Aswini Ashok

Like every other day in India, a gang-rape was reported, this time in Mysore, and, the events that follow are painfully similar to every other rape case that remain in my memory. A Mysuru university student was gang-raped last week. Neither she nor her family had made a statement to the police yet, understandably because of the shock and trauma they are being through. But every Tom, Dick, and Harry are out with their 2 cents. The minister said the girl should not have gone to that place at all in the first place. He withdrew his statements later, which doesn’t change a thing. Next, the police, who are incapable of making any arrests yet (until I started writing this), have asusual started their moral policing. They have asked the university to curb the movement of women students after 6.30 p.m. This makes me wonder whether the men and women in this country are ruled by the same laws or is there a separate sub-minimal constitution in India that applies only to women. Last I checked, the...

As the elections draw closer, we get multiple calls from political enthusiasts to check the background of each candidate contesting in our constituency and cast our vote for the deserving candidate rather than our favourite party. There are multiple apps available to ‘know our candidate’ at the snap of a button, which compile the data available in the affidavits submitted by the candidates to the election commission. While this is extremely useful to evaluate the candidates, one step forward would be to evaluate our sitting MLAs for their actual performance. Here, such an attempt has been made to evaluate the performance of my MLA of the infamous Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, Mr. TTV. Dinakaran. We may all remember RK nagar and TTV. Dinakaran for one of the most interesting political episodes that followed after the demise of the CM Jayalalitha. First, he contested under AIADMK banner in the by-election that was called off by ECI for cash-for-vote scam and the next election w...

If you are someone who prefers to be away from the city for a while, but also wants to explore how the ancient cities used to be, you might find the ancient temples of medieval times interesting. Here is one such place where ancient architecture meets scientific mysteries. Lepakshi is a village in Andhra Pradesh, secluded from the hustle and bustle of the cities, but, well connected with them. First things first. What is Lepakshi: Legend has it that, this is the place where Jatayu fell after a failed mission to rescue Sita from Ravana’s clutches. Rama saw the mighty eagle lying on the ground miserably and said “Le Pakshi” which translates in English as “Rise, bird”. The main attractions in Lepakshi are the Veerabadraswamy temple and the world’s biggest monolithic Nandi which were all built during Vijayanagara empire times between 13 & 15 th century A.D. What to see in Lepakshi:     1. Veerabadraswamy Temple.      a. Kalyana Mandap A ma...