*From & To Sathish* - Thread 4 - Page 103

Vaanathai Pola 104

At the same time that Commissioner Viswanathan reached Minister Durai Pandi Arumugam's house to meet Kavita, Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan reached the parking lot of Apollo hospitals and getting down quietly took in the place and then turned to his left and both his regular team members, Sub-Inspectors Kaliappan and Thomas hurried to his side.

He explained briefly about the case that had been personally given to him by the commissioner involving a person named Radha Krishnan who had gone missing from the hospital last night. He looked up at the fourth-floor window that was still open and remarked loudly that either the missing man Radha Krishnan had flown out of the window or had transformed himself into a monkey for only then it would have been possible for him to clamber down the pipe and reach the parking lot.

As he was talking to them, explaining how they were going to proceed with this case, Assistant commissioner Narasimhan came to meet DC Ilavarasan and after saluting him, handed over the file that contained photos and his own report about the missing man, Radha Krishnan.

DC Ilavarasan thanked him and then requested AC Narasimhan to tell them what he thought had taken place last night.

AC Narasimhan smiled shyly, ' sir, it is my first year in the force. So, forgive me if I am wrong in any of my assessments of this case.'

DC Ilavarasan patted the new IPS officer, ' Mr.Narasimhan, we learn from our mistakes and we learn every day from new cases and that is how we become good at our job. So, don't stand on formalities and forget that I am your senior officer and talk to me freely.'

AC Narasimhan posture immediately relaxed visibly and he began to talk about the case.

' Sir, at about 8.30 pm, last night, the doctor who was in charge of our missing person went into his room to check on him before one last time before his shift came to an end and found the room empty. The windows were open and not knowing what to make of it, he immediately alerted the police team that was on duty and they, in turn, informed the Commissioner who dispatched me here. Along with the team, we searched every nook and corner where this man could be hiding but found nothing.

Then, we rushed to the CCTV room and went through the footage from all the cameras in the hospital and finally caught sight of him, ' there, sir' and pointed to a spot that had been cordoned off by yellow tape that screamed Police.

But, this is where things seem to take a weird turn for the man was attacked by four men, one of whom hit his head with what appears to have been a metal pipe and then they dragged him to a nearby car and dumping him into the boot, sped off into the night.'

AC Narasimhan in a nervous voice asked him ' How am I doing sir?'

DC Ilavarasan replied, ' You are doing great. Continue, please.'

AC Narasimhan continued with even greater enthusiasm, ' Sir, the car carrying the kidnappers and our man was a honda civic and its number plates were TNO14-AS-2244. I immediately called the Commissioner and with his permission got in touch with Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Mr.Arun and explained the situation and how I needed to track the getaway vehicle. The traffic department co-operated fully with us and using the control room, we tracked the car until Parrys corner and continued to track them until they reached Royapuram bridge and that is where we lost them.'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan cursed, ' Classic move and learnt from films for there is no camera under a bridge, at least not under that bridge for it keeps getting vandalized.'

AC Narasimhan with a guilty look, apologized, ' sir, I am extremely sorry for not doing better sir.'

DC Ilavarasan looked at him in a kind voice said, ' Mr.Narasimhan, you did everything by the book and what you were taught and trained to do. So, there is no need to apologize for we cops are not super humans and have to work with what we have and are given.'

AC Narasimhan nodded and said thank with gratitude and then added, ' sir, I did not rest after we lost sight of that car and immediately rushed to that spot and found it abandoned in a small street. It was empty sir. I immediately called both the traffic and crime control rooms and requested to track all vehicles that left this spot and the area within fifty meters around it and have asked to track all of them.'

DC Ilavarasan clapped his hands loudly, ' bravo, AC sir. Well done, now this is what I keep telling new officers and which is to use their imagination and think out of the box and think exactly like the criminals would think and act.'

Seeing the horrified expression on the new IPS officer, Ilavarasan smiled, ' Young man, Don't ever underestimate a criminal for from my years of experience, they are a lot smarter than most of us, me included.'

Saying those prophetic words, he slowly walked to the spot where the missing Radha Krishnan had been attacked and crouching on his feet, slowly removed the cover that had been placed on it and stared at the large pool of blood that had congealed on the cement floor having been unable to seep through it.

His eyes slowly scanned the entire area around the pool of blood and getting up said, ' Kali, vaanga.'

Sub-Inspector Kaliappan rushed to the side of DC Ilavarasan who whispered something and Kalippan nodded and said, ' okay sir.'

DC Ilavarasan called Assistant commissioner Narasimhan and asked him to expand the radius of the cordoned area around the pool of blood and keep it cordoned until further notice.

Ac Narasimhan not knowing what that request was for, hurriedly added, ' sir, a sample from the pool of blood was taken and sent for testing and I asked them to test it against a blood sample taken from the shirt Radha Krishnan was wearing when he was stabbed yesterday at the hotel. Both the samples were of the same B Positive blood group.'

Realizing that he might have overstepped the boundaries of respect by questioning a senior officer, AC Narasimhan apologized, ' I am sorry sir. I meant no offence and the question was purely out of curiosity on my part.'

DC Ilavarasan, ' I will answer that question later tonight' and looking up at the open window on the fourth floor, ' Do you think this man, Radha Krishnan used that window to escape down here?'

Ac Narasimhan along with the Sub-inspectors chorused ' No sir, no way sir.'

Sub-Inspector Thomas staring at the open fourth-floor window offered his opinion, ' Sir, I doubt if it is possible for a human being to get out and stand on that beading of a ledge that is not even an inch in thickness and then use that standing point to jump to the next window which is nearly ten feet away and only if he managed to do that, then he could use that cement pipe to clamber down to the ground here.'

Ac Narasimhan said, ' Sir, I discounted that possibility, the moment I looked out of that window, and even tried it out myself for a moment to see if it could be done. I got out of the window and all the while I was being held by two strong police constables and even with their support, I found it impossible to even stand on that inch of a ledge that is there more for ambience leave alone for a human to use his legs to jump from there and catch that window ledge that is maybe ten or more feet away.'

DC Ilavarasan agreed, ' that is impossible and if it all it was possible then that man must surely be a circus trained person or had the legs of a Kangaroo.'

He leaned towards SI Thomas and said something that made the man's eyebrows shoot up and nodded to say that it would be done.'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan looked at Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan, ' come along now, young man, and let us see if we can get something decent to eat in this hospital's canteen while my men get things ready for us.'

' Ready sir, ready what, sir' asked AC Narasimhan and DC Ilvarasan with a smile, ' you will see and you will learn by the end of the day.'

Vaanathai Pola 105

The canteen was full of people, visitors who had come to the hospital to see their loved ones who were laid up as patients. Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan realizing that it would be virtually impossible to eat without rubbing elbows with others at the table raised a hand and a staff member from the canteen magically materialized before him for everyone blessed with the power of sight can spot a cop even in plainclothes.

The canteen guy apologized for not being able to find seats and requested them to kindly wait for a few minutes and he would clear a table for them.

He pointed to the clock and said, ' visiting hours will be over in about ten minutes and after that, give or take another ten minutes and the canteen will be nearly empty, sir.'

Ilavarasan smiled and thanked him and told him that they would be back in twenty minutes and then asked him if he could do a small favour and asked the canteen staff member to get them two cups of coffees.

The man sped away like a bolt of lightning and returned with two cups of steaming filter coffees and said, ' Sir, after you have finished with the cup, just leave them on that table and I will take care of it.'

' Thank you. How much for the coffees?' Ilavarasan asked him and the man said it was okay but Ilavarasan gave him a 100 rupee note and asked him to keep the change and looked at him and said, ' Please don't repeat this free coffees and freebies in future for that is just another way of encouraging official who will make it a habit of expecting freebies where ever they go.'

The Canteen was on the second floor and both stood near a window and quietly sipped their coffees and watched the world outside the hospital and inside the hospital.

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan watched without watching Ac Narasimhan gently caressing the leaves of a potted plant that was near the window and he watched as the junior police officer plucked a tiny white bud from the plant's tender shoot and smiled to himself and shook his head.

Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan noticing this head shake, and wondering what was going on in the senior officer's mind, asked ' Sir, how are you going to trace this man who has been kidnapped? we lost them under the bridge and god only knows where they are right now?'

' I am not sure Narasimhan but I will know more by evening and once I have all the details about this missing man. We are but at the preliminary stage of the investigation and have a lot of ground to cover before we can make any solid assumptions and then proceed from there.'

' Sir, How will you investigate a case if there is no evidence, no motive and nobody to proceed with?'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan smiled and placing his empty cup on the table nearby, said, ' Motive, young man. Find the motive and solve the crime.'

Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan watched the senior man's eyes travel back to some old case and he listened with total attention.

' Mr.Narasimhan, many years ago, 2011 to be exact, a case concerning a missing toddler was given to me. This was the day after we won the cricket world cup under captain Dhoni. The parents were in a mess and the mother was a total mess and frequently slipped into a stupor, a catatonic state.

I immediately rushed to their apartment block and made a door to door search but in vain for we could not find the missing toddler who was about 14 months old.

Then, a few days later, the child's body was recovered from a well in the neighbouring compound in a highly decomposed state.'

Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan shocked and emotionally moved, ' who sir? if the child had been kidnapped why was he killed instead of asking for ransom in return? Why, was the child killed and so close to the very house from where he had been taken? What was the motive behind the heinous crime? Bloody Bas...ds. I hope they are rotting in jail, sir?'

' Motive. You tell me, Mr Narasimhan, what the motive could have been and why the child was abducted and then needlessly killed and dumped in a well?'

Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan shrugged and spread his hands and speculated, ' probably they got scared. Maybe, they were criminals who escalated from petty crimes into more serious ones and then got scared, killed the baby, and ran away.'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan remained silent and AC Narasimhan unable to take the suspense anymore, gently pressed him for a reply, ' so who did it sir and what was their motive?'

' Good question and I will answer it after you answer my question, first.'

AC Narasimhan smiling in anticipation of being tested by a veteran officer, said boldly, ' Ask away sir.'

DC Ilavarasan looked at him and then pointed to the tiny bud on the floor ' What was your motive in plucking that tiny bud from that plant, next to you?'

Vaanathai Pola 106

AC Narasimhan heard the question but did not really hear the question and with a surprised look on his face, asked, ' what bud?' and then looking down at his feet, he spotted the tiny bud and his eyes went to the place where it had belonged, moments earlier, among its plants other buds and he physically recoiled in shock and horror and stood speechless.

' I, I did not even realize what my hands were doing? Oh, s..t! f..k! I am so sorry sir.'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan gazed at him calmly but with unwavering eyes, ' Forget the apologies. Maybe after I am gone, you can apologize to the plant all you want but now concentrate on the question that I asked you and answer it.'

AC Narasimhan foundered desperately for an answer and then slowly regaining his composure, answered, ' maybe I did that out of frustration or maybe I did it purely out of irritation without even realizing what I was feeling?'

Ilavarasan clapped his hands just once loudly prompting a passing doctor to glare at him and realizing his mistake, he immediately apologized, ' sorry ma'am. Just got caught up in the moment.'

' So, Knowingly or unknowingly, there is a valid reason, a motive behind all our actions and thoughts. The same laws applied in that toddler being killed.'

His mobile phone rang and he answered it and after listening to it, replied, ' okay, coming up now.'

AC Narasimhan was going mad not knowing who had murdered the toddler and looked at Ilavarasan and let out an exasperated sigh and looked about ready to pop some major blood vessel.

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan said, ' Relax, young man. You look mad enough to even kill me if I don't divulge the details right now. So, I will tell you but very briefly for they are waiting upstairs for us.'

' Upstairs, waiting for us. To what end, sir. There is nothing to be learnt from that room.'

Ilavarasan, ' I will answer that question when we go to the fourth floor. Now, let me finish telling you about this case.

' India faced Sri Lanka in the final and as predicted it was a pretty tense game that India managed to win handsomely with the help of Gambhir, Dhoni hitting 97 and 91 with the young Kohli and Yuvraj chipping in with 35 and 21 runs, small but significant when it was scored.'

Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan excitedly nodded and added, ' I watched that match, sir, along with my entire family and neighbourhood and hardly anyone moved and were praying to all the crores of Indian Gods for our victory.'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan smiled, ' But, do you remember that at one point we had lost three wickets and our score was just 114 and many of us thought that it was going to be mighty difficult from then on for the ace spinner Muralitharan began to weave his magic spinners around Gambhir and Dhoni and the run rate began to climb rapidly.'

Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan looked at DC Ilavarasan, ' all true sir. But what has the world cup final got to do with the missing toddler who was found dead in the nearby well.'

' Everything Narasimhan for after the toddler's body was sent for autopsy, the father committed suicide by hanging himself in the bedroom. The wife who had been hospitalized is alive and is staying with her parents but never recovered from the shock of losing her child.'

Narasimhan by now totally confused, began to wonder if the DC was, in fact, pulling his leg but managed to ask, ' what forced the father to commit suicide, sir? the loss of his baby boy? did he write any letter stating the reason for his suicide?'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan replied in a sad voice, ' No. But I found out anyway when I was searching around the well in which the toddler's body was found. Also, the autopsy revealed some splinters and sap of fresh wood in the injured part of his brain.'

' Splinters, sap. Did somebody hit him with a log or something?

Ilavarasan shook his head and continued,' the sap belonged to the mango tree that towered over the well and that spread its branches on both the compounds. I searched the trunk and also a few other mango trees nearby but found nothing and then, I climbed the mango tree that grew near the well and found a deep gash on the top branch and a bit of dried blood on it.'

Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan stared hard at Ilavarasan and then his brain slowly began putting connecting all the evidence and his eyes opened wide and filled with tears of shock, anger and frustration and he said ' No, No, not possible. How can a father do that to his baby? how, No.'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan looked out of the window, ' a tense final. An avid cricket fan. A crying toddler and a moment of madness when the father lost it and threw the baby out of the balcony.'

His eyes wet with tears more out of anger, Assistant Commissioner Narasimhan asked, ' but you found the babies body only after two days?'

' Both the parents were in denial. But, that is not important now Narasimhan and what is important is the motive. It always comes down to the motive. But, before one hits upon the motive, the people involved have to be studied thoroughly, every detail learnt and only then will the motive reveal itself.'

He smiled and said, ' now let's go and inspect the room that this Radha Krishnan was in and the open window and see what we can learn from them.'

Vaanathai Pola 107

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan stood at the entrance of the door in which Radha Krishnan had stayed as a patient and looked into the empty room and then walked directly towards the open window and once near it, leaned out and peeped out of it.

The canopy above the window he was standing in protruded about two feet in length from the wall and there was no way to go above that for there was just sheer fifteen feet of smooth wall that led to the terrace.

Ilavarasan requested both his Sub-Inspectors Kaliappan and Thomas to hold him while he leaned dangerously out of the window to take an even better look at the window that was ten feet away and besides which was the Cement pipe that was sturdy enough to be used to grapple down.

But, that was only after one reached that window and the question was if it could be done.

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan looked at both his Sub-Inspectors and each one took turns out of the window and then all three stood staring at each other.

Assistant commissioner Narasimhan had visibly recovered after hearing about the case in which a toddler had been flung out of a balcony and he tiredly remarked, ' Gentlemen, as I said, there is no way out of this window and that leaves the door as the only means of escape.'

Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan, ' Narasimhan, we all agree with you on that point but I just want to be absolutely sure that this window was not used and once that is done, we will come to the door.'

Assistant commissioner Narasimhan looked at him unable to comprehend his cryptic words, ' How can that be done, sir?'

Ilavarasan pointed to two men who entered the room carrying something in their arms, ' Meet Chennai's drone men whom we call " Garud " for they are our eyes who see in places where we cannot see and go to places where we cannot go.'

The two men set down their boxes and opened them revealing a white and orange drone nestling there like an alien with fans and fins.

One of the constables, carefully lifted it out and carried it towards the open window and then pressed a red button and instantly the drone began to buzz like a hive of angry bees and was set free.

The two men Garud team quickly went over the precautionary details and one of them glanced towards Deputy Commissioner Ilavarasan and said, ' Sir, ready to fly.'

' Right, guys, this is what I want to see. A close-up video of that cement pipe from top to the bottom and also videos of that entire wall and the wall above the canopy of this window. Get it done. Analyze it thoroughly and come and meet me at the commissioner's office by 8.00 pm tonight.'

He gently patted the shoulder of Assistant commissioner Narasimhan, ' come, let's go eat that breakfast that was promised after twenty minutes.'

As they walked away, Assistant commissioner Narasimhan asked Ilavarasan, ' sir, what's with the drone, sir? what do you hope to find from the videos they are going to capture?'

He smiled, ' I have no clue and we just have to wait until evening and see what we might see.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJu9jKrJuNg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNRYoGjLItY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDlbKgcMQSI

Vaanathai Pola 108

Laugh, I tell you

And you will turn back

The hands of time.

Smile, I tell you

And you will reflect

The face of the divine.

Sing, I tell you

And all the angels will sing with you!

Cry, I tell you

And the reflections found in your pool of tears -

Will remind you of the lessons of today and yesterday

To guide you through the fears of tomorrow.” ― Suzy Kassem

Commissioner Viswanathan got up and looked at Kavita, ' I am not going to sugarcoat anything. The situation looks dire and maybe the reality is far worse than what we think. But, I promise you that I will do everything in my power to find him, and, if I do find him, I will do more than my best to keep him safe.'

Kavita smiled and said, ' I know, sir. Thank you for those kind and reassuring words and they mean a lot to me.'

Commissioner Viswanathan nodded and the looking at Minister Durai Pandi Arumugam said ' Sir' and then glanced at his wife, Sharadha Arumugam and said, ' Ma'am' and slowly walked towards the entrance and getting into his vehicle, left with a heavy heart.

Kavita sat quietly, drowning in her own thoughts and sat, staring at her palms, that lay open on her lap as if she was trying to make sense of her destiny from the lines that ran zig-zagging on them.

She, slowly raised her head, face creased with sad curiosity and asked her dad, ' Appa, do you think the Commissioner was being totally honest with us?'

Durai Pandi Arumugam pursed his lips in thought and then said, ' Not totally but nearly there is my best guess. But, we have to remember that he does not work for us and so, should not confuse friendship with loyalty.'

Placing, a gentle, motherly hand on her daughters head, Sharadha Arumugam said, ' Kavima, he is just doing his job and carrying out his duty. Isn't, that one of the reasons, why we like him and respect him so much, baby?'

Kavita sighed with exasperation and said, ' I know ma. It is just that I am greatly worried about what is happening with Radhu and who sent these four men who kidnapped him.'

She looked at her dad and whispered her thoughts aloud, ' Could it be, Jagatratchagan is behind this kidnapping?'

Durai Pandi hesitated for a second and seeing Kavita's eyes boring into his, ' Maybe or maybe not.'

Realizing that his rather cryptic reply was not going to be enough, he said, ' If you ask me, I doubt if Jagatratchagan is responsible for this kidnapping for things are happening very quickly.'

It was his wife, Sharadha Arumugam's turn to look at him with irritation, ' Last night after watching Jagatratchagan's speech, it was you who remarked that "there is a saying that the lion crouches not to hide but to ready itself to pounce on its kill. What, he really meant was that he is going to wait, recoup and then launch his attack on all those responsible for his son's death", and now you are contradicting yourself by saying that you don't think he is responsible.'

Kavita eyes joined her mothers and both looked at Durai Pandi for an explanation and in a calm voice, he said, ' my dear women, I stand by what I said last night about Jagatratchagan. There is no change in that opinion at all.'

He looked at both his women, ' Answer, this question. How can it be Jagatratchagan who is behind this Kidnapping of your friend when in all probability, he has no clue as to who your friend, Mr Radhu is in the first place. He got to know about his son's death late last evening and do you think he could have managed to put together a team to kidnap this Radhu friend of yours. Even so, how is it possible that they anticipated his escape and nabbed him at the right time when he himself was giving the cops a slip and was trying to make a getaway. It, all appears too convenient to me and in my opinion, Jagatratchagan does not possess this kind of capability nor does he have the kind of connections to cobble up such a well-organized kidnapping.'

He raised his finger, ' now, if it had been the late Vaidyanathan in Jagatratchagan's position, then I would have said, yes for that man was truly the Devil incarnate! But, Jagatratchagan is your average, caste minded fanatic and a garden variety criminal who is capable of murder and other crimes but in my opinion just not capable of putting together an operation of this kind.'

Spreading his hands in a gesture that reflected his doubts, he asked, ' one more thing, Kavima. Do you think a person who took on six armed criminals and dispatched three of them in a blink of an eye could be so easily kidnapped by four men? Wouldn't he have put up a fight and defended himself and thus injuring one or more of his kidnappers?'

Kavita's eyes reflected her confusion and she said in a weak voice, ' maybe, appa. But, he was injured, poisoned and nearly died of a heart attack. Probably, he was too weak to defend himself or was just highly disoriented from his injuries to have been more aware of his surroundings.'

Minister Durai Pandi Arumugam nodded, conceding the valid point his child had made and looked at her with eyes filled with worry and pain, ' Kavima, Please, be patient and let the Commissioner do his job. All we can do is now pray and hope for the best and hope your friend Radhu is safe at this moment.'

Kavita stood up and addressed her parents, ' I will pray for Radhu, and I will be patient but I am not, just going to sit around, doing, nothing. I, am going to call Raman, and ask for his help in this matter.'

' But, didn't Jeeva mention that he was not in the country' Sharadha asked her daughter.

' That is why I am going to call Jeeva and explain the situation to her and when Raman calls her which he must be doing on a daily basis, she can convey everything to him and knowing him, he will think of some way to help me find Radhu ' Kavita said and walked away to her room.

The World Has Created A Monster In China

It is time for the world to withdraw China’s free pass and quarantine its power by united action.

It has taken a global pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 people and infected more than 2.2 million (so far) for everyone to realise the threat China poses to the global economy and peace.

Even so, no one is willing to call a spade a spade: undemocratic, xenophobic and racist China is an authoritarian power whose irresponsibility threatens global stability. China is the Nazi Germany of the twenty-first century, and Xi Jinping its new Adolf Hitler.

To be sure, in a world with so many nuclear powers, the Chinese cannot use growing military might alone to subdue or overawe its real and imagined adversaries. It will do so with a combination of intimidation, economic coercion and blandishments. Consider how easily it has brought the world to the brink of an economic depression by sheer irresponsible behaviour.

China is too powerful and irresponsible for its own good. It is amoral to a degree where it is now even seeking to profit – by taking over undervalued companies and selling testing and personal protection equipment (PPE) to countries desperately in need of them – from a dangerous genie it has itself unleashed.

So dependent is the world on China to deal with Covid-19, that it is even now hesitating to call the world’s new Hitler out.

Consider India’s own timid response to the Chinese threat to Indian companies: we have put out a carefully worded statement to amend our foreign direct investment (FDI) policy to indicate that companies from countries which share a border with India cannot invest in Indian companies without government approval. States with which India shares a land border include Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

While any Pakistani investment will obviously be red-flagged without much ado since it is in a constant state of war with “Hindu India”, it can be no one’s case that Indian companies face a takeover threat from any of the other neighbours, barring China. But we fear to name it.

Even assuming the folks in our over-cautious Ministry of External Affairs did not want to name China for fear of diplomatic ramifications, surely, we could at least have mentioned that neighbours with unresolved border disputes with India will not get a free pass in India.

The tendency to underplay a threat is as old as history.

In Europe, it took two annexations (Austria and Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia) and an invasion of Poland for the world to see Hitler as a threat.

In contrast, despite repeated indications from China that it will respect no international law or human rights issues when it comes to buttressing its own aggressive nationalism, the world has looked the other way repeatedly for over three decades. We have learnt nothing from the appeasement of Hitler in the last century.

Consider the following signals we have received from communist China since the mid-1950s...

China was given a free pass to trample on the rights of Tibetans long ago, by both India and the world. In 1962, as India failed to anticipate Chinese responses to our timidity, we even lost a war badly.

At the height of the Cold War, when Richard Nixon made his famous outreach to China in order to contain an expansionist Soviet Union, China’s mass murderer Mao Zedong got a free pass on any and every issue of human rights.

But even before Nixon made his famous trip, the US had already connived with willing members of the United Nations to give communist China an entry into the UN Security Council along with the veto. This permanent seat was earlier held by the hapless Republic of China (Taiwan). Taiwan got turfed out unceremoniously, and is yet to find a place in the UN general assembly. In 1971, the world gave communist China the power to veto anything it disliked.

In the 1980s, when China under Deng Xiaoping shifted to a capitalist mode of development through 'free trade', the world gave him yet another free pass. It got the most liberal terms ever to open up its economy, and to date it still hasn’t done so convincingly.

China used mercantilist policies to convert itself into the world’s manufacturing hub, with no obligation to balance trade or to let its own currency find its true level. Nobody even called out this asymmetry till it was too late. The world helped create a huge economic and military monster that could devastate entire economies in a fit of absolute absent-mindedness.

When the Chinese people demanded internal democracy, the world turned a blind eye after troops massacred protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The world was happy to let that pass, as China was beginning to welcome Western companies to set up shop and benefit from cheap labour, a labour force with no legal protection against employers.

Entire global supply chains were shifted to China at huge cost to wage incomes growth in the West. Greedy global conglomerates – and their governments – were happy to ignore China’s human rights transgressions in return for cheap Chinese products. China won the West over by cheap consumer thrills.

More recently, in 2016, China simply junked an international tribunal verdict that rejected its claims to exclusive jurisdiction in the South China Sea. Clearly, China will respect no international law whatsoever.

Two years ago, even the Vatican succumbed to Chinese pressure, and agreed to a deal under which China would get to vet or veto priests appointed to the Chinese Catholic church. The well-touted separation of church and state floundered on the rocks of Chinese intransigence. The Pope bowed to Chinese state imperialism, giving the latter a say in religious affairs.

China has also used its enormous military might to stamp out dissidence in its Uighur minority community in Xinjiang. Thousands have been sent to internal Gulags and compulsory re-education and de-Islamisation programmes. The Muslim world, normally very vocal about the treatment of compatriots anywhere in the world, kept mum, anaesthetised by China’s huge foreign aid and investment programmes.

Over a larger time frame, the US and Europe also ignored China’s continuous theft of intellectual property, presumably because China was seen to be focusing on low-cost manufacturing, where the West had anyway lost its edge. It needed a cantankerous President like Donald Trump to finally call out Chinese theft, but Trump’s trade war against China has hardly been consistent or driven by strategy.

China has also used its privileged position as manufacturer of many electronic products to illegally plant spyware in some of the products it ships abroad. Over 30 companies, including Amazon and Apple, were caught napping when a tiny Chine spy chip planted inside motherboards exported to the US started hacking into Western technology companies.

It is only after China facilitated the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic by not alerting the world when it could have done so that attitudes are changing. The world has begun to question China, and inoculate itself from its wayward and opportunistic policies.

But China remains unrepentant. Instead of acknowledging its mistakes, China has gone after its critics and launched a propaganda war to claim innocence. But the world is not buying it (read here, here, here)

The world is in a mood to take China on.

In the US, there are class action suits against China seeking trillions of dollars in compensation for causing the pandemic and destroying economies.

As China tried to buy off companies on the cheap, the European Union has created guidelines to ensure that national governments can prevent this from happening.

Germany has armed itself against Chinese takeover of vulnerable companies. So has Australia. Japan is incentivising companies to move supply chains out of China.

The US has blocked Huawei, a Chinese company with ties to the military, from participating in its communications networks, from last year.

But this is not enough.

China is not a threat only because it can now buy strategic assets in the West and in India due to low valuations. It is by every definition a rogue state, which respects no law except those created by itself; it respects no one’s property rights if it can find a way to steal it; it will respect no boundary or border if it sees a way to acquire territory or resources for itself through intimidation and pressure.

China is already the world’s second-largest economy by dollar gross domestic product (GDP). Its GDP is around $14 trillion compared to the US’s $20 trillion. It is only a hop, step and jump away from the No 1 rank.

It is already No 1 in terms of purchasing power parities. The pandemic, which will destroy world GDP and US economic leadership, is exactly what the doctor ordered for China to achieve numero uno status ahead of its scheduled date. US GDP is about to collapse while Chinese GDP will still grow positively this year.

While it would be a bit of a stretch to claim that the pandemic was caused by China with this ulterior motive in mind, this will be the net effect of Covid-19.

The world cannot deal with China by taking tiny steps separately for its containment, economically or militarily. It has to band together to deal with China, just as it did against Hitler. For China is not a benign superpower willing to play by any set of reasonable rules.

It is time for the world to withdraw China’s free pass and quarantine its power by united action.

by R Jagannathan, Swarajya, Apr 20, 2020

Jagannathan is Editorial Director, Swarajya. He tweets at @TheJaggi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBNkgrHgpw8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff82XtV78xo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lR9FSRTZjQ

Cinemavum, Naanum-1

Some thoughts, in my opinion, need to be shared, simply because they feel right. Like, birds cooped up in a cage, in a nest, ready to flee, ready to fly and escape out into life, thoughts like an egg to bird, seed to tree, creep, plant, burrow and begin to grow in my mind.

Everybody loves stories. Everybody, absolutely love, great love stories.

So many decades have passed by, both in black and white and in colour. So, many hours of watching movies, eyes glued to the screen, hands gripping the armrests and yet a few have remained fresh in my mind, both with their content and my experience from watching them.

I, want to share with you a few love stories from the world of cinema and my thoughts about them.

Somewhere towards the end of 1985, me and a friend, bunked school, and off we went to see the film " Sirai" which featured two actors who I respected a lot, Lakshmi and Rajesh. The film was a rerun and originally released in 1984 and was both a commercial and critical success.

How many films can you say are blessed with both, critical and commercial success? ( Very few)

I have to confess that even back then, in my teens, I somehow knew what a good film was and what a great performance was and this wisdom was kick-started back in the mid-1970s when Television invaded our lives.

If, a film, brought tears to my eyes, filled my bony chest with pain and made it difficult to breathe, then, that film was great in my teeny opinion.

I was very familiar with Actress Lakshmi for I had been a huge fan of her from the late 70s after having seen many of her films. But, three stood out in my mind and they were " Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal, Polladhavan and Netrikann" and with this knowledge that I was going to watch a master in action, I let go and drowned myself in the film.

I have to add that I have a huge crush on her and still do. Maybe, just maybe, there might come a time when I might get to stand in the same frame as her and lucky enough to speak a few lines to her.

" A younger man wooing an older woman" sounds like a good story for a film that can bring us together. ( In your f..k..g dreams, psycho.)

In the film, " Sirai" Lakshmi plays the title role of Brahmin woman who is raped by a drunken bully of a landlord, Rajesh and is then abandoned and thrown out of her home by her husband who says that she has become impure and is unfit to be his wife.

Lakshmi's character Bhagirathi does not take this lying down enters the house of the very man who raped her and stays there demanding justice. Rajesh's character Anthony realizing his mistake apologizes and is ready to go and surrender to the cops but Lakshmi demands justice for her life and ruined marriage.

At about this time, Anthony has an accident and later suffers a massive stroke and lies paralyzed. He is now totally reformed and tries desperately to join Bhagirathi with her husband. A few months later, he suffers a massive heart attack and passes away.

Bhagirathi's husband, the spineless B..t..d, who had rejected her instead of being there and protecting after she had been raped, now slinks back saying that life has been tough with her and that he is willing to accept her now that Anthony is no more

But, Bhagirathi removes her Thali and flings it on his face saying that she would rather stay in the reformed Anthony's house as his widow than go back to him as his wife.

WOW! Yes, that was my exact thought, feeling and emotion back then and that has stayed with me, cooped up in my soul cage.

Irony

The irony is that the very first time I saw Lakshmi in was " Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal" where she gets raped in a car and the last film that I saw her in the main role was " En Uyir Kannamma" and that too has more or less a scene where a drunken Prabhu forces her into having sex with her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FxomBtA2OQ&list=PLfj8uUrkWTvATaHUIurKoWVYQ4vanBtcv&index=12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n8hvi8M-Ho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldEQfvmklR8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmBjeYIv0Vk