Family Court Warning: High Charge Emotion(Melodrama?) Zone Ahead

I can write a huge article, or give it to you in one line: the first time I entered a family court, I felt like I was watching a Tamil serial. Melodrama, melodrama, melodrama. Don't mistake me, it is not a joke. The family court is either highly melodramatic or absolutely boring for me, from the few experiences that I have had as a student of law. But, it is a court that has been made specially to handle the families with a highly charged emotional atmosphere. Family Court is a very sensitive place, and is a fully powered emotional zone. This doesn't come across as surprising, because the matters are of a nature that is deeply connected to the individuals and their families involved in the case. Thanks to a litigation internship that I did with working advocates in the Madras High Court, I was sent to the family court on the very second day of my first ever proper legal internship. 

Section 7(1) and (2) of the Family Courts Act of 1984, describes the kind of disputes over which the family court has the jurisdiction. A family court shall be deemed to exercise the jurisdiction under such law, to be a district court or, as the case may be, any subordinate civil court in the area to which jurisdiction of family court extends.

The suits and proceedings referred in the above-mentioned section are of the following nature between the parties to the petition:

- a decree of nullity of marriage (declaring the marriage to be null and void) or restitution of conjugal rights, or judicial separation or dissolution of marriage.

- the validity of a marriage or the matrimonial status of the person

- the property of the parties or property of either of them.

- order or injunction in the situation arising out of a marital relationship.

- the declaration as to the legitimacy of any person.

- maintenance.

- guardianship of the person or the custody of, or access to the minor.

Cases in the family court involve subjects of high controversy to which usually there is no one right or wrong that can be pinpointed. It may involve mistakes from either one party or both, and the mistakes may be deliberate or unknowing. And, most of the times, there is a lot of fleeting statements by both parties, especially in cases revolving around marriage, and it is next to impossible to determine whether the party actually means it or whether it was said in an emotional fit. 

A good judgment is considered to be neutral, based solely on the facts and evidences available for a case, devoid of bias or emotions overclouding justice. However, cases deal with humans, and when humans are involved it is seldom without at least a tinge of emotion. 

The first time I went into the family court, a woman was crying, loudly, and arguing her case for maintenance by herself without allowing her lawyer to talk to the judge. The judge requested the woman several times to calm down and allow her lawyer to speak, but in vain. There were some in the court laughing at the woman, the lawyer was trying to pacify her and get her to allow him to speak, and the judge was getting irritated. I have never ever seen someone cry that loudly until that day, and she was correcting the judge also when he was trying to talk. The whole air was so charged with high drama that I had to get out for a fresh whiff of air. The case was adjourned to after lunch after a full 45 minutes of drama and overreaction by the woman, and I never went back there after lunch. 

And, a few other times when I had to go to the family court, I overheard conversations and saw scenes that sometimes came across as way too dramatic. But hey, it is not for nothing they have a separate Family Court! As much as you want to appreciate and not mock the sensitivity, sometimes the sequence of events and conversations at the family court can be too funny to not break into a slight amused smile. 

Don't you dare take it further than slight- not unless you want a menacing glare from the judge that can make you hear the words GET OUT without anyone saying it!

I am not a fan of the family court myself. I usually took the first opportunity to exit and visit other courtrooms during my internship. But, if you ever get an opportunity, take a sneak peek into the family court. Not for the drama, but let it teach you the infinite lacunae in the pace of the cases, the inevitable backlogging true to the saying 'justice delayed is justice denied', the huge amount of familial issues that come up every single day, and the sensitivity surrounding it!

I can guarantee you that the high charge atmosphere has very important lessons to teach!

#MyYearInBooks : 2020 Reading Challenge

COVID-19 has decisively made sure that 2020 is going to be a year that would be much better for us if we bother to stay indoors. And, reading wins the coolest indoor activity category hands down.

I used to be a regular visitor to Goodreads a couple of years back, but I had stopped in between. Today, I stumbled upon an interesting collection of Tejas Rao's 'Year In Books', and that got me excited enough to revisit the good old Goodreads. I don't know how long the feature has been there, and I don't know if it has been there almost forever. But, it doesn't matter, I found out about it today. I have to say, as I signed in, an involuntary grin was pinned to my face as my eyes crinkled in happiness. If you want to know why, take a good look at the picture below: a small part of the collection I had kept on Goodreads. 

Wait, did you smile too? I can see your lips faintly curving upward as your eyes soften fondly. It took me back to when I was actually keeping a track of the books I read on Goodreads, and the memories of those beautiful books came flooding back. Isn't that what keeping a record is for? It serves as a beautiful repository of fond memories, and Goodreads does that in a way that looks so nice! In fact, my blog began as an effort to keep track of the books that I used to read day-in-day-out. I just wanted to have a string of posts that I can look back on, and smile at. 

The "Year In Books" is another cool challenge (and a very cool display) of what you read through the year! You can set your reading goal, and keep tracking the books you read, and the stats of which are beautifully complied for you in your "My Year In Books" page. 

My dad's immediate reaction when I showed him the above progress bar: mathematics. If I had to read 100 books per year, then it had to be around eight and a half books a month. And, it is already three months with just 15 books. Tut-tut, Sandhya, you're lagging behind. True, but once I get in the flow, only the supply of the books matter. I usually finish books in a single sitting, or within the same day, mostly because most of them are highly compelling and unputdownable. 

You can check out "My Year 2020 In Books", as I keep adding to it, here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2020/5777749. Or, you can always find a new tab that I have added in the pages bar: "Year In Books- 2020". 

I thought this was a great idea to share the books that we all read, in order to read more, and hence decided to do a post on this! Even with an extensive repository like my blog, I have to say the Goodreads Year In Books page looks too attractive, with it's dynamic and modern design, to not try it out! If you take a look at the right hand column of tabs in my blog, I've added a super cool '2020 Reading Challenge' widget provided by Goodreads. So, as I track my books now, you can keep an eye on your home-girl (thanks in advance)! 

So, read with me, and share the books that you read. This is a brilliant way to showcase the books that demanded our awe and attention, and also get new suggestions and explore more through other people's Year In Books page on Goodreads! We are on a break now, and we don't know how it would be if we get back to school/college/work. It makes sense that we use this time to tick away all our pending wish-lists that we have as a community of bibliophiles. What are you waiting for? Just take the efforts to open a book, it'll take care of the rest!

Let it truly be a year in books! Happy reading!

A Lamp, Or A Smile?

Day nine of the #NaPoWriMo prompt was once again too interesting to be ignored simply due to a self imagined lack of poetic vein. NaPoWriMo prompt said: "Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a “concrete” poem – a poem in which the lines and words are organized to take a shape that reflects in some way the theme of the poem."

So, here I present to you, my concrete poetry: about something that brings light in the lives of all of us!

A

simile.

Moonlight,

 white wonder 

cast upon a sheet of dark grey night.

Shimmering, glittering, binding all beings- 

a wondrous spell, bathed in soothing

dreams of hope and light.

Compare.

To?

A smile.

Carefree.

Infectious.

Hopeful.

Joyous.

Bright,

as a beam

of sunlight.

As you look at the smile,

forget not: to check

if they reached the eyes.

Hope you liked it! You can drop me feedback in the comments below. And hey, I'm still working on that poetry angle, excuse me! 

In The Words Of Dickens: The Good Ships Law and Equity

Equity is one legal subject that is easy to study (also, difficult to score in). One week before our mid-semesters, after a preliminary session on bothering to glance through the roughly made notes of what the teacher had taught in the 20 hours of lectures, equity is one subject that you catch on with quickly. 

Equity is a wide concept without a specific boundary but guided by what are known as the maxims of equity. The maxims of equity are legal maxims which serve as a collection of general principles or laws which are said to regulate the way equity functions. By comparison to common law, they seek to highlight the virtues of equity as a more versatile, sensitive approach to the individual's needs, willing to take into account the actions and conduct of the parties. These concepts were evolved by the Chancery Courts in England. If you are interested to take a peek at how the Chancery Courts worked, you should check out Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

There are 12 maxims of equity, and when I list them out here you'd know why I said they were the easiest. 

1. Equity will not suffer a wrong without a remedy.
2. Equity follows the law.
3. Where there is equal equity, the law shall prevail.
4. Where the equities are equal, the first in time shall prevail.
5. He who seeks equity must do equity.
6. He who comes into equity must come with clean hands.
7. Delay defeats equities.
8. Equality is equity.
9. Equity looks to the intent rather than the form.
10. Equity looks on that as done which ought to be done.
11. Equity imputes an intention to fulfill an obligation.
12. Equity acts in personam.

Did any of that need explaining? I'm guessing, not at all. Equity was one subject that we learnt, and then could jokingly use those maxims in day to day life. They make so much sense, and they are something that every prudent man knows. To express in an oversimplified manner: while the common law sticks to the rigidity of the structural and procedural technicalities, equity stresses on what you could classify as using common sense to decide whether the actions of the parties were fair or not. 

In India, law is equity, and equity is law. They go hand in hand. We do not have separate courts of equity, neither do we have separate laws to govern equity. Our courts are in themselves believed to imbibe equity in the judgments, and our law is also considered to be equitable. 

Wouldn't it be an interesting pursuit to observe the actual implications of equity on a rigid law!

A Time To Kill

Title: A Time To Kill

Author: John Grisham

Carl Lee, an African-American distraught father who kills the two men responsible for the brutal rape of his ten year old daughter, is charged with capital murder. Jake Brigance, a close friend and white attorney, represents Carl Lee in his gruesome trial. Jake is aided by a pro-bono team of Lucien and Harry Rex to fight the case down to every possible thread, and finally they settle for the last possible defense: the plea of insanity. 

Set in a fictitious town of Ford County around the time period where the racial discrimination against the African-Americans was at its peak, Grisham's legal thriller projects and discusses through the simply woven story line about the steep unfairness and the biases of the judges almost always leading to an injustice served. 

The book also captures the support and the feelings of the fraternity of the African-American characters. As Jake and his friends fight the case, they also get a lot of aid and under-the-table illicit information from those departments where there is a rare African-American to help. During the plea of insanity backed up by a medical test, Jake presents before the jury an undeniably guilty string of corroborative evidences against the court doctor, who in all the previous cases wantonly denied the defense of insanity to all the African-Americans, and this had led to all of them receiving a death penalty. How Jake and his band of determined attorneys manage to get the acquittal of Carl Lee makes the crux of the novel.

The novel sometimes plays out more as an action sequence with killings, fights, bombs, and what not! Yet, A Time To Kill is not something that's a page-turner. There is nothing of the sort that you could call major twists or turns in the plot. The trajectory of the story is something that is well-expected out of it. It revolves around and focuses on death penalty, racism and injustice. If you have already read a book like To Kill A Mockingbird, then this wouldn't come across as eye-opening. 

However, it was a nice read. 

Moonlight Marauders

Title: Moonlight Marauders: IAF Fighter Squadron Strikes by Night Indo-Pak War, Dec 1971

Author: Teshter Master 

On the first of February, 1971 there came a decisive step that changed the game of the Indo-Pak War that year. For the first ever time, 211 personnel were called to report, each with their own outstanding capabilities, and in the 7 Wing Air Force Station at Adampur, Punjab was formed the Tactics & Combat Development & Training Squadron (TCDTS) of the Indian Air Force. As the book puts it, "the pilots were considered to be the crème de la crème of fighter pilots in the IAF". 

A story, as thrilling as it can get, where the newly formed TCDTS is asked at an extremely short notice to perform a task in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Shrouded in secrecy, the squadron had a small, decisive, and one of the most important war tasks. Set out in moonlight, the Squadron was bound by the duty of a unique contribution during this legendary war between India and Pakistan: "to carry out Low-Level Night Strikes against highly defended and important air bases in the Northern Sector of West Pakistan." And, what better team than the this squadron that was waiting for this rare opportunity of the Air Force to give a solid blow to the enemy!

Describing their raid attacks over moonlight, chapters of the book vividly describe as the fighter pilots fly in the nothingness of the dark night and the little light allowed by the moon, channeling their focus guided by their gut and expertise. Flying the Mig-21s and the Su-7 at such a low altitude for the first time, to successfully escape the radars that capture their movements, the IAF fighter pilots push themselves to train through unending simulations, trying that much harder to be better than the previous ones. It is lovely to read the passion with which the author writes about the aircraft, admiring their beauty "to look and to fly". 

The primary source of the book being his personal flying records in log book during the days of the 1971 war, Teshter Master weaves before our eyes a beautifully written, technically detailed, and emotionally sound story that closely follows the activities immediately after the founding of TCDTS, as the squadron trains night in and out striving to be war-worthy, and determined to play the key role of moonlight marauders. Even the crème de la crème fighter pilots are but human. The story is not one adrift of the emotions undergone by the fighter pilots. Master beautifully blends in his worry about his wife Daphne and their two kids, along with the ruthless training that they undergo to make their task in the war a success.

The book has a crying victory of our cheerful, dedicated and spirited squadron, for whom, by that time of the book, you'd already be rooting for. The warmth of success is ended by Teshter Master in the sweet yearnings of his squadron to go home, on a well-deserved and long impending leave from duty. 

Towards the end of the book, a note of the reunion of TCDTS, and also a very close and fond word about each member in the reunion by the author makes the book very special. It also has appendices that give you a glimpse from the Squadron diary, a narration of the Engineering Squadron's efforts, and also the milestones in TCDTS from 1971 to 2015. The book also lets you into the awards and glories that the TCDTS received over the years.

The narrative of the story is with a tone of awe-demanding, worthy pride. Detailed and exciting, the pace of the story ensures that you would probably become so invested while reading the story that it is not improbable that you would see them flash by in front of your eyes. 

Moonlight Marauders was a wonderful read. Those who understand the technicalities of flying would thoroughly enjoy every word of the book. And, those who may not understand every word: again, would thoroughly enjoy every word. 

Pick up your copy today to journey with the most exciting and spirited squadron that you would come to love by the time you reach the final page! 

Can You Live Without Your Phone?

No, this is not a post where I am going to lecture you on the beauty of life without your eyes constantly glued to the phone. Nope, I am not your mom. But, hey, once in a while, maybe listen to her? 

Can you live without your phone? Interesting question. Well, technically yes. We are all so consumed with our lives, an integral part of which is our phone, but we can very well stay alive without it. However, what I meant through the question is whether other devices can compensate the functionalities of your phone? If not a phone, could all other necessary activities be completed through your laptop, or any other device at home? And, the answer to that question differs from person to person. I am here to only talk about my experience. 

For a start, let me introduce you to my Lenovo K8 Note, a ragged looking two year old that I dropped way more than once, and she has deep scratches and chips all over her screen. However, like a lady wearing make up, she has over her broken screen a nice layer of the finest tempered glass (which I have successfully managed not to break yet). She has been working fine, until one day she just went off. She went a little cranky, and hard reset herself and I lost all data. The phone just powered off for reasons that is beyond my technical comprehension. And, truth is, this can happen to any device, anytime, anywhere, and is just beyond control.

Of course, this entailed a whole day of fervent prayers, and repeated attempts to boot it up, in vain. The phone has been off for the past few days. And, could I live without a phone? At first, I needed a couple of messages that was supposed to go to the phone number, and the phone was off. Solving that was easy, I just had to remove the sim and use it on my dad's phone that had a dual sim. And, the rest? Whatsapp is the only other app that I need a phone for. Otherwise, everything just works fine on the web. And also, Whatsapp thankfully is not an essential for me.

Since young, my dad had always insisted that we back up everything on the cloud. And, that has always stood me in good stead. While the hard reset erased all the data from my phone, I did not in the real sense lose anything. 

have to say google accounts with sync across all devices is pretty cool- especially when your phone crashes in less than a second stubbornly refusing to power up again

— Sandhya Varadharajan (@sandhya_varadh) April 2, 2020

I also happen to own Asus Chromebook that supports android applications. So, for me, life has always been on the cloud with Google. I can tell you from experience that backing up on a cloud platform is the best thing you can do to keep your data safe and accessible all the time. 

Also, the phone crash obviously brought about some basic lessons lectured by my dad, who has a knack of coming up with the right opportunities to teach you something that might be necessary as a basic life lesson. This phone crash can happen anywhere, anytime. I was at home, so it was easier to handle it. It can happen during travel, in a new city that speaks an unfamiliar language. It is always important to be prepared for such situations. Always carry important numbers/addresses with you on a physical copy of paper. Always know by heart the numbers of your closest contacts that you might want to reach out to anytime- which could be your children, parents, spouse, anybody. 

It is so easy for us today to be completely under-prepared when a gadget fails, especially one as important and integral in our lives as a phone. 

So, the moral of this story: essentially, and always, be prepared.

Whims and Fancies Of An Ethereal Childhood

I don't really write poems, not my domain. However, the NaPoWriMo prompt of today (Day 4) reminded me the one dream-imagery that dominated most of my childhood. The moment I read it I was thrown back to cherishing that slaphappy memory, so I wrote something about it anyway, whether you'd classify it as a poem or not.

The prompt: to write a poem based on an image from a dream.

Drops of heavy rain fall hard,

there is a knock on the door,

the middle of night.

Heart pounds fast, 

the thought of it

numbing, in excitement.

Eleventh birthday, they said, 

and the unending wait had 

come to cease.

The knock, again.

Heart pounds faster,

the wind whistles the tune of hope,

the hoot of an owl builds up

the nearing time.

Not one more civilized knock,

but a knocked down door.

A wet, giant Hagrid stands 

clueless, eyes darting in search

of the little girl.

'Congrats, kid. Happy birthday!'

he booms.

'Sandhya- yer a wizard.'

There is silence.

Only the whistling wind,

could be heard.

Anyone who knew me around my middle school times can vouch for a fact that I went around saying I'd deny the most prestigious institution any day only to get acceptance from Hogwarts. It was my happy place, and many thanks to J. K. Rowling for that beautiful story that made us all yearn to get in. I was so carried away by the story that I actually believed that on my eleventh birthday I would actually get into Hogwarts. I even did the base of lecturing my mom as an attempt to convince her into sending me to Hogwarts. Ah, that was an acceptable disappointment. And, thanks to my wonderful friends, the long dream was finally fulfilled on my 19th birthday! Thanks to all of you who let me have my whims and fancies of an ethereal childhood with Harry Potter and the world of books!

How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market

Title: How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market

Author: Nicholas Darvas

The stock market is as closest to magical money as we know it. Darvas, in this brilliantly written retrospective look at how he made $2,000,000 over 18 months in the stock market, takes us through what looks like a series of natural common sense actions that we would do, which he also did, and journals the change in his approach to the markets as he gets his sweet profits and woeful losses.

A dancer by profession, with not an inkling of knowledge about markets or stocks, Darvas stumbles upon the concept for the first time when his clients of his dance show agree to pay him in stocks of a Company they are interested in, instead of cash. Later, due to good conscience he purchases the stocks anyway, though he is unable to perform the show for his client. A careless glance at the papers one morning makes him realize he has doubled his profits. With this sweet introductory taste of success, he continues to experiment in the Canadian mine companies in the market. 

From a blind-eyed gambler, investing on stocks based on crude trust and rumours under the garb of 'inside information', Darvas is quick to realize that his small profits were nothing but sheer luck, and he seeks to improvise his market methods to something better informed. He started his gambling phase at the Canadian markets, but however when he finally wraps it up and starts his work in the Wall Street, he aims to be a fundamentalist. 

Through his fundamental and technical approaches, both of which individually fail Darvas' attempt to have a formula that he can apply on stocks, he finally realizes that it's not a case of either but rather a techno-fundamentalist approach to stocks that actually works, that looks at both the fundamental workings of the Company, and also the dynamic numbers and volumes associated with the stock. 

The book is filled with pieces out of Darvas' record of what stocks he bought, how they behaved and where we went wrong or right. This makes the book in itself a standing example of what Darvas describes. It is not a book that comes down heavy on you with jargon. Darvas himself, in fact, being a dancer, starts at the very beginning when he knew nothing about stocks, and walks you all the way through how he came to make the $2,000,000.

A long time ago, way back in 2014, I read this book, and wrote a post: Five Points That I Learnt From “How I Made $2 Million In The Stock Market”. And, I learnt a whole lot of things this time that I can't incorporate all of them in this review of the book! I shall definitely do another post on it, stay tuned. 

This is an absolutely brilliant, fun, and quick read that not only amply warns about the natural course of stupidity that the brain would like to adopt in the market, but also  garners a hope that Darvas clearly maintains throughout the book that even a person who doesn't know what a stock is can hit it off big time in the markets with steady experience leading to corrective learning, and more experience!

I loved it more when I read it this second time around!

The Palace Of Illusions

Title: The Palace Of Illusions

Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

I usually am not fond of reading re-imaginations of Indian mythological stories. That is probably because I have heard them several times before, and also heard them in the best possible style. Poetic adaptations are sometimes fun to read, and we had a lot of them during our Tamil classic literature lessons in school. However, I picked up this book to read sometime back.

Most of us have heard the stories from the epic Mahabharata. It has for years been retold, and stalwart poets have re-imagined the tale in their fluent, mesmerizing verses. Chitra Banerjee in The Palace of Illusions attempts to re-imagine a part of the epic, but from the narrative point of view of Panchali. Starting from the birth of Draupadi as a maiden out of pious fire, till the end, the narrative is maintained from the perspective of Panchali. 

The story is not the one that is captivating in this book. We all know them well, and sometimes know it from sources we trust better, and have heard some amazing narrations. Yet, the only reason this book is any different is the twist in who is narrating the story. The idea to re-imagine from the perspective of one of the best, and most classic characters of the Mahabharata, especially that being a woman- is what the book aims to deliver. 

The Palace of Illusions is purely a re-imagining of the Mahabharata from the author's perspective of how Panchali might have seen it. It is an interesting experiment, written commendably. The narrative has just the right pace, and is highly engaging. It is must be given to the credit of the author, to have made the story engaging despite us having known every story before. The book is an engaging read, and the flow of the author as to how Panchali might have narrated it has been a refreshing read. However, I personally did not feel overwhelmed by the book, as compared to a lot of people who seemed to have been.

Finally, to wrap it up in one line, the readers have to bear in mind just one thing: it is not the Mahabharata, it is an imaginative retelling of stories from the epic as imagined by the author from the narrative of Panchali. 

 It was an interesting read, although!

The Snow Gel Queen Demands Her Tribute

Happiness was at it's best when we were in school. In the final years of my primary schooling, towards the end term of my fifth standard life, there came a life-turning point. It was a significant one- one that would mould my preference and dominate for the rest of my school years, still does in college, and would probably do through the rest of my life. A bunch of ten-year-olds excitedly bid adieu to term two of Class V. When we returned after that short term break of ten days, we were to return as those who were going to take that first step into what seemed like a 'grown-ups' life. In the third term of Class V, we graduated from a pencil to a pen. Yes, a pen.

Our school had a rule that you could use only a gel pen or an ink pen. Ball pens were strictly prohibited until Class VIII. The class was in two factions- those who wrote with their fancy ink pens, and those with the gel pens. Actually, there was a third faction too- the ones that bought only and only Trimax.

Class V was an exciting phase with a full-on pen exploration undertaken by all the kids. My first ink pen was a classic green Camlin ink pen. Well, it pretty soon turned out that it didn't work that well for me. There were hoards of other famous ones like Jumbo and Camel that others used. The ultimate favourite ink pen that, as kids, we went frenzy about was Grippy, an ink pen with a new comic designed body. Out of the 35 in my class, 30 of us had it, whether we liked ink pens or not. It was just a cult necessity. There were those few who showed off their Parkers, and a few others stuck to their Luxor stick pens. But then later, I found that I didn't like ink pens at all much, and then I diverged out to explore gel pen options.

And, then came a phase of Pelicans, Pilot, and Trimax. They were the top of the game. With an amazing flow, and pen caps that somersault, Trimax was an instant favourite for all of us. But the common issue among all of them was that they were expensive. Thirty rupees for a pen, and eighteen rupees for a refill. We found that the ink was gone in a week, for all the notes that we took down. We set out to find cheaper alternatives. 

That was the period of the discovery of Snow Gel and Reynolds Racer Gel in our lives. Again, all the Grippys, Trimax, Pelicans were duly replaced by the five-rupee Snow Gel that lasted for over two weeks. True, the caps didn't somersault. But hey, they came in so many colours!

I was always a gel pen girl, but that's only till the end of Class VI. The most rebellious thing we ever did in school was to use a ball pen before Class VIII. Woah, wow, what cool kids, and what a wondrous life! Right? It was fun to sneak in one paper written in all ball, amongst those other papers written in ink and gel! Later, when my brother went through the same phase in school, I was strictly warned by my parents not to teach him such wrong lessons. 

To date, I am a ball-pen girl. And I positively love those three/four/five rupee pens. In my opinion, drawn from my extensive experience from experimentation, they work the best! Their flow is just brilliant, they are absolutely cost-effective, and they last for a decently long period. Also, bonus points, they don't break if you drop, they don't ever leak, and you don't feel that guilty if you lose them (though you should, losing is bad), or someone whom you lent it to didn't return it. 

When I see someone taking notes with a pencil during lectures at the University, I am always reminded of this. Today, I was looking for a pencil to mark something on my notebook, and again was reminded of this. 

As the Snow Gel Queen demands her tribute, I present to you this post- the adventures of happy 10-year olds who decided the faction of pens they belonged to!

North And South

Title: North and South

Author: Elizabeth Gaskell

Margaret Hale, eighteen, lives in London with her cousin Edith and her affluent Aunt Shaw for over 10 years. And, when Edith marries Captain Lennox, Margaret happily returns to the southern village of Helstone, which she had been missing for quite a while during her stay in London. Margaret refuses an offer of proposal of marriage by the Captain's brother, Henry, training underway to become a barrister. Her life is taken around on an unexpected spin when her pious father, the local pastor, leaves the Church of England and the rectory of Helstone involving certain issues, as a matter of conscience. Father and daughter leave the comfort of their village, and shift into a town in Milton-Northern. 

The story follows Margaret as she gets involved with the brash life of the industrial society of the town, and how her abject dismissal of the town turns to a growing fondness for it over the eighteen months that she stays in the town. Love and life hits a young, determined and happy Margaret as she involves herself with the hard-working but poverty stricken people of the town. 

This classic has one of the strongest leads that I have ever read. First published in 1854, Elizabeth Gaskell's Margaret is an example of the then emerging modern day woman, who is solid in her opinions and intuitions, and puts a strong foot forward to lead others. Gaskell neatly ties up all the confronting themes of her society, and deals with modernity, tradition, rebellion, authority, love and hope with elegance.

I am fan of classic fiction. And, this one is an invaluable addition to my wonderful library of classics. It proves to us that strength, be it in a woman or a man, is not a new concept, and in fact is age old and gold! I am forever amazed by these wonderful authors who could portray a storm of a character like Margaret in this book, and Daisy Miller in Daisy Miller by Henry James. Books like these undeniably draw me closer to devour classic fiction. 

I loved North and South, and so will you! 

Catching A Vibe

Music is something that I have been introduced to very young. My mom loves listening to Carnatic music, a classical South-Indian genre, and she watches a lot of concerts, they are called 'katcheri'. I learnt South Indian Carnatic music for a long time during my schooldays from a professional classical Carnatic music guru. Being in Chennai, music is found everywhere in the December 'margazhi utsavam season'. Almost in every household, the kids learnt, when I was in school, classical music in some form- either vocal or instrumental. Our own school had two dedicated periods for music- one traditional and the other western, where we learnt a mix of swaras and jingles- all in the same spirit!

However, apart from the jingles that I learnt in school, and the trendy scores, I never had the opportunity, nor bothered to explore other genres of music. Words like pop, rock, jazz, rap were just words to me, really, and I didn't have a great sense about them. But, college opened up a lot of new music to me. Initially (and still actually, haha), I shied away from conversations about music because of the worry that I didn't really know much about it. And then slowly, I started looking at it the other way: I don't know anything is the best place to start a conversation from! And wham-bham: my friends were always asking me to check out this and that, and they were constantly sending me song suggestions. I kind of got into a groove about it. 

Over the semesters (since I've come to identify time in the scale of semesters like any college student), I have explored quite a bit, and I have to admit I found out ones that clearly weren't favourites, and then ones that I really loved.

There are so, so many songs that I listened to and liked over the semesters, but here are five songs which are special to me because a) I loved them, and b) they actually opened me up to other songs and music. Note, there is no order of preference. 

1. Someone New - Hozier : Have to give Hozier the first place. A dear friend made me listen to Someone New as we were walking through our University campus, and that's the story of how I met Hozier without even knowing what I was listening to. It kept playing in my head so often, I was compelled to go back and ask from her what song it was. And from there, I started listening to most of his songs.

2. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go - Wham! : Can't say no to 80s pop.

3. Bennie and the Jets - Elton John : Looks like can't say no to 70s either.

4. B-A-B-Y - Carla Thomas : When I saw Baby Driver, apart from all the car stunts that left me glued to the screen, this was the one song I wanted to go back and check out again. And then, before I knew it I was listening to it on repeat.

5. Taro - Alt-J : This was one song that I stumbled upon on someone's suggestion (I think), and I actually never forget who told me about a song. But, this one here is an exception. I absolutely love it, but can't remember who told me about it. Maybe, no one did and I just stumbled upon it myself. 

6. Dancing Queen - ABBA : Like I already told you, we don't listen to English songs much at home. But, my dad pulled out a list of ABBA songs from one of his friends once, and Dancing Queen just came right to my heart. Loved it then, and love it now. 

7. 24K Magic - Bruno Mars : This was the first Bruno Mars song I ever heard. And, we all got to accept, it does make us dance!

8. Come Together - The Beatles :  This was something I listened to for the first time while cleaning up my room, when my Spotify artist radio just played it. I didn't even know it was by the Beatles! But, the song caught on to me and I went back and checked it out, and since then it has always been in the playlist!

Oops, I said 5 songs but looks like I have a lot of special ones! This is obviously a list I can keep adding to. But, just like I wrap up my research papers in college: the list is beyond the scope of this blog post!

Which songs are special to you? Would you like to add a suggestion, or two? Let me know in the comments!

What Is A Valid Agreement?

To begin understanding the concept and validity of an agreement, the baseline requirement is to fully understand the essence of the definition of this term. Agreement is defined as “a negotiated and typically legally binding arrangement between parties as to a course of action” in the Oxford Dictionary. 

Section 2(e) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, defines agreement as thus: “Every promise and every set of promises, forming the consideration for each other, is an agreement”

According to Black’s Law Dictionary, the term “agreement” has been expounded as the following:

“A concord of understanding and intention, between two or more parties, with respect to the effect upon their relative rights and duties, of certain past or future facts or performances. The act of two or more persons, who unite in expressing a mutual and common purpose, with the view of altering their rights and obligations. A coming together of parties in opinion or determination; the union of two or more minds in a thing done or to be done; a mutual assent to do a thing. Agreements are of the following several descriptions, viz.: Conditional agreements, the operation and effect of which depend upon the existence of a supposed state of facts, or the performance of a condition, or the happening of a contingency. Executed agreements, which have reference to past events, or which are at once closed and where nothing further remains to be done by the parties. Executory agreements are such as are to be performed in the future. They are commonly preliminary to other more formal or important contracts or deeds, and are usually evidenced by memoranda, parol promises, etc. Express agreements are those in which the terms and stipulations are specifically declared and avowed by the parties at the time of making the agreement.”

I am not sure whether all of you read that or skipped it, so here's a summary of what an agreement is:

it is the result of proposal from one side and its acceptance by the other. 

Since a “valid agreement”, that is enforceable by law, is the basis for any contract, it is pertinent to look into the components or the elements that validate an agreement and make it possible to make it a contract enforceable by law. 

Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, lays down the key points that make an agreement valid and enforceable as a contract in the eyes of law. The main validating features in an agreement, that can be understood through Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, are the following: 

1. free consent of all parties entering into the contract
2. competency of all the parties entering into the contract
3. a valid consideration
4. a valid object
5. consensus ad idem or meeting of minds of all the parties entering into a contract
6. the act not being expressly declared to be void

Any agreement that we make that do not satisfy these criteria cannot be a valid agreement in the eyes of law. And, these are just the most basic and sine qua non of any valid agreement. Sometimes, an agreement that fulfills all of the criteria under Section 10 may need something more to make it valid in the eyes of law. 

For example, any agreement and contract for the transfer of a piece of land, or any other immovable property is to be registered compulsorily. A contract that does so without registration is invalid in the eyes of law even if it fully complies with Section 10.

So, we come back to the question: what is a valid agreement?

A valid agreement is one that

a. complies with Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act
b. complies with all mandatory requirements attached to the nature of the contractual agreement under any Indian Law

Fun question: Doesn't consensus ad idem remind you of 'A Horse and Two Goats' by R K Narayan? Or, is it just me every time I hear it?

Termination On Grounds Of Non-Performance

You are a huge company. Mr. A has been working for you since the early years of the Company, and is one of the most honest, trustworthy employees, and he used to be hard working. But now, Mr. A is under-performing, and not an asset to the Company. He hasn't done anything wrong to the Company. No fraud, no gimmicks. Can you fire him because he didn't perform?

Termination of non-workmen category of employees who are working in a shop or commercial establishment are broadly governed by the provisions of Shops & Establishments Act being applicable to the respective employee. 

In a Mondaq article on the subject, under TN Shops & Establishments Act,

"an employee is entitled to notice of one month or wages in lieu of notice if the employer wishes to dispense with the services of that employee except in case of misconduct. Where an employee's services are terminated on account of misconduct, an employee is not entitled to any notice or payment in lieu thereof. Generally, the said enactments define misconduct to include acts of theft, fraud, misappropriation or dishonesty in connection with the employer's business or property. The scope of the said definition has however not been extended to capture the circumstance of inefficiency or unsatisfactory performance by the employee." 

The Madras High Court dealt with the issue of whether the notice period requirement is manadatory or not in the event of termination on the grounds of inefficiencyin the case of Miss T.N. Chandra v. South India Corp (Agencies) Ltd. and another. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in this case held that an employee cannot be thrown out of job on the ground of "extremely unsatisfactory conduct" if the procedure established by law is not followed and if the employee is not put to notice.

“Section 41(1) of the Act is both prohibitory and mandatory and it stipulates in categorical terms that no employer shall dispense with the services of a person employed continuously for a period of not less than six months, except for— 

(a) a reasonable cause; and 

(b) without giving such person at least one month's notice or wages in lieu of such notice."

Therefore, notice period is a pre-requisite for terminating an employee, even including the cases of termination due to of inefficiency or unsatisfactory performance.

In the year 1983, in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation v. M. Management, the issue came before the Supreme Court , in which it was held that termination of employee on the ground of services not found satisfactory falls within the framework of retrenchment.

In Punjab Land Development and Reclamation Corporation v. The Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Chandigarh, a full bench held that the phrase "for any reason whatsoever" needs to be interpreted and understood in a much wider and literal sense. Accordingly, the term "retrenchment" was eventually considered to mean the termination by the employer of a worker's services for any cause whatsoever, without restricting the retrenchment criterion to the extent of the superfluity of a worker or employee, except for those expressly excluded from the concept.

It falls under retrenchment. However, courts have also discouraged firing employees solely on the basis of under performance. They have made mandatory the following of due procedure, and have tried to shift weight on the company to discourage the practice in a mass scale. 

Answer: Therefore, Mr. A can be fired. You have to give him exact notice of how he under performed, and also satisfy the court.