The Observer Volume 19 Issue 6

The Observer An IIJNM publication

Ward committee meeting minutes not published on BBMP website | P 2

Vol 19, Issue 6

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Major complaints l Frequent power outages l Delays in updating payment status l Termination of connection despite paying the bill l Inability to pay bills due to a Bescom server error

Tamanna Yasmin

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escom consumers have numerous grievances against the company. Primary among them are frequent power outages, delays in updating payment status, termination of connection despite paying the bill, and inability to pay bills due to a Bescom server error.

Some of them take to Twitter to make their grievances known.

They claim Bescom is slow in resolving complaints. Most of the time, the helpline number 1912 is unreachable.

Rafiki, an aggrieved consumer, informed The Observer: “Bills paid through the KarnatakaOne mobile app takes 5 to 10 working days to reflect in the Bescom system. So they come and remove the fuse without verifying if the bill has been paid.”

Consumers Mohd Ismail and Harish Reddy tweeted they are unable to pay their Bescom bills online through e-wallets like Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe. K. Balamurugan faced a similar problem on the Bescom website: “I don’t know what happened to

Avishek’s unexpected bill for Septemberas shown on Google Pay | Courtesy: Avishek Biswas Bescom’s online payment. Nowadays, the webpage hardly opens.”

Hariharan B. tweeted that although he has a hard copy of the bill, he is unable to pay online as the amount is not showing up on the Bescom website.

For a few, Bescom has rude surprises. Avishek Biswas informed The Observer: “My bill usually comes around Rs 500. But this time it is 64 times more. I have not got the paper receipt as well. I have checked the bill on Google Pay, it is Rs 32,074.”

@theweeklyobserver Epaper:https://issuu.com/ theweeklyobserver/docs Website: http://www. theweeklyobserver.in

Nirbhaya fund is strangled due to negligence of the bureaucracy | P 3

Consumers sore with Bescom, many tweet their grievances Complain bills are inflated, helpline is not of much use

facebook.com/ twoiijnm/

Krishna Teja, a resident of Kadugodi, said: “Bescom refused to restore power without a visit by me to their office. A Kadugodi Bescom officer told me over phone that I needed to visit the office with my bill. It took six tweets, five calls to field officers, four calls to 1912, two days of blackout, and a lot of patience, to resolve the issue.”

Ravindra Gowda tweeted: “There are power cuts as frequent as 15 times a day in CKB Layout, Munnekolala and Marathahalli. I don’t understand

the reason behind this.”

On September 18, Sameer Joshi, a resident of Rajajinagar, tweeted: “No power in half of Rajajinagar for more than 9 hours!

Very improper planning by Bescom, all residents are suffering without any power….”

In a bizarre case, foreigner James Rinard who doesn’t live in India, tweeted: “For over a year I’ve been getting emails every month telling me I’ve successfully paid my @NammaBESCOM bill.

Bescom is an electric company in India. Even after contacting them, this continues.” He had also attached screenshots of mails received by him.

B.N. Nagarajaiah, general manager-in-charge of Bescom customer relations, said: “Regarding online payment, it is real time, it will get updated immediately. There is no delay. Probably it happens due to their network issues. Even the website error they are claiming to face might be because of the same.”

Asked about frequent power outages, he said: “We will check that with our people.” Pointing to the specific cases of Ravindra Gowda and Sameer Joshi, he added: “Maybe it is their internal fault. Fifteen times a day is not possible. Nine hours of power cut also sounds very strange. Anyway, we will look into it.”

Continued on page 2

News briefs Population register The National Population Register updation exercise, to be undertaken alongside Census 2021, will collect several particulars such as Aadhaar, mobile number, PAN, driving licence and voter ID details and passport numbers from all residents of India.

Trump impeachment Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives has initiated impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump even as transcripts of his phone calls with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky showed he sought to persuade the foreign leader to investigate his putative 2020 presidential election rival Joe Biden.

Bansal invests in micro-fin co Sachin Bansal, who co-founded Flipkart in 2007, is back to running a business by acquiring majority control in non-banking financial company Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services.

Rape accuser arrested The law student who had accused former Union minister Chinmayanand of rape was arrested by the SIT on Wednesday. A court later rejected her bail application and remanded her in 14 days’ judicial custody.

Contempt action Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed BBMP commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar to show cause why action should not be initiated against him for contempt of court for disobeying the court’s direction to provide the government with a Kannada version of Outdoor Signage and Public Messaging Bylaws, 2018.

Autorickshaws with 2-stroke engines still run in Bengaluru

Are expected to be completely phased out by 2020 Meghna Das Chowdhury

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hough the Karnataka government proposes to ban two-stroke engines, autorickshaws and motorcycles fitted with these engines continue to ply in Bengaluru.

Autorickshaw drivers say they are unaware of the proposed ban and the pollution cause by twostroke engines.

Nagaraj Kumar, the driver of

Two-stroke engines cause air pollution | Credit: Meghna Das Chowdhury

an autorickshaw with a twostroke engine, informed The Observer: “I am not aware whether it is banned or not. I use it as it is in a good condition.”

But he added, “I often have to go a garage and find it difficult to get parts for the two-stroke engine. They are not available at a lot of places.”

“After this engine gives up, I have to buy a four-stroke autorickshaw,” driver Kiran from Kumbalgodu, said.

Two-stroke engines require only two piston movements in order to generate power. Studies have found out that two-stroke engines generate a lot of smoke and increase air pollution. The

smoke they emit is four times more hazardous than that generated by four-stroke engines.

Autorickshaws with two-stroke engines emit a lot of smoke that is black in colour and smell of burning fuel.

Balaji R, who runs an autorickshaw with a two-stroke engine, said it emits a pungent smell and smoke, and he has to take the vehicle to a garage to have its engine cleaned.

M.S. Prakash, an assistant subinspector at the Karnataka traffic police headquarters, said: “In new autorickshaws that are being manufactured, no two-stroke engines are being used. The vehicles with two-stroke engines out there

are the last ones remaining. The new autorickshaws have fourstroke engines. It is the same case with bikes and cars.”

According to an article that appeared in The Hindu: “As the pollution levels are increasing, the Transport Department has decided to ban two-stroke autorickshaws in the city from April 1, 2018.”

But the government extended the deadline to 2020 on realizing that more than 30,000 autorickshaws would be affected by the proposed ban.

Hardly any two-stroke engines are available in the automobile market in Bengaluru.

Continued on page 2

CITY

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The Observer Thursday,September 26, 2019

Minutes of very few ward panel meetings are on BBMP website

Poor show: 38 in June, 33 in July, 26 in Aug Shoby Krishna G

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nly 26 of Bengaluru’s 198 wards have made the proceedings of their committee meetings available on the BBMP website for August 2019.

Swamy, secretary of the Anjanapura (ward 196) committee informed The Observer: “Usually, the proceedings of the meetings are written down and photos taken. The minutes are signed by all members of the ward committee. Sometimes there is a delay in uploading the proceedings if any of the members is absent. We wait till all members, including the absentee members, look at the minutes and sign it.”

Another Anjanpura ward committee member, Anand Yadwad, who is the managing trustee of the Alahalli Lake and Nerehore Adivrudi Sangha, said: “Our committee holds meetings regularly.

We have representatives from government agencies like BWSSB and police…. We have also held some meetings in schools as today’s children are tomorrow’s ward citizens. Their grievances, such as eve-teasing, have been addressed in the meetings.”

Ward committee meetings provide a platform for citizens to directly engage with their corporators.

Bangalore Mirror reported on September 8 that residents of Ho-

Students attend a meeting of BBMP’s Anjanapura ward held in their school | Courtesy: Swamy ramavu (ward 25) marched to the BBMP office as their corporator did not take action regarding the poor condition of roads in their ward. On September 16, it also reported the residents of east Horamavu did not know when and where the ward committee meetings were held, and the corporator did not respond to their calls.

Sathyanarayana VV, chairperson of the Kengeri ward (No. 159) committee, said: “In August, a meeting was not held. Consequently, the proceedings have not been put up on the website. But when meetings are held, around 50 people attend it. The minutes are written by the secretary. It is the responsibility of the secretary to send it to the head office.”

Gurumurthy Reddy, corporator of HSR Layout (ward 174), said: “Ward committee meetings are held on the first Saturday of

Bescom officials claim that they addressed complaints at the earliest Continued from page 1 bout the disconnection issue, Usha, assistant general manager, explained, “These cases arise when the disconnection list is generated the previous day and staff go for disconnection the next day. In the meantime, the consumer pays the bill. Hence, it doesn’t get updated.

There are certain cases in which we cannot help. But Bescom addresses the problems as soon as possible.”

“In general, Bescom’s response compared to others is really very good. The complaints definitely get attended to unless there’s a major issue or a natural calamity,” Usha added.

On the helpline number being unreachable, Bescom officials explained: “When the call inflow is huge, there will be pending calls, nothing can be done about that.

Earlier, we had 30 lines; now we have increased them to 60. If a consumer calls twice or thrice, he or she will get the line.”

When The Observer showed them James Rinard’s tweet, the

every month, and the recorded proceedings sent to the assistant revenue officer of our ward. The ARO is responsible for uploading them to the website.”

According to the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Ward Committee) Rules, 2016, all minutes and notices of ward committee meetings should be published on the corporation website. As on September 19, 2019, the BBMP website showed that 33 wards had uploaded their minutes for July, and 38 wards had done so for June. Less than 20% of the wards have published the minutes of committee meetings on the website.

The rules regarding ward committees say that it is the duty of the corporator to inform the public about ward committee meetings, which serve as grievance redressal mechanism for citizens.

Smoke from two-stroke engines has high level of hydrocarbons Continued from page 1 The number of autorickshaws with two-stroke engines is coming down slowly. Therefore, we expect that soon no twostroke engines will be out there on the roads,” an official with the Koramangala RTO, said.

Dr H.S. Lokeshwari, chief scientific officer of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, said: “It would be a very good idea if the Karnataka government banned two-stroke engines totally. The amount of smoke and poisonous gases coming out from a two-stroke engine is much more compared to that from a fourstroke engine. Two-stroke engines also create a lot of noise pollution.

The ban is still a plan in action, and it is a proposed ban.”

According to the Indian Environmental Portal, there is a high level of hydrocarbons in the smoke produced by two-stroke engines.

Dr Sateesh V., an associate professor at the Rajarajeshwari College of Engineering and expert in automobile engineering, said: “It would be a good idea to ban some-

“

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Bescom refused to restore power unless customer Krishna Teja visited the office. He did not. | Credit: Nissim Jacob officials said: “There is a reply from Bescom on his tweet asking him to send a mail to our helpline, but I think we have not got any response from him. Anyway, this is a serious issue, we will definitely check on this.”

But some rules are not followed. For example, Disaster Management Cells have not been set up in the wards. A seven-day notice along with the agenda is rarely circulated among committee members and attendees.

Srinivas Alavalli, co-founder of the civic group Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), shared: “In some cases, meetings are not held, and sometimes, the minutes are not published. Whoever we ask, they say they have sent it. They say the problem lies with the BBMP IT department.”

According to news reports, BBMP’s decision to delegate powers to special commissioners and zonal commissioners is seen as a right step towards decentralization. It is expected this will help in better functioning of the ward committees as decisions can be taken at the local level instead of awaiting approval from above.

About this, Alavalli said: “Zonal corporators’ meetings are not taking place right now. The idea of delegation of powers to zonal commissioners will ensure political accountability. Ward committees are the best places to hold elected representatives accountable.” The meetings provide for governance at the grassroots level which ensure better functioning of democracy.

The 74th Constitution amendment Act, 1992, states that urban local bodies are “vibrant democratic units of self-government”.

It provides for the constitution of committees at the ward level for areas with a population of three lakh or more. shoby.k@iijnm.org

thing that creates so much pollution. But if you can work on the two-stroke engine and make it less polluting, even that is a good idea.” Sateesh and his students are working on a project to operate a four-stroke diesel engine using vegetable oils, along with petrol or diesel. It would create less pollution.

Dr Lokeshwari said: “The central government is proposing a ban on BS IV engines used in cars and implementing the use of BS VI engines as they create less pollution and only good-quality fuel can be used in them.”

An article in the Deccan Herald said: “About two and a half years ago, the transport department made it clear that two-stroke engine autorickshaws emit lot of smoke. Hence, it was made mandatory for all new autorickshaws to run on LPG, or to have four-stroke engines, to bring down emission levels and to phase out the two-stroke engine autos simultaneously. But these autorickshaws continue to ply on roads.” meghna.c@iijnm.org

Citizen’s voice Take to farming The standard of living in villages and towns should be improved by improving irrigation facilities.

Everybody need not be a doctor or engineer. Farming is also a noble profession. More people should turn to it. This will make quality food products affordable to the common man.

Dr Chetna Jain, nutritionist Inspiring teen activist Teenager Greta Thunberg’s fiery speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York left many world leaders unsettled. In a quivering tone, she talked about the perils of ignoring the signs of climate change for so long. In recent days, many teenage climate activists, inspired by Greta Thunberg, have taken part in protests, taking the discussion to the next level.

Savyata Mishra Phony nationalism The meaning of the word nationalism has changed in the present context. Chanting “Jai Shri Ram” doesn’t prove that a person is a nationalist. Questioning and investigating have disappeared.

Bibek Baidya Garbage in Kalasipalayam Garbage around the Kalasipalayam bus stop has increased, making it difficult for people to walk by because of the stench.

Animals are seen feeding on the unsegregated garbage, which is harmful to the environment and the people.

Arti Peethambaran RBI’s welcome diktat RBI’s latest regulatory changes on mandating commercial banks to do away with MCLR rates and link their floating rate (personal, retail or MSME) loans to the external benchmark rates will bring a sigh of relief to the borrowers, as the loans will get cheaper and the rate change will be faster.

Priyansh Verma

Weather Maximum temperature: 28 degrees Celsius Minimum temperature: 20 degrees Celsius Forecast: Generally cloudy sky with moderate rain Precipitation: 24% Humidity: 63% Wind: 8 km/h

Team Observer Editor: Shivani Priyam Copy editors: Nissim Jacob, Shoby Krishna, Tamanna Yasmin Reporters: Meghna Das Chowdhury, Shoby Krishna, Tamanna Yasmin Photo editor: Shivani Priyam Supplements: Jagriti Parakh, Meghna Das Chowdhury, Shivani Verma, Yamini Chincholi

Women’s

The Observer Thursday, September 26, 2019

SUPPLEMENT

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Dying of Apathy Nirbhaya Fund was meant to catalyse a drive for women’s safety but it’s being strangled by bureaucracy, writes Jagriti Parakh

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espite the increasing incidents of crimes against women in Bangalore over the past few years, precious little is being done by the government and its agencies to deal with the problem. According to the National Crime Record Bureau, Bangalore is the third most unsafe city for women in India.

Not only does the issue receive little attention (beyond horrifying stories in the media), but even the limited resources provided by the federal government are not being spent. The national project to establish Nirbhaya Centres is a case in point.

In 2012 a brutal gang-rape of a student in a moving bus in Delhi led to enormous public outrage. In response, two years later, the union government set up a fund to try to make life safer for women across the country. It was called the Nirbhaya Fund, named after the pseudonym used by the media to describe the Delhi gangrape victim.

An Empowered Committee of officers for the Nirbhaya Fund proposed pilot ‘Safe City’ projects

Protestors marching against gender violence | Credit: Google images

in eight selected metropolitan cities, namely, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow to protect women in public

places at a total cost of Rs.2,919.55 crore.

But as Kuldeep Kumar Jain, Bangalore deputy commissioner of police says, “The Safe Cities programme is yet to be implemented. The Karnataka government has received funds from the Central government, but we will carry out the project once political stability is restored.” He was referring to the paralysis that had gripped the previous government leading to its collapse and fresh elections in the state.

The Nirbhaya Fund was set up with an initial corpus of ₹1,000 crore, but over the past six years after the budget allocations, it has swelled to ₹3,600 crore. Recently, in response to a question in parliament, the central government said it had set aside Rs.867.74 crore for establishing Nirbhaya Centres across the country of which only Rs. 49.87 crore has been utilized over the past five years.

Under the original plan, the centre and states would share the expenses for the scheme on a

60:40 ratio. But in reality, not a single penny has been spent by the local administrations despite funds being released by the Centre.

Although there are several organisations working for women welfare in Bengaluru, the Nirbhaya Centre was intended to streamline the existing cumbersome procedure of reporting and investigating crimes against women. It was conceived as ‘single redressal window’ for victims of molestation, rape, sexual assault domestic violence that would provide them medical help, police assistance, psycho-social support and counselling, legal aid and temporary shelter.

Says Bindya Yohannan, a counsellor at the Vanitha Sahayavani, “We are a community collaboration initiative by the Bengaluru City Police. On a monthly basis, we deal with up to 80 to 90 new cases; but we focus only on counselling and if need be, we direct women to other competent authorities, like Legal Services Authority. There are various projects in place to help

and protect women, but not under one scheme. Probably with Nirbhaya coming in, everything will come under one umbrella and it will be more organized.”

The key schemes undertaken by Karnataka government utilizing the funds which have thus far been allocated, include an Emergency Response Support System, Mahila Police Volunteers, Pink Sarathi Patrolling Vehicles and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corp's initiative of training women to drive heavy vehicles.

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s Jyotsna Tripathi, researcher at the Centre for Women and Law, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, explains, “Proposals received from states for cash via the Nirbhaya Fund have to undergo scrutiny from various concerned ministries and departments prior to consideration.However, the process is extremely bureaucratic, and the absence of post-funding vigilance leads to the misuse of allotted money or unspent funds.”

Bollywood’s Woman Problem Hindi cinema has struggled to reconcile its fixation with stereotypes and the real women who act in its films, says Meghna Das Chowdhury

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country’s cinema offers a deep insight into its culture. The reach of the Hindi film industry across India makes it a ready reference for the countrys dominant mores and concerns despite its extraordinary social diversity. But cinema doesn’t just reflect social attitudes, it often plays an important role in shaping them.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the way Bollywood has changed attitudes towards women. Says Shenjuti Dutta, a film studies professor at St Xavier’s College Kolkata, “Not only Bollywood but the film industry of every region is inclined towards patriarchy. But it is also true that Bollywood does focus a lot on women-centric films these days.”

Bollywood has been an amalgamation of women-centric films and women playing side roles films. In the 1970’s, Zeenat Aman introduced Bollywood viewers to a novel western sensibility with her unconventional personality.She played roles with strong characters in most of her films, like Sheetal in Manoj

The film ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ portrayed all kinds of empowered women.

Credit- Google images

Kumar’s Roti Kapada aur Makaan, Rupa in Raj Kapoor’s Satyam Shivam Sundaram, or Roma in Chandra Barot’s Don. Safeena (Alia Bhatt) in Gully Boy is headstrong in love, passionate about her career and constantly fighting her family for the right to live her life the way she wants to. Rumi (Taapsee Pannu) in Manmarziyaan, is most definitely not your typical

Bollywood heroine, whether it’s her confusion about love, the way she looked after her ancestral shop or her attitude to social norms. She owned up to her desires and mistakes and lived her life on her own terms.

Kangana Ranaut, as Rani in Queen, made us enjoy her transformation from a shy, reserved girl to a woman who owns her life and her fledgling confi-

dence grows over the course of the movie.From Jaya Bachchan to Ratna Pathak Shah, Bollywood mothers have time and again showed why they are the strongest characters in both reel and real life.Swaroop Sampat in Ki & Ka was probably the first Bollywood character to understand that it is okay for a man to sit at home while his wife earned for her family.

Sandhya Mridul in Angry Indian Goddesses was a career oriented woman who never got away without a fight. She readily holds a gun and kills a rapist because the law would do nothing to bring justice.

Even before the liberated women of the 1970s personified by the likes of Zeenat Aman, there were amazing women in leading roles. Fearless Nadia was India’s first stunt girl. But, at the same time,we have women like Simran from Dilwale Dulhania Leh Jayenge; the iconic scene of a woman letting go of father’s running to herlover suggests nothing so much as a transfer of property from one man to another.

From Sajan Ka Ghar to

Sarabjit the woman evolved as a sister. From Karan Arjun to Kahaani she evolved as a mother.

From Dilwale Dulhania Leh Jayenge to NH10 she evolved as a lover. And as these roles evolved, there was a marked change in our society too. Women these days are indeed more independent. They know how to take care of themselves, to make decisions for themselves.

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ollywood now focuses on more woman-centric films.

Films like Indian Cabaret, Margarita with a Straw and Pink might have employed the stereotype of the woman as whore, but also showed her as empowered.

Lipstick Under My Burkha politely says, “It takes balls to be a woman”. The film portrays women as autonomous, with real feelings, whether sexual or life desires. Those desires and dreams are not guided by men.

While Bollywood is making an effort to feminize its films it cannot,considering the pervasive and entrenched patriarchy in Indian society, get too far ahead of its audience.

Arts & Culture

The Observer Thursday, September 26, 2019

SUPPLEMENT

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Shyamalan’s Next Nightmare As with the director’s earlier films, Split takes a plausible idea and pushes it over the edge, writes Yamini Chincholi

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Shyamalan Night’s newest film Split is a psychological thriller built around one of the most intriguing of mental illnesses, Dissociative Identity Disorder, one almost designed for storytelling if its consequences weren’t so tragic.

Starring James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy, it seeks to answer justified doubts about the very existence of the disease.

DID, or split-personality disorder as it’s better known, is infamous because there isn’t a metric in psychiatry to objectively prove its existence or, conversely, to tell if someone’s faking it.

James McAvoy is phenomenal as Kevin, a young man who displays 23 distinct personalities men, women and children.

His range is incredible whether playing adults with OCD or a nine-year-old boy, both with the same degree of perfection. Considering Shyamalan’s reliance on plot twists to hold your attention, Split is different. Every scene and every shot is planned to keep us on the edge of our seats. Shyamalan is known for spooky

movies like The Visit and supernatural thrillers like The Sixth Sense, The Glass and Unbreakable. Split belongs to the latter genre.

Each character is well thought out. The therapist Dr. Fletcher is totally believable with her extraordinary tact and palpable concern for Kevin, even when he ends up kidnapping three girls, Claire (Haley Lu Richardson), Marcia (Jessica Sula) and Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy). Claire and Marcia are the ‘never had any hardship to deal with’ kind of girls. Casey’s character is darker with more history because of her abusive past. No dialogue or detail feels unnecessary, every little speck adding value and taking the story forward.

Split was received with considerable scepticism among moviegoers and mixed emotions by psychiatrists and patients. While both doctors and patients gave it a thumbs up for addressing the issue, they disagreed with on many points of detail about its representation in the movie. Psychologists believe it glamorizes

Imdb

DID. People suffering from DID have complained that it portrays them in a violent light, which is a misconception. But for a viewer, Split is enthralling, intriguing and educative.

DID usually develops in individuals who have experienced severe childhood trauma. They develop multiple identities to cope with early memories of

abuse. The film depicts the dynamics of living in a system of multiple identities in a fascinating manner. Identities can involve roles such as protector, caretaker, gatekeeper, host, etc.

Some identities like “Dennis” the kidnapper with OCD or and Ms. Patricia, a prim and proper British woman, are dominant over others like the nine-year-old “Hedwig” and fashion designer “Barry”. Whether it’s “Hedwig” being afraid of divulging too much information to “Dennis’ ” captives or being excited to show his room to Casey, each personality is portrayed as a whole, separate person. A range of different emotions collide within Kevin from the voices of all his personalities.

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here Shyamalan stretches the idea of DID to near incredulity is his suggestion that there may be instances where the patient develops a different physiology for each personality. For example, at one point the therapist says that a blind DID patient regenerated

Psychologists believe it glamorizes DID. People suffering from DID have complained that it portrays them in a violent light. her optic nerve because one of her personalities had vision. In Kevin’s case, one of his ‘alters’, a woman named “Jade” has diabetes and needs insulin shots in the system, while none of the others who inhabit the same body do.

The supernatural element in Split comes from the development of a 24th identity, triggered by a recent incident of sexual abuse. This one called “The Beast”, is determined to rid the world of the “impure”-- meaning those who are free of abuse and pain. This personality, built to devour humans, climb walls and possess inhuman strength and speed, echoes one of Shyamalan’s recurring questions: Are the broken the more evolved?

A Cautionary Tale

Shivani Verma reviews TV’s hottest psychodrama set in high school

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Reasons Why is a fictional series that tackles real-world issues, taking a look at sexual assault, substance abuse, suicide and more, starts a new cautionary video released by the makers of the Netflix series warning young viewers of its troubling content and urging them not to emulate its characters. Yet, the high school drama directed by Brian Yorkey is a must watch for both its tight scripting and sterling performances.

First aired in March 2017, season 1 was about how Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford), a troubled young woman at Liberty High, takes her life. After her death, Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette) finds a box in which Hannah left 13 tapes she’d recorded in which she explains the 13 reasons why she chose to die. The culture of gossip and bullying at Liberty High and the lack of support from friends and the school authorities feature large in her tale of misery. But it’s the sexual assault at the hands of Bryce Walker (Justin Prentice) that proves the breaking point. The first season revealed how high

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school students cope and live with these dreadful experiences, their isolation making matters worse.

Season 2 shows reveals that Hannah Baker wasn’t the only one. Her friend Jessica Davis (Alisha Boe) was also raped by Walker and in fact there were many other girls who are the victims of sexual assault. The rape culture prevalent in high schools takes a terrible toll on the lives of young women and leaves them psychologically devastated. But the culture of violence isn’t di-

rected solely at women. The season sees Tyler (Devin Druid) being assaulted by Monty (Timothy Granaderos) and the pattern repeats itself. The victims isolate themselves, frightened to tell others, and soon the frustration and rage it creates drives them to hurt themselves or to hurt others.

By season 3, it’s apparent that several students have a strong motivation to harm Byrce. It introduces a new character, Amorowat Anysia Achola aka Ani (Grace Saif), a new girl at Liberty

High, who claims to know Bryce like nobody else. She narrates the whole season and also, in the final episode, reveals who killed Bryce.

In the official trailer of season 3, Ani says “Here’s the thing about the kids at Liberty High.

They’re connected by their secrets, connected and forever changed. The truth is, given the right circumstances, the right motivation, anyone could have done this. Bryce Walker did hurt a lot of people, but the one he hurt the most was Jessica Davis.”

So, a lot of people think Jessica killed Bryce. But throughout the season, several members of the group had been suspected of involvement in Bryce’s death. From Tony Padilla (Christian Navarro) to Clay Jenson to Mrs. Baker (Kate Walsh) to Jessica to Justin (Brandon Flynn) to Monty. Ani states in the finale episode that Monty killed Bryce Walker whereas, it was Alex (Miles Heizer) who pushed Bryce off the pier and did nothing to save him from drowning.

Ani figured Monty would be the best person to pin Bryce’s murder as he was already in jail due to

the assault charges by Tyler, to save Clay and the murderer, Alex. Deputy Standall supports the move in order to save his son, Alex. Monty’s death in jail proves even more convenient.

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ryce also gave a confession tape to Jessica, which showed that he realized his mistakes and the hurt he caused in the lives of so many people. If you thought that might provide some sort of redemption and closure, forget it. By the end of the season, though, it is clear enough that the troubles at Liberty High are by no means over. With William (Deaken Bluman) discovering that Monty didn’t kill Bryce, Yorkey is set to keep the pot boiling.

Director: Brian Yorkey Cast : Dylan Minnette, Katherine Langford, Christian Navarro, Alisha Boe, Brandon Flynn Release date of 1st Season: March 31, 2017 Release date of 2nd Season:May 18, 2018 Release date of 3rd Season: August 23, 2019