Betty Anne Waters,56,a woman of courage,willpower,more than all a sister driven by a bond that goes beyond just the same DNA.betty anne more commonly known for her role potrayed by hillary swank in the movie "conviction",is no ordinary waitress that you meet at your local pub. Ms.Waters, a native of ayer,massachusetts has to her credit,the freedom of an innocent man jailed for a crime he did not commit,yet served term for almost two decades just because there was no DNA testing at the time of his trial and also because the prime witnesses in his case were coerced,into admitting he is the killer of katherina brow by the lead investigator of the case at the time.
Mr.Kenneth Waters,was convicted in the year 1983,for the murder of Katherina Brow in the year 1980.Ms.Brow was found murdered in her trailer home in ayer,massachusetts,not far from Mr.waters home. Ms.Brow suffered 14 stab wounds to the chest,two fatal wounds to the head with half her brain splattered across her bedroom. Mr.Waters was questioned in 1980 on account of being the sole neighbour in the area with a criminal record with a couple barfights and also as he had attended reform school at the age of 10,for breaking into Ms.Brow s trailer,just being upto what a kid his age would. after three years,he was found guilty on all charges as his two key witnesses-his ex-girlfriend,the mother of his daughter, admitted to having heard Mr.Waters talk of the killing and his hatred for Ms.Brow.
Ms.Waters(betty anne),his sister of a year apart,with whom he shared a bond so strong that we all can learn something from,a waitress at the time,put herself through college and law school after kenny had a stint at jail where he tried to end his life.Ms.Waters despite being the only "older woman" in her class at law school or failing tests put herself through the barexam which she passed and became her brothers attorney, when she came across DNA testing which was revolutionising the face of crime at the time.she rakes up evidence of over 16 years after searching every nook and corner of the county evidence dept, manages to hunt down key witnesses of the case from 1983 and proves them unreliable.with the help of Abra Rice,her bestfriend from lawschool and Barry Scheck, an attorney of the "innocence project" she helped exonerate her brother,her bestfriend.
after two decades of heartache,seperation from her husband owing to her streamlined one-way attention to her brothers cause that got the better of her role as a wife,as a mother.Ms.Betty Anne Waters did it after all--her brother Mr.Kenneth Waters came home to a post-20-year-jail-term to starbucks coffee,cellphones,gps in the car and other advantages of living in the 00's in 2001.
and for what--Mr.Kenneth Waters died six months after being exonerated, in a freak accident when he slipped and fell off a wall he was trying to climb as a shortcut in order to get home early.those six months were supposedly the best six months of his life.
Ms.Waters continues to work at the same pub,only shes a general manager now and she continues to help with the "innocence project" and she didnt go on to be a lawyer as she became a lawyer only to help her brother.she has no wish to pursue law.the only other time she entered a courtroom is when the pub she works in had trouble renewing their liquor license.and yes,she won.
colin firth-no ordinary man.no overnight success.27 years later,the oscar covets the man-a brilliant,brilliant actor,writer,social activist,who once said in the defense of the tribals of botswana against the govt for the eviction of the bushmen of the kalahari-"These people are not the remnants of a past era who need to be brought up to date. Those who are able to continue to live on the land that is rightfully theirs are facing the 21st century with a confidence that many of us in the so-called developed world can only envy." kings speech indeed.
the physics of the quest-a force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity
the rule of quest physics goes something like this-
if you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting,which can be anything-to your house to bitter old resentments and set out on a truth seeking journey,either externally or internally and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher,and if you are prepared to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself,then the truth will not be withheld from you.
my dad wakes me up early in the morning to give me this lecture on the occasion of women s day-i want you to know i ve never really regretted not having a son.all my life i ve tried my best to let you know we are very happy with you and we dont need a son.you are the best thing that ever happened to us.i dont really like boy kids.infact i dont like them at all. XD
It was my night duty at the ICU.As a house surgeon,we mostly work in the free teaching hospital where we treat the poor.i write these drug charts,sign them,fill in blood tranfusion forms and arrange for blood from the bloodbank for the ones that are critical(not much of the important work is done by me) and then once i was done for the day i leave.the minute i get into the shower i get a call from the duty nurse at the ICU saying i had to accompany a TB meningitis patient(the infection has spread to his brain and the coverings of the brain are inflammed,in "layman" terms) to the radiology department for his CT scan.i was obviously irritated that she didnt choose to tell me this fifteen minutes ago,just before i left.i drive all the way back,agitated,my hair semi-drenched,looking like a wet rat.i meet the patient and his attenders in the lift so i accompany them. we reach the ct scan room and they are getting the patient off the gurney,theres this woman who pulls her sari tight around her shoulders,watching from the doorway anxiously.she was kind of in the way of the proceedings,so they ask her to wait outside a little rudely.so i feel bad despite all my agitation and i ask her to come sit with me and i tell her that they will take care of him,as i think shes worried.she says-i ve never seen a scan being done before.i wanted to observe.so i find out shes the patients mother.i also learn in the next thirty minutes that her 29 year old, son of modest farmers,a prosthetic limb technician(the only one from their village),is missing his wedding day which was supposed to take place the morning after as he is in a coma.it started as a simple fever,so they printed all the wedding cards,distributed them among friends and family-when he goes into a coma.here they are now,thirty days after,minus sixty thousand rupees they saved for his wedding,all gone.shes not very sure the brides family will be consistent with their decision for the alliance after his illness.i enquire if the bride is here visiting him and she says-it is not in our ways for the bride to see the bride groom before the wedding,so she waits for him to get better,and hopes for his safe recovery.she continues to tell me about other things-random things.it was comforting just to watch her,so strong,yet so innocent despite her many years,she smiled at all the right times,cringed at their poor judgement to take his illness seriously at the start,cried when she feared the worst;despite our difficulty to communicate with each other,there we were,two women-age aside,class aside,sitting and talking about the wedding,her children.i was glad i came back.i was glad i met her.she showed me strength when all else was lost.
i want to savour every bit of what i eat.i want to laugh every minute of every day.i want to travel the world in my favourite tiny pair of denim shorts and my black lace stilletoes(screw practicality).i want to touch someones life like no one has before.i want to love like i always have.maybe a little reinforcement is necessary. i continue to have big dreams for you my 'now',my future. ♥
To me she is very shy, moody,easily irritated by noise,can barely cross the road without any help,always trying to teach me how to save my money (and not become a shopoholic like my father),someone who i get into pillow fights with even today,someone who gets worked up about everything and blows the smallest of things out of proportion,someone who will not let anyone including my father give me crap even though its my fault.shes fiercely protective and the only person i know who respects everyone,young or old.(funny how none of this rubbed off on me)shes the most innocent person i ve come across in terms of anything to do with anything outside of her workspace or home.
i ve never known her to have friends who drop by home or call her.she's unlike many women i know in the sense,she detests shopping,she hates talking on the phone,she is not talkative at all,barely talks trash about anyone.most times she spends her time at home watching tv,and anyone watching her can easily say her minds elsewhere.she just gazes blankly at the screen.her entire life has been about her work or her family(mostly my father and me).
my mother has a school in my town which she started in the year1989,with around 30 students and today she has over 1500 students and i can proudly say she did it mostly by herself with help from my father. her acquaintances range from the towns mayor or the district collectors wife to the basic help.but the basic help are the ones she s closer to as she is alone for most of her time as i ve always gone to a boarding school and my father is out at work.she sits and listens to their problems and advices them on what they should do and sometimes i think she even confides in them more than she confides in her other well to do friends.its like she has no human contact outside of her workspace,and they are the only ones there.at first i think she liked the loneliness,she was never social,but now i think all that loneliness did catch up with her.that even the most irrelevant ordinary conversation she has with anybody lightens up her day. she knows every student by name and their parents by name.i ve never known much about her school or how she runs it.all i know is my parents are the most hardworking people i ve ever met in my life.all this hasnt come easily to them.this one fact i m extremely proud of-the fact that what they are today is not a bonus from their parents.they started from scratch and what they have managed to acheive is mind boggling(they have had a love marriage without the approval of their parents,hence the start from nothing.a common occurence around their time).their success story is one i d want to write a book about at some point if i have the means to do so.
so there i was sitting in my mothers office(yes!she works even during the holidays).i barely go visit her.but this one time,she was complaining about my father as she always does as she thinks i am the only one my father ever listens to.this woman walks in.
mother-what do you want? visitor-madam.i came to give you the money. mother-what money? visitor-my sons fee. mother-why didnt you come when the office staff was here,so the accounts section could give you a receipt? visitor-i couldnt come in the morning as i had to take care of the deliveries to to all my customers and bring the herd back home. mother-okay.give it to me, i ll go find the receipt book and write it myself.
all this while i had my back to the lady,then my mum asked her to come in front and take a look at me and see how much her daughter had grown.thats when i got a good look at her.i see this meek woman,extremely smalll built,she looked so tired,weathered by everything life threw at her.she had sad eyes.but when she smiled at me,it was a sight to see!she was amazed at how much i grew and she asked me when i am going to bulid a hospita so i can treat her for free:)
this visitor is my milkmaid.i should add,that in my mothers school,her students range from the upper class families whose parents are the local politicians to the scholarship students she takes in every year.
the visitor is carrying a steel box out of which she takes out bundles of money,lots of change put into bundles,mostly 10/20 rs notes adding upto some 15 grand.she adds-i ve been saving this money with my sister for a while,so i thought i ll come and give it to you personally before my husband or my sons spend the money.
she starts filling my mum in with all the details of her household and her neighbours,about the neighbour who hung himself leaving behind a 3 year old daughter to how one of those land-grabbing corporate fellows asked her to vacate her house for a mere 2 lakh rupees,to which she proudly tells my mum-i chased them away telling them this is my land and i ve been living here for 50 years now.in the course of the conversation i am informed that she has 3 sons of which two are cardrivers,and her youngest,a john paul is studying in my mothers school and how she wants atleast one son to become an engineer and land a government job unlike his brothers.she also tells me she has 30 buffaloes and 10 cows.and she informs my mum that she will pay the coming terms fee a little late as she is plannin on acquiring a new buffalo and also build a new house.
once she leaves with her receipt in hand.i ask my mother why she even makes the poor lady pay as she has to go through so much trouble.to which my mother replies that she has tried to tell the poor lady countless times that she will take her son in under a scholarship programme to which the lady promptly refused saying it is against her values and self-respect and that she is working hard to make atleast one of her children educated and she s going to pay for it herself and that she doesnt need anyones sympathy.
what touched me the most is the fact that there is no disparity.she probably delivers milk to many of her sons classmates/friends houses.but the fact that all of them are able to co-exist and be friends and study together under one roof without class disparities.but again that is the beauty of childhood.you dont face the ugly side of the world,where its about how much money you have or what your parents do for a living. But the friend you are.the fact that such a small woman held so much self-respect and strength to take everything life threw at her,and is still content with her herd of cows ans buffaloes and her business.stuff like this makes you wonder what if i didnt throw away all that money on that pair of shoes or that dress,maybe i could have paid a childs school fee.
people like this make you want to believe nothing is impossible to reach,nothing is only a dream that never came true.no matter how big or how small,self-respect is all you need to reach that goal,to be that one to reach the sky.nothing is so far out as long as you can have a dream to reach for it..
my mother,whom i have never known in this light,my mother whom i am so immensely proud of is giving those kids an oppurtunity to shine.shine they will.fingers crossed.
