Blood drinkers day
- By The Rambler
- Published 1st February, 2008
The calendar is soon going to organize a competition to find out which of the days of the year has witnessed the greatest number of crimes in Mauritius, Sundays and Public Holidays included. The crimes will be divided into several categories ranging from petty thefts and larcenies in the shops and supermarkets; pickpocketing and snatching mobile phones and necklaces on the streets; hijackings and hold-ups in banks, filling stations and other places; drug trafficking; rape, sexual intercourse with minor, incest, paedophilia, sodomy; to the various forms of murder perpetrated for all sorts of reasons, causes and excuses and pretexts. A distinct category will be reserved for assaults on tourists. Another category will be devoted to white colour crimes, corruption, etc.
The panel of adjudicators will be headed by a member of the brotherhood in Sicily, and will include a don from the Bombay underworld. A high official of the local police, a criminal lawyer, and a leader of the local crime syndicate as well as a hardened criminal will also sit on the jury. The prizes will be decided at a later stage.
The local and international mafia are being contacted for sponsorship. This annual event will be known as the “Bloodiest Day” competition, but will not have anything to do with the other “Days” like “Women's Day,” “Mother's Day,” or “All Souls Day,” etc.
The idea to organize such a competition, although long conceived, has resurfaced in the wake of the Prime Minister's declaration concerning toughening the laws against criminals. It is also a natural consequence and reaction to the statement of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice on RadioPlus last Saturday that crime and criminals will not be tolerated and will be very severely dealt with.
High security is being devised for the protection of the members of the jury and the organizers because it is feared that all those who do not win prizes will manifest very violently against them, with
cutters, sabres and other instruments.
Save us from Cambridge
The School Certificate results are out, bringing their lot of tears and laughter among the candidates who sat the exams, and their parents. The Higher School Certificate results are due in a matter of days and they will also designate last year's crop of laureates.
With the number of students who have come out with flying colours at SC, and the HSC results will no doubt be as honourable, the country can be quite optimistic about the quality of its citizens who will be engaged in its future development.
But amid all the rejoicing and satisfaction exhibited by the high scoring schools and the successful candidates, there is one sour pill which the country finds it hard to swallow.
How longer must we rely on Cambridge to conduct these exams for us? At a time when even a pair of dalpuris, purchased reluctantly from the insalubrious vendor at the street corner, is becoming a luxury which one cannot relish without a prick of the conscience and some tinge of regret for the amount one has to pay; at a time when the daily bread gets stuck in the gullet because one can hardly afford it, it appears to be most stupendous, a crime almost, to have to send over a hundred million rupees (Rs 100 million) to Cambridge every year to carry out these examinations.
At a time when the fees for these exams cannot be adequately subsidized for lack of funds, the wisdom of throwing such a huge amount through the Cambridge window is flabbergasting. We can understand that in areas of scarcity as in the textile industry, where local hands are not easily available, we have to import labour from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc. But we can surely set up a local team to handle our SC and HSC exams.
It may be argued that there's going to be shortcomings. We can make allowances for such misgivings in the beginning. But these will be nothing compared to the monumental gaffes committed by Cambridge year after year, jeopardizing the future of our poor, innocent students who are made to bear the brunt of Cambridge's inadequacies and blatant lack of professionalism.
The panel of adjudicators will be headed by a member of the brotherhood in Sicily, and will include a don from the Bombay underworld. A high official of the local police, a criminal lawyer, and a leader of the local crime syndicate as well as a hardened criminal will also sit on the jury. The prizes will be decided at a later stage.
The local and international mafia are being contacted for sponsorship. This annual event will be known as the “Bloodiest Day” competition, but will not have anything to do with the other “Days” like “Women's Day,” “Mother's Day,” or “All Souls Day,” etc.
The idea to organize such a competition, although long conceived, has resurfaced in the wake of the Prime Minister's declaration concerning toughening the laws against criminals. It is also a natural consequence and reaction to the statement of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice on RadioPlus last Saturday that crime and criminals will not be tolerated and will be very severely dealt with.
High security is being devised for the protection of the members of the jury and the organizers because it is feared that all those who do not win prizes will manifest very violently against them, with
Save us from Cambridge
The School Certificate results are out, bringing their lot of tears and laughter among the candidates who sat the exams, and their parents. The Higher School Certificate results are due in a matter of days and they will also designate last year's crop of laureates.
With the number of students who have come out with flying colours at SC, and the HSC results will no doubt be as honourable, the country can be quite optimistic about the quality of its citizens who will be engaged in its future development.
But amid all the rejoicing and satisfaction exhibited by the high scoring schools and the successful candidates, there is one sour pill which the country finds it hard to swallow.
How longer must we rely on Cambridge to conduct these exams for us? At a time when even a pair of dalpuris, purchased reluctantly from the insalubrious vendor at the street corner, is becoming a luxury which one cannot relish without a prick of the conscience and some tinge of regret for the amount one has to pay; at a time when the daily bread gets stuck in the gullet because one can hardly afford it, it appears to be most stupendous, a crime almost, to have to send over a hundred million rupees (Rs 100 million) to Cambridge every year to carry out these examinations.
At a time when the fees for these exams cannot be adequately subsidized for lack of funds, the wisdom of throwing such a huge amount through the Cambridge window is flabbergasting. We can understand that in areas of scarcity as in the textile industry, where local hands are not easily available, we have to import labour from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc. But we can surely set up a local team to handle our SC and HSC exams.
It may be argued that there's going to be shortcomings. We can make allowances for such misgivings in the beginning. But these will be nothing compared to the monumental gaffes committed by Cambridge year after year, jeopardizing the future of our poor, innocent students who are made to bear the brunt of Cambridge's inadequacies and blatant lack of professionalism.
Author)
