Every day between 8pm and 9pm, Asha Devi goes to a memorial in her housing complex in Dwarka, west Delhi, and lights a lamp for her daughter, the 23-year-old physiotherapist intern who was brutally gang-raped and killed in one of the most horrific crimes in India in December 2012. For Asha Devi, keeping alive the memory of that bright young girl is very important. And also very difficult, because the ugly memories of her last days keep popping up. The distraught mother has not found closure, not while the killers stay alive.
There are no lamps in the hovel at Sant Ravi Dass camp in south Delhi, where an old and lonely widow ekes out an existence on the charity of others. Known locally as tai (aunt), she is the mother of Ram Singh and Mukesh, two of the six men who violated the girl. Ram Singh died mysteriously while he was an undertrial in Tihar jail in 2013. Mukesh is on the death row; his lawyer is making another desperate bid to extend his life, though legally it appears that all recourses have run out. Among the impoverished, there is a greater acceptance than there is among the middle class, which places a premium on morality. In this neighbourhood, residents can separate the criminal from his family, and the social ostracism one finds in better neighbourhoods is more tempered here.
In another home nearby lives another mother; her son Pawan Gupta is on death row, too. She does not smile, not even at the adorable antics of her toddler grandchild. To those who do not know, the home almost appears normal, with a younger son and daughter who are studying and a married daughter who visits often. But in a family where the older son is just days away from the noose, normalcy is an ideal they can only dream of. Pawan’s ageing grandparents are just too baffled with life to utter anything.
Denne historien er fra March 22, 2020-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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Denne historien er fra March 22, 2020-utgaven av THE WEEK.
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A golden girl
One of India's most formidable beauties passed away earlier this month. The odd thing is she would absolutely hate this obituary; she hated being written about and avoided publicity for all of her nine decades. Indira Aswani was 93 when she died. But anyone who encountered her, even briefly, was in such awe of her grace and poise, and one could not but remember her forever.
The interest in wine is growing delightfully in India
The renowned British wine writer and television presenter Jancis Robinson, 74, recently came to Delhi and Mumbai to reacquaint herself with India's wine industry. This was the Robinson's fourth visit to India; the last one was seven years ago. On this trip, Robinson and her husband, restaurateur Nicholas Lander, were hosted by the Taj Hotels and Sonal Holland, India's only Master of Wine.
United in the states
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COVER DRIVE
Usage-driven motor insurance policies offer several benefits
GDP as the only measure of progress is illogical
Dasho Karma Ura, one of the world's leading happiness experts, has guided Bhutan's unique gross national happiness (GNH) project. He uses empirical data to show that money cannot buy happiness in all circumstances, rather it is family and health that have the strongest positive effect on happiness. Excerpts from an interview:
India is not a controlling big brother
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay considers India a benevolent elder sibling as the \"big brotherly attitude\" is happily missing from bilateral ties. He thinks the relationship shared by the two countries has become a model of friendship not just for the region, but for the entire world. \"India's attitude is definitely not of a big brother who is controlling and does not allow the little brother to blossom and grow,\" says Tobgay in an exclusive interview with THE WEEK.
Comrade with no foes
Lal Salaam, Comrade Yechury-you were quite a guy!
Pinning down saffron
In her first political bout, Vinesh Phogat rides on the anti-BJP sentiment across Haryana
MAKE IN MANIPUR
Home-made rockets and weapons from across the border are escalating the conflict
SAHEB LOSES STEAM
Coalition dynamics and poor electoral prospects continue to diminish Ajit Pawar's political stock
