body as nearly as possible in its natural state. Other religions have other ideas. For example, Islam, Judaism and many animistic African religions practice male circumcise. (It is also a widely accepted 'health' practice in many Western countries.) What is called female circumcism is also practiced among some Muslims (although it is not part of the religion) and among many African tribes. This has nothing in common with the male version, except that it concerns the genitalia. In the women and girls, it is more properly called Female Genital Mutilation. The male version still leaves the penis functional , if a little strange-looking (to me, at least). The female version destroys all possibility of sexual pleasure in the woman - as is its purspose - and, in fact, makes coitus excruciatingly painful. for her.

Then there are mutilations as punishments. India has historically been the master of this. Long before Muslims were lopping off hands and heads , a rather extreme mutilation, eh?, the Indians were thus punishing thieves. Their more interesting examples, however, were reserved for adultery, when parts of the face were chopped off. (A nasty aside: one punishment for low caste or no caste Hindus for hearing the sacred words of the Vedas were to pour boiling metal in their ears. That'll teach 'em!) A woman might have her ears or her nose removed. That might have been where the [man] in this article got the idea.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1155562

Man blinds wife, cuts off her ears

BHOPAL: A man on the run from the law for the past two years blinded his wife and cut off her ears in Rama village of Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, the police said on Tuesday.

Rakesh Yadav, 45, suspected that his wife Guddi, 40 was having an illicit relationship with his younger brother while he was on the run.

According to the police, villagers reportedly incited Yadav against his wife. He took his wife to their farm Monday evening on the pretext of some work. There he tied her with a rope, stabbed her eyes and cut off her ears.

Rakesh was about to chop off her nose when some villagers reached there and he ran away. The villagers rushed Guddi to a hospital and informed the police about the incident.

The police have registered a case of attempt to murder against Yadav.

Note that he just hadn't gotten to her nose yet.

The lady in this picture is Zahidah Parveen, I believe of Pakistan. Her husband completed the job of mutilation, taking her eyes, ears and nose. What was left of her survived.

Back to the first sort, the self-imposed. Plastic surgery, of course, takes it to a whole new level, from the image of the immovable face of Joan Rivers to this woman. Remember the tiny waist that Scarlett O'Hara tried for with a corset in Gone With The Wind? Well, this woman did it by the removal of ribs

and with the help of a (in my opinion) mad, unethical doctor.

--
WHY TRY TO FIT IN?
YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!

INDIA 1 - Brahman Kills Self To Come Back To Life

MERRY CHRISTMAS

In keeping with my fascination for the truly weird, here is a nice Christmas Day story for my blog. Hey, I've died four times and come back to life. But never after 72 hours. And no one has ever accused me of being a brahmin.





I tried to find a nice picture of a dead brahmin all decked out with flowers, but a Google search didn't turn up what I wanted, so here is a picture almost as strange as this story.




Priest commits suicide promising to come back to life



Hundreds of people in Chhattisgarh's industrial town of Raigarh have laid siege around the dead body of a 25-year-old Hindu priest who committed suicide with the promise of regaining consciousness within 72 hours of his death, police said Monday.

From correspondents in Chhattisgarh, India, 24 Dec 2007 - (www.indiaenews.com)

Hundreds of people in Chhattisgarh's industrial town of Raigarh have laid siege around the dead body of a 25-year-old Hindu priest who committed suicide with the promise of regaining consciousness within 72 hours of his death, police said Monday.

'Manoj Baghel committed suicide Saturday by consuming poison at a temple in Raigarh. He claimed that he would come back to life within 72 hours,' Raigarh District Superintendent of Police J.K. Thorate told IANS.

The young priest was rushed to a district hospital after he consumed poison. He was then referred to a private hospital where he died. Baghels's relatives later brought his body back to the temple in Raigarh, about 200 km northeast of state capital Raipur, and kept it in a locked room.

Although police have registered a case of suicide, they haven't been able to send the body for a post-mortem examination. The crowd surrounding the corpse in the hope of seeing a miracle has prevented them from taking it away.

'Hundreds of people have surrounded the temple. They have put the priest's body in a locked room and are refusing to hand it over police for post-mortem. Many are expecting the priest to come back to life by late Monday,' Thorate added.

Police are waiting for the crowd to allow them access to the body once they are convinced that Baghel will not regain consciousness.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)

Read more at: http://www.indiaenews.com/religion/20071224/87844.htm


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© Copyright 2006 India eNews (www.indiaenews.com). All Rights Reserved.