Everywhere a mob

Violence seems to have entered our blood stream. Schoolchildren are mercilessly beaten, a thief in Bhagalpur, chained and tied to a police motorcycle, is dragged for over 200 metres...

Violence seems to have entered our blood stream. Schoolchildren are mercilessly beaten, a thief in Bhagalpur, chained and tied to a police motorcycle, is dragged for over 200 metres, during which time he is severely assaulted with impunity. Four youths returning from a Muslim religious event are crushed to death by a speeding truck, and a mob goes on the rampage, indulges in arson. A sting operation displayed by a TV channel showing a government schoolteacher forcing some girls into the flesh trade leads to arson and riots in Old Delhi. Examples can be multiplied. The problem is not of law and order, nor merely of tardy dispensation of criminal justice. It is a sociological and psychological phenomenon and there are no easy solutions. The illustrious Justice Krishna Iyer, in one of his judgments, had recommended the practice of transcendental meditation TM for inmates of Tihar jail. Regular practice of TM by our people could perhaps provide a solution.

Media and terrorism

WHAT is the role of the media in publishing and displaying terrorist acts? It must be recognised that the fundamental right of freedom of expression and information carries with it the right of the public to be informed on matters of public concern, including terrorist acts and threats. The fight against terrorism must not be used as a pretext to restrict these fundamental rights. At the same time, as a measure of self-restraint, media should not exaggerate the impact of terrorism and thereby add to the atmosphere of public alarm, and should refrain from publishing shocking pictures of terrorist acts which enhance their terrorising effect. The original June 2005 recommendations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe are interesting. They exhort the media not to offer terrorists a platform for publicity, which is oxygen for terrorist activities. One of the significant recommendations was to avoid aggravating, through news and comments, the societal tensions underlying terrorism, and in particular to refrain from disseminating any kind of hate speech. The importance of this recommendation in our country cannot be overemphasised.

Exodus of jazz greats

THE year 2007 has been sad for the world of jazz. In New Orleans, the clarinet was an indispensable instrument. During the Swing Era, the clarinets of Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman sent jazz fans into ecstasies. Benny has been my perennial favourite. We became friends in August 1972. I have cherished the clarinet he purchased for me at 50 per cent discount, with the promise that I should regularly practice, which alas has not been kept. May God and Benny forgive me. After the advent of bop, Buddy De Franco, with his fine tone and superb technique, dominated the jazz/bop scene. All these great clarinettists have passed away. The latest to join their ranks is Tony Scott. Scott8217;s clarinet had fire, drive and originality. He loved to experiment, because he believed that 8220;without experimenters, jazz would die a lingering death8221;. When I heard and saw him in New York in the mid-eighties he had grown a chest-length white beard. He would take his clarinet onstage and take it apart, pretending to use it as a telephone. Tony was a delightful showman.

Max Roach was one of the first drummers to play in the bebop style in bands led by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. Max was not merely a tune-keeping drummer but a full-fledged member of the front line. He thrilled jazz fans when he participated in the Jazz Yatra in Delhi in 1996. Max was a politically active jazz musician who believed that American jazz musicians of African descent had proved that 8220;we8217;re master musicians of our instruments. Now what we have to do is employ our skill to tell the dramatic story of our people and what we8217;ve been through8221;. Roach embarked on a series of duet recordings, one of which was a recorded duet with the oration by Martin Luther King, I have a Dream. Roach8217;s death last month signals the end of the era of legendary jazz drummers.