Why UILS’ intra moot needs reforms (Or any other competition for that matter)

DISCLAIMER: I don’t write this with any hate but with a simple view to improve the system that we’re a part of. It is merely a dialogue engaging article. Please don’t read this any further if you are not open to new ideas or don’t appreciate constructive criticism for systems already set in place.

So UILS (that’s the place where I study) holds an ‘Intra Department Moot Court Competition’ (fancy, eh?)every year. For those from a non-legal background- a moot court is a competition wherein the students are given a hypothetical case and are asked to argue the same in a hypothetical court as lawyers. So far so good.

A moot court is a simulation of actual court proceedings.

But here comes the catch- every year in the preliminary rounds for the first and the second year the criteria for getting selected is that you need to win from both sides (from the complainants and the defendants) AND also your score should be in the top 8. Sounds quite okay if you ask me. But is it really?

I mean you have almost a hundred teams participate every year- most of them having 3 members in their teams. 100x3. That’s 300 students participating which is a LOT. But out of them you only select…8? Even though 16-18 teams win both of their rounds generally. Well, the top 8 scored the highest. Why the fuss, you ask?

Because the system is a bit unfair. Top 8, kudos to them. Really. But the point is- the marking of judges, even if you provide them with a basic bifurcation of marks, is pretty subjective. What is good enough for one judge may not be good enough for the other. However, if despite all of that some teams win both of their rounds; I personally believe that all of them deserve a second chance. 

The criteria for selections is a bit unfair if you ask me.

Why? Because these are all beginners- first years and second years who’re experiencing a moot for the first time and we should encourage them because an intra moot is the only place they will gain the confidence to further try out national moots. If you’re going to dishearten them in the first place itself that yes, you did win your both rounds but your scores weren’t as high as the other teams who were judged by different judges, they are never going to think they can be good enough.

Not because they are going to take it completely negatively but because in a scenario of a 100 teams, space for only top 8 will ensure only the cream gets out and the rest, even despite their best efforts will not get an opportunity to groom themselves.

The intra-department moot court is an annual event- that’s like only one chance, shouldn’t you give as many chances as you can to the students during this time? Most of them are doing their first moots and inspite of that if they emerge victorious in both of their rounds, they should be given another chance. Marks be damned. 

And it’s not just that, it’s also a peer pressure thing. Your friends see you working for the moot day and night, relentlessly. Flagging your memorials and compendiums, compiling reports of all kinds and when you don’t get to the next round (despite the fact you won both of your rounds but MARKS) they make fun of you. And it really causes a lot of resentment. We are in college, opinions do shape up how we tend to think about ourselves. 

Researched a lot? Won both your rounds? Sorry, your scores aren't enough!

Why did I not write this any sooner? Because I did not understand how the system worked until I was at the center of it. And also because I saw a lot of resentment amongst my juniors after the results were announced and I know somewhere deep inside they were right.

And since it is an annual event and the only annual event we do really look forward to, I guess these are some little changes that are the least the Mooting Society and the authorities can do for us.

To Supreme Court, with Love (An open letter by one of 'them')

Let's face it, most of us hate the Supreme Court for not repealing Section 377 even after more than 60 years of independence. A barbaric and an archaic law that criminalises homosexuality has no place in the 21st century. So now that the Supreme Court is set to hear a curative petition on this matter tomorrow, a friend shares their view-

"Dear Supreme Court, I neither know nor care much about your legal mandate or how your hands might be tied in times of saffron politics but I can only hope you rise above personal misconception and find in your hearts the compassion to let people love because love is oh so powerful. So it's about time we say goodbye to another colonial hangover- IPC 377, a law not made by elected representatives of free India but a law carried forward from our former rulers, who have far too long ago corrected their historical blunder in their own country. So, tomorrow, February 2nd as you hear the Curative Petition, will you do the right thing Supreme Court? I write today not with hope but a bit of anger and a bit of desperation.

Section 377 of the IPC criminalises homosexuality.

We all know deep in our hearts that Section 377 which criminalises homosexuality has no place in today's India because in the land of Gandhi, hate and prejudice has no place. Are we truly free if in independent India colonial laws like IPC 377 govern our collective conscience? If our laws reek of prejudice and hatred do we stand true to principles of fundamental rights, the true spirit of which was to treat each and every human being in the land of free India as equal. Are we truly equal if our laws see us differently? As an apex institution can you not find in your own history the courage to rise above popular misconception and do the right thing? Please don't disregard us by calling us 'unnatural' or 'minuscule'. We're not minuscule. We're everywhere but sadly you don't look inside those closets too often, do you? You don't know how many people live troubled lives and you don't know how many souls you have crushed, how many souls we all have crushed. In the world's largest democracy is the world's largest closet. 

Section 377- left behind by the Britishers is archaic and needs to be repealed.

But would you care? The real question in front of the Supreme Court is really just this- Can we not find in our hearts the compassion to let people love and be happy? Are our hearts so small that we can't see people seek happiness in their most primitive and natural selves. Are our hearts so small that we can't find the courage to let love win and set the course of history right? When history will be written which side of it would you want to be on? The side that let love flourish or the side that crushed and repressed true happiness? A 100 years down the line, would you want to be remembered as an institution that did injustice or as one that corrected the errors of human prejudice? One that realised that a law cannot govern who people love or how they express themselves. So tell me Supreme Court, is it so hard to let people love? Have you not even once in your lives felt the power of love? Love cannot hurt anyone, Supreme Court. Love breeds love, and hatred breeds hatred. So what is it going to be? What different would you be from Khap Panchayats that sentence couples to death because they dared to love? What different would you be from our colonial oppressors who enslaved people in their tyranny? Why enslave people in a law that still haunts millions in this country? 

I don't know about you but I don't want to leave behind a world for my kids where they are judged by who they decide to love.

A 17 year old boy in Agra set himself on fire because he was bullied for being gay and he was so embarrassed that he gave up. How many more young souls do we need to set ablaze for us to realise it's okay to let people love? How many times must we be reduced to jokes and ridicules of others before we realise how badly we've messed up. Our movies, our songs often demonstrate the power of love, so why can't the constitution of free India demonstrate the same? What good is a religion that preaches hatred? What good is any religion that can't let people seek happiness in being themselves, being how God intended them to be? So in the words of a song to which 33 couples got married on the stage of Grammy Awards 2014- 

"A certificate on paper isn't gonna change it all 

But it's a damn good place to start, 

No law is gonna change us 

We have to change us 

Whatever God you believe in 

We come from the same one 

Strip away the fear, 

Underneath it's all the same love""

The article was originally posted to Facebook by Maya Vashi.

Why writing is the toughest job ever

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." - Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway couldn't have put it any better.

I'm sure most writers agree with this statement because that is what we really do, especially when we don't edit our works. It's raw, unabashed and a true reflection of us. Most people, when they read a certain piece, the first question they tend to ask is- "did this happen to you?" 

And all we do is smile. 

Writing is a tough job. It's creative too, and involves a lot of imagination. But there's always an element of truth in it, mostly autobiographical, if you ask me. Whatever we write is in one way or the other "inspired" by our lives. It could be an incident that happened with us interpreted in a completely different way that you won't even realise the story behind it unless we reveal it. Or it could be a friend's secret that you put in a completely different outfit so that you keep it safe in essence but also share it with the world for it may have some important lesson or something beautiful in it. 

 

Writing is not as easy as people think it is.

 

Even the more "un-earthly" works of literature have some truth behind them. Be it JK Rowling's professor inspired the character of Severus Snape or numerous writers being inspired to write after they lost the "love" of their lives. You see, our inspiration is everywhere- family, friends, even a random image etc. 

So you see, when you ask a writer this question, the answer is always YES for it always has some truth and that is the most difficult thing because to keep yourself out there, in front of the whole world and be judged for it. You're baring out your soul in front of the world, a part of you is there for the whole world to see. And that is the most difficult part of all. 

 

Why we love to hate? An insight into the human nature.

Humans are weird creatures, hypocrite if may say. How many times you’ve seen people judging people who hate other people. (Yes, I became mighty redundant there) But you know it is the truth.

We love to judge and we love to hate.

Humans love to hate even if we don't admit it.

Hate. Pretty strong word, that. Don’t you think? So Cambridge dictionary defines the word hate as “to dislike someone or something very much”. I see, so what do you hate? A classmate/colleague? A politician? Some artists? A, idk..place, person, thing whatever. But we do hate something or someone. Why?

Our hate extends to almost every aspect of our lives and we seem to be okay with that

Maybe because it is the easiest thing to do when we come across a situation that doesn’t necessarily go down well with us. Let’s face it, we humans love to hate. And anyone who says who doesn’t hate anyone or anything is a liar. I, for example, hate Arvind Kejriwal, or I hate a certain senior who I think is a bully and insanely selfish, or I hate lizards…yes, the list is getting pretty random now. But you get the point right?

We love to feed off off our hatred for others. If I may say on a more serious note, look at what’s happening around the world. Political tensions, mass murders, civil war, loads of violence. Why? Simply because our hate knows no bounds. Whether we’re commenting on a news story, or some social media post, or when you’re driving on the road. We unconsciously emanate so much hate, it’s crazy that it’s almost become our second nature. 

Whether it's something as random as a social media post, the hate is evident.

What people don’t understand that by reacting to such incidents all we’re doing is adding more hate to the cup that’s already been filled to the brink. We’ve reached a saturation point. There’s no going beyond that. The only way out is to actually incorporate love within yourself. I’m not asking you or preaching a “love thy neighbor” thing. God knows, even I can’t do that. But what you can really do is remain unaffected by such incidents whether they’re happening around the world or closer home, they are happening to you at a personal level.

The goal is to remain unaffected by all such negativity and not let it distort your reality in any way. 

Love, love, love is the key.

Why I hate men and why I blame the world for it.

DISCLAIMER: The incidents mentioned in the post are merely illustrative and have no relation with any person whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong by merely reading the headline of the post. Women love men. After all, why else would we procreate with one of their kind? But we also hate men. Yes, I know, women are confusing as hell and I'm going RIGHT DOWN THAT PATH. But what can we do really? We're programmed like that. 
If someone asked me to give a definite answer- we love men, be it our fathers, brothers, friends, boyfriends, husbands, sons...you get the drift. This is our inherent nature. But we also grow into hating men. Notice the use of the phrase "grow into"? From the second we are born, we are programmed and conditioned into hating men by men themselves and more often than not, women too. 
Don't believe me? Sample the lifetime of a female:


I am 13 minutes and 27 seconds old right now. My grandma cringes at the sight of me. She refuses to take me in her arms and instead chides my mum for not begetting a son. Dad, who was elated to see me a couple of minutes ago, now looks at me with disappointed eyes. He holds me but I feel no more affectionate caress. While maa and I are alone at night, she cries and holds me tight. "I'm sorry, my dear one they don't know better but mama will always love you."

And she fulfills her promise. She never stops loving me.

I am 5 years old now and at my cousins' home for summer vacation. My elder cousin brother asks me if I'd like to play a new game. I say yes, excited. He closes the door and makes me lie on the bed while he comes and lays over me. It feels weird but finally my cousin is "playing" with me so I do as he says. He says it'll be our little secret and if I tell anyone, he'd never play with me again.

I remain quiet.

Child abuse is more common than people realise.

I am 9 now, playing on the road in front of my house. A stranger comes and asks for directions to a certain tutor's place, the aunties there ask me to lead him up the staircase. Halfway through, he holds me against the railing, my hands held at my back and starts moving against me. No, it doesn't feel right. "My mom is calling me", I say. "No, she can wait", he replies. "No, no, I have to go." Fearing I'll cause an alarm, he lets go.

I don't go out and play anymore. 

I am 12 now, almost a teenager! I'm going to a friend's place just 4 minutes away, walking. I can almost see her home now. A guy whizzes past me, but now before he's pulled my t-shirt in front of tens of people. 

My mum wonders why I don't go to my friend's anymore. 

Sweet 16. That means I finally have a broadband connection and the much important Facebook account. I check my 'Others' folder. A guy with a Shah Rukh Khan display picture has sent me a text asking me how I'd like to be f*c*k*d. 

I don't really check that folder now. 

It's not uncommon for women to receive sexually explicit messages online.

I just celebrated my 18th birthday, an adult! I'm coming back from my coaching. It's winters so it gets dark early. There's a patch on the way that's not very lit up. A figure lurking in the shadows pulls me and pushes me against a tree, fondling me. I fight back, bite him. And he runs away.

My mom wonders why I try to find excuses to skip coaching in board year.

I'm 19. My parents go through my cellphone and find out I have a boyfriend. He's just a friend really but we are more close in comparison to the rest of our friends. But they don't understand that he respects me a lot and has never tried to do anything that would hurt me. Just the fact that I have a boyfriend infuriates them. I get slapped and my cellphone's taken away. They forbid me from seeing him in the future. 

I don't have a boyfriend now. 

Relationships are looked down upon my parents while it is perfectly okay to marry a stranger.

 My board results are out. I get accepted into a world class university but my dad refuses to send me abroad. Never you mind, I ace an entrance test and am eligible to enter into various prestigious institutions within the country. "Give as many tests as you want, you'll only go to the local university, it's good." he says while he looks at my younger brother who's still in school and asks him to study hard so he can send him to the United States. 


I never made it outside my city. 

I'm 21, I get an amazing opportunity to work with a reputed company outside my hometown. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. "Why does she have to go out? There are numerous vacancies in the city itself. Tell her to find some work in the city itself" the neighbors say. 

I settle for a less paying job where I don't grow whatsoever. 

I'm 23 now, time to look for a suitable match for me. I tell them I have already met someone and I'd like to marry him. I'm beaten up and locked up in a room. You'll marry the groom of my choice, dad says. Mom sneaks into the room and cries with me. She wishes she'd walked out sooner on dad. She asks for forgiveness. We hug each other tight and cry all night. 

I marry the groom of his choice. 

A few days after my marriage, my in-laws ask me to leave my job. "Why do you need to work? Our son earns enough. Stay at home and serve your ageing in laws". I complain to my husband. He slaps me for speaking against his parents and asks me to listen to what they say. 

My professional designation- a homemaker.

A year into our marriage, he comes home and I'm sick. Fever. But he has needs. He forces me into bed with him and as soon as he's done with me, rolls over to his side of the bed and dozes off, leaving me bruised and completely unattended.

Shut up, my bestie says. There's no such thing as marital rape. It's your job. 

2.6 billion women live in countries where marital rape is legal.

A few says later, I wake up with an uneasy feeling in the morning. I rush to the bathroom. 3 rounds of throwing up and a pregnancy test later, my in laws rejoice at the thought of finally having a grandson. 

I hope it is a girl. 


***Labor day.***

I am 13 minutes and 27 seconds old right now. My grandma cringes at the sight of me. She refuses to take me in her arms and instead chides my mum for not begetting a son. Dad, who was elated to see me a couple of minutes ago, now looks at me with disappointed eyes. He holds me but I feel no more affectionate caress. While maa and I are alone at night, she cries and holds me tight. "I'm sorry, my dear one they don't know better but mama will always love you."

Maa took a dozen sleeping pills that night. She's never able to fulfill her promise...

 ***************************************************************

Some of you are going to term this post a rather grim perspective at how things are. But believe me people when I say this, girls hide a lot from the world than anyone can possibly imagine. Neither their moms, nor their friends nor their boyfriends ever get to know about such things. In majority of  cases, women take such incidents with them to the grave because of the shame and the stigma attached to it. 
It's time they started speaking out. 

An ode to Alan Rickman- the man who immortalised Severus Snape

Me (to a friend): Alan Rickman passed away.
Friend: Who’s that?
Me:  The actor who played Severus Snape!
Friend:  *in shock*

Snape, though I didn't like him at first, soon became one of my favourite

Perhaps this is how the world really recognized Alan Rickman- the man who played our favourite Severus Snape. Growing up, I am one of the few who first entered the Wizard world via the movies (yes, hate me all that you want) and later got introduced to the books.  I was young, probably around 10 and I H-A-T-E-D his character but always was in awe of him. Those eyes, the way he mouthed each word to perfection. But as the sequels came out, I grew into loving him. The depths and the layers of his characters- an incomplete love story, the under appreciated good guy and Rickman made it all so convincing.  

His incomplete love story was perhaps one of the most tragic parts of the HP series.

And I believe most would agree that he’s one of those few actors who did full justice to the characters in the books. So yes, his demise stirs up a lot of memories because Harry Potter is a significant part of our childhood. It always leaves you in a daze when a character you’ve grown to love and the actor who made it all possible are no longer here in the physical world. It makes you want to curl up in the bed, read the books and watch the movies once again and maybe, maybe cry a little.

After all who can forget his classic dialogues- “You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? Yes, I’m the Half Blood Prince” (I was shocked at this one really) or his constant insults- “Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. ‘Ghosts are transparent’” and of course, the one word that he immortalized- “Always”. 

"After all this time?"
"Always"

The word has almost acquired a religious significance for the Potter fandom.

  

God, I’m tearing up a little, I must admit.

He was perfect in every way, that gorgeous black hair, that bad-ass black gown to go with it, a face that could convey a thousand emotions without saying very little or anything at all. 

Yes, you can cry now.

So imagine a reader’s shock when this news came out, well, here’s an example of a friend who’s a Potterhead-

First stage of grief- denial

I wish he’d lived longer, I wish I’d been able to meet him, but that’s one things off my bucket list but here’s raising our wands to the amazing wizard, actor and human being that he was. 

Here's raising our wands to the Half Blood Prince

“You outraged us when you shapeshifted as Sheriff of Nottingham, awed us as Rasputin, got us to sing in Sweeney Todd, broke our hearts in Love, Actually, made my young girl-muggle feelings all confused in Truly, Madly, Deeply, and won us over as who you are. The person you never wanted to become, your alter ego – beloved, enigmatic Alan Rickman.”
- Sade Andria Zabala Poetry