DailyOh! Sheena Bora skeleton has a cat connection, your hangover has a dog hair solution
Glad that the most difficult day of the week is drawing to an end? We feel you.
Glad that the most difficult day of the week is drawing to an end? We feel you.
But before you call it a day, let us introduce you to DailyOh! Your daily dose of news, views and nonsense. And before you take daily too literally, let us tell you, by daily we mean only Monday to Friday.
So, let’s get cracking.
Now, we do know that you were flooded with news and information on your WhatsApp, Twitter feeds and news apps though the day, but did you find out the connection between the murder of Sheena Bora and the cat?
Oh, wait a second! Don’t remember Sheena Bora?
Let us jog your memory through it. Sheena Bora, an executive working with a Mumbai-based organisation, who went missing in 2012, was allegedly killed by her mother Indrani Mukerjea, former HR consultant and cofounder of INX Media that ran the English news channel NewsX. Nobody knew Bora had died till Indrani’s driver got arrested in 2015 in some other case. It is the driver who told the police about Bora’s murder. He even told the police where he and Indrani had buried the body. Peter Mukerjea, who was then Indarni’s husband, was also accused in the conspiracy. The couple divorced each other after a bitter spat made public through their lawyers.
So, how does the cat come into the story?
Wait, wait! Coming to that.
A skeleton was exhumed from the spot where the driver said they buried Sheena's body.
The CBI, in its bid to prove that the skeleton found from the spot actually belonged to Sheena, used the services of FantaMorph. You wouldn’t believe that FantaMorph itself doesn’t claim that it can be used as a forensic tool for facial superimposition.
But the CBI used it to come to the conclusion that the skeleton was that of Sheena.
CBI’s choice of a forensic technique that is actually not a forensic technique should also be a matter of investigation, don't you think?
During the trial, the use of FantaMorph became so contentious that when a cat entered the courtroom during one of the hearings, Peter’s defence counsel Shrikant Shivade claimed that the software would even show a match between the cat’s skull and the one CBI recovered.
While the CBI’s choice of a website, which comes with a 30-day free trial pack, is problematic, the technique of facial superimposition is not.
Have you heard about the 1997 murder of Diana Routley in Varanasi? Oh, that was so long ago that most of us have forgotten about it.
It was one of those cases they refer to as the one that shakes “the conscience of the nation”. This expression ‘conscience of the nation’ makes us wonder how an intangible entity like nation can have conscience when even most humans lack it.
Sounds pessimist? Oops! We do believe there are a lot many people with conscience out there too, but at least Routley’s killer didn’t have it.
The 24-year-old woman was a backpacker touring India when she befriended Dharam Deva Yadav. Yadav reportedly killed Routley by strangulating her for money, stealing her traveller's cheques, camera and backpack. Yadav stuffed Routley's body into the cavity beneath the floor of his house in Ghazipur.
The identity of the skeleton found from Yadav’s home was established through forensic identification. But don’t write off FantaMorph yet. You can use it to have some fun with photo morphing.
From Sheena, let’s take you to Shaheen Bagh, an area in the vicinity of Jamia Millia Islamia in Southeast Delhi district, which has been in the news since mid-December when women belonging to the locality laid siege to the streets protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. They have been there since then. Oh, ya! They were there through that extreme cold phase too when the temperatures went down to 2 and 3 degree Celsius.
Do you know that the word shaheen has a strong connection with Allama Iqbal? To unearth that connection, let us tell you what 'shaheen' means. 'Shaheen' is also your Word of The Day since it is a word so many of our days these days are incomplete without. So 'shaheen' means a falcon. The bird has been mentioned in many of Iqbal’s works.
Sample this:
Parindon Ki Duniya Ka Darvesh Hoon Main / Ke Shaheen Banata Nahin Ashiyana
Loosely translated to English, it would mean, "I am the Dervish of the world of birds / A falcon doesn't make a nest."
He actually used it as a metaphor for what an ideal Muslim youth should be. This metaphor was used because of the distinct features of the falcon. Now, falcons are among the highest flying birds. But, their pride of place draws from the fact that they are not known to feed off the dead. The falcon has a sharp tooth at the end of their beak that is used as a weapon to kill its prey.
And since we are talking of protests and since it seems like there is nothing else happening in the country apart from protests these days, let’s talk a bit more about protests, protesters and those protesting against protests. Well, they are protesters too, but you know what we mean.
Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has claimed that in Assam and Uttar Pradesh, the state governments shot protesters like dogs. There is so much criticism of what BJP is doing to protesters that nobody seems to be noticing that this statement also reeks of a bias towards dogs. Did you notice it?
Despite dogs being the first animal to be domesticated by humans, we have so many expressions that show we haven’t truly accepted them yet. Dog’s death, dog days, dog-tired and work like a dog. And of course, say thanks to Garam Dharam for kuttey, kaminey, etc.
We mean, just leave that dog alone, will you?
But before that, have you heard about the benefits of the hair of a dog?
The expression originally referred to a method of treatment of a rabid dog bite by placing hair from the dog in the bite wound. Not here in India. That came from Scotland.
But the same can be applied to people dealing with hangovers world over. Nooooooo! Don’t put it in your drinks.
The expression when applied to drinks, means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same within 24 hours to soothe the nerves.
We do not vouch for the scientific veracity of the claim. We are only concerned with the expression.
But why are we talking of hangovers? Because we were talking about the expression 'hair of the dog' after Dilip Ghosh mentioned "shot like dogs".Now, talking of deaths, you must have heard that authorities in Tihar are using sacks of sand to test the noose to hang the four December 16 convicts. That is standard practice before all hangings. But do you know that hours after they hanged Ranga and Billa in Tihar jail, they found that Billa still had a pulse? So what did they do then?
They hanged him again.
Let that sink in as we sign off.
Be back tomorrow!