The Appeal - John Grisham

'The jury was ready.

After forty-two hours of deliberations that followed seventy-one days of trial that included 530 hours of testimony from four dozen witnesses, and after a lifetime of sitting silently as the lawyers haggled and the judge lectured and the spectators watched like hawks for telltale signs, the jury was ready. Locked away in the jury room, secluded and secure, ten of them proudly signed their names to the verdict while the other two pouted in their corners, detached and miserable in their dissension. There were hugs and smiles and no small measure of self congratulation because they had survived this little war and could now march proudly back into the arena with a decision they had rescued through sheer determination and the dogged pursuit of compromise. The ordeal was over; their civic duty complete. They had served above and beyond. They were ready'


'The Appeal is a powerful, timely and shocking story of political and legal intrigue, a story that will leave readers unable to think about our political process or judicial system in quite the same way ever again'

'Politics has always been a dirty game. Now justice is, too.'

A very interesting insight to get one to read more. Those were excerpts from the book. Another excellent piece from Grisham.

In summary "When and if a second chance is deserved".

Honesty

Its rather amazing what a man (or woman for that matter) would do to achieve a goal. We must have met with many men/women who would do unthinkable things in our life. For instance a person can pretend to be an honest living creature while at the same time being gullible enough to deceive people. We have heard how a person can get rich quickly without sweat and pain only to find later that he is a victim of a scam. Similarly there have been many cases of people trying to get cheap luxury cars since those selling have connections. You can name any product you want - car, maid services, fast money, health products and in some instances even happiness - which have been promised but never really fulfilled. Yet time and again these stories repeat themselves. The trouble is the victims are not only limited to only a certain segment of the society but almost all segments. I personally find it rather amusing that even people recognised as with high intellectual capability are also among the statistics. Really, these people only have themselves to be blamed for their own foolishness. In fact these people are deceived by their own greed through people smart enough to exploit it. I would not blame the mean/tool in this case.

So, coming back to honesty, I wonder whether one can still find a good value in today's life. Everywhere we look it seems honesty has become a cover to other things in life. Honesty has been reduced to mere skin - not even a cover! Peel it off and one can see the real value of honesty. Sad...

A Slap on the Face?

As expected the outcome of the match was 2-1 no matter how one prefers to look at it. Bottom line is the voice of the people prevails. To some people nothing has changed and most probably none will. It is indeed a sad scenario when lessons after lessons are not learned. Only time will tell but for the sake of future generations let common sense be the guiding principle for the nation!

The Tide Is High

So it is another round of those bruising battle coming up. A lot is at stake with both corners claiming a good win. Alas, will this be the end of a long war or was it just another another skirmish?
It is indeed full of hope that the end is nigh and proper life can go on.....