end of universe (check spoiler alert)

Take a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, what kind of person would he be? (Of course, the writer expects it to be a male), the type who would be whistling delightedly while viewing Expendables 14…  In India, you can take a fan of any action star actor… say Salman Khan..  most of his movies he is a brawny, street gang leader, who harass women and use violence at the drop of a hat… but he is the Hero, and all his fans (they come by bus loads for his movies) whistle and dance around whenever he appears on screen. 

(this is not about narrow stereotyping, but beginning of a totally different topic... as important as the end of the universe..  that is, end of mythologies ;)              Spoiler alert **this write up is controversial, hurting so beliefs and maybe too personal (editors)**

Of course, the fan boys, as the star trek fans are called, do pretty much the same, and even are wearing costumes - How can you discuss something with these over the top fans? What will happen if you told them your disagreement about such an obsession?  Can you expect logical arguments in the form of words or…

Or take politics, and think of a rabid follower of a party.  It could be republican, or democrat..  Or Congress or BJP or other 100 such parties from India..  Or take any from any country.  How would a party card holding person will react to criticism or even probing questions? 

There is a saying, ‘there are no atheists in a fox hole’...  Fox hole as a trench in which you are hiding from enemy bullets.  It can be turned around as, ‘there are no believers in an operating table’ – otherwise they can pray and would not require anaesthesia.  Of course, the second saying is just an example.  The point is, let’s continue with the earlier 1 paragraphs..

Take a religious believer, and would this religious fan be willing to accept criticism about their god? Although most believers are non-believers of gods from other religions, and would find other mythologies utterly unbelievable and even funny. 

But why do people become believers?  They are not very aware of future, insecure and require a god (parent) figure to protect.  The parents indoctrinate the small children into this delusion.  Initially the parents are portrayed as the protectors and take-care-of-everything-people to the child.  It might foster dependence, but without that, there won’t be the love that they crave.  Parents wont feel needed, without developing the child to be dependent and needy.  Soon, this dependence is also transferred into a god/s… Who will forever remain the father figures (or parental figures to use political correctness). 

But, why do parents, who instinctively and hormonally are so attached to the well being of child, become willing to delude own children?  Well, why do parents want children? Is it so that they develop as superiors or is it because they want someone to give them affection and someone who will be in need of them?  It’s tough to give a brutally honest answer.  We all are conditioned not to give a honest answer to such questions.  There is also the old age fear of patricide / matricide… its common among animals to discard the old and the weak…  so, better delude the child than risk their independence.  Thus god as a creation could have happened somewhere else, but parents have a major role in propagating that belief.  A tool to bring uniformity..  to create factory production level standardization of human behaviour.. .  through fear & love of a delusion.

In mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, the patient develops complex stories to support their delusions.  Of course, the patient won’t think of them as stories, but as reality… One common factor to such stories is, inserting aspects which cannot be disproved easily.   How can this be done?  One is to claim to see a dead person – who becomes visible only to the patient.  It will be very difficult to prove / show that it’s a delusion.   Another common theme in delusional story is – being followed by CIA, KGB or some such secret organization.  The patient will claim that, such a secret organization is so skilled that they cant be seen by other people.  Alien abduction is another claim, which cannot be disproved using science & logic. 

And in belief of God and religion – there are soul, which cannot be disproved.  There are gods who have disappeared since invention of video camera, or cannot be captured by any human created device.  These also are so subjective, that science and logic cannot be used to disprove it / them.  And thus these myths get life in the minds of religious people.  There are already a big group of people to fan these beliefs.  If its too small a group, then they end up called as a cult.  For every fear, insecurity these believers will cling on to these god figures for protection, care and cure. 

And then it becomes a chicken or egg problem.  Do you talk to these believers about religion as a delusion first, or do you talk to these people about accepting an unpredictable future and developing tolerance of ambiguity?  If I am not hell bent on controlling my future, then I won’t require a god or almighty to support me in that venture.  If I am strong that way, then I won’t be demanding my children, or that members of a human created family system must love me to death (it can be wife, husband, father, mother, or any relationship, such as cousin brother of maternal grand father’s neighbour’s dogs previous owner).    

But I guess it happened to me through the other way – which is, first I started to question this myth and as I realized the religious beliefs as a myth… then over time, I had to accept that there is no god father in the skies or wherever, and I developed strength to accept reality as it is.  Our nature as a change process enabler, and lost my anthropocentric attitude and that the earth is only as small as an atom in a big huge universe…  and all I will leave after my insignificant life & death will be just this blog ;)

Abetting suicide?

As per Indian law 1860 act 360, abetting suicide is a criminal offence punishable with up to 10 years of imprisonment.  But what is defined as abetting suicide?  “If any person commits suicide, whoever abets the commission of such suicide, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

There are multiple aspects to consider.  First of all, attempting suicide as per law is criminal offence…   But then decriminalizing suicide would leave open a big loop hole for offenders who do such things to escape. 

The apex court said that different persons react differently to a given situation and, therefore, the factum of mensrea (criminal intention) of the accused has to be established for charging or convicting a person.

Unless there is an "active" act on the part of the accused to instigate the victim to commit suicide, a person cannot be charged or convicted for abetting the offence, the Supreme Court has ruled (2011 news).

Recent cases of abetting suicide charges in 2014 – Pondicherry B tech student’s suicide and 4 professors charged

14 year old girl who committed suicide in Chennai - below is a newspaper report of it. 

26^th feb 2014 – timesofindia, tamilnadu

PUDUCHERRY: The Puducherry police on Wednesday arrested four professors of a private engineering college on charges of abetting the suicide of a first-year girl student.
The police arrested Ernest Paul, Bhavani, Geetha and Priyadarshini following an inquiry by a revenue official over the alleged suicide of I Vinodhini, a first-year electrical and electronic engineering student of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Institute of Technology. Vinodhini allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the terrace of the five-storey college building on Monday.
The girl's uncle, M A Akbar, said the professors assaulted her in front of other students on Friday for faring poorly in studies. He said the faculty members denied permission to her to enter the classroom on Monday morning. This drove her to take the extreme step, he alleged.
Earlier, the girl's relatives refused to sign the documents for conducting the postmortem and demanded immediate arrest of the faculty members who allegedly harassed her. Only when the police arrested the professors on Wednesday evening did the girl's father, Ilango, sign the documents.
Another professor, Sethupathy, who was also booked, was not arrested after preliminary inquiries revealed that he was not involved in the crime.
On Wednesday morning, relatives and representatives of students' federation and parents' forums gathered in front of the Raj Nivas demanding the arrest of the professors.

Another news report, from Coimbatore... 

 Indian express, 3^rd march 2013

A 2nd year BCA student committed suicide by eating cow dung powder at her home at Pavizham Street in Coimbatore on Friday evening after she was reprimanded by lecturers at her college on suspicion that she had tampered with the attendance register to hide her poor attendance record. The principal of the college and some lecturers were booked on Saturday on charges of abetting suicide and for criminally intimidating the girl.

Police said K Mahalakshmi (20) had returned for classes at the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts & Science for Women after being on leave for 16-days as she had gone with her family on a pilgrimage. Her lecturers scolded Mahalakshmi saying that she could not appear for the upcoming semester examinations as she lacked the minimum required attendance.  “Later, a few pages in the class attendance register were torn. The lecturers suspected Mahalakshmi had done this to destroy evidence of her poor attendance. Her mother Kamatchi was summoned to the college and was warned,” police said.

After returning home, Mahalakshmi consumed cow dung powder during a power cut between 6 and 7 pm. Kamatchi noticed her lying unconscious around 7 pm when the power was restored. She died as she was being taken to Hospital. Kamatchi and her relatives protested at the hospital premises on Saturday seeking action against college officials. “The teachers ill-treated Mahalakshmi. The girl repeatedly pleaded that she had not torn the papers, a relative. However, a spokesperson of the college denied that Mahalakshmi was harassed. “She confessed to having torn the papers after an enquiry by teachers. So, the principal merely asked her to submit a letter of apology.,” said the spokesperson.

How much undue pressure does this put on teaching profession?  How can it be addressed?  its a complex issue. 

Another related news from Tamilnadu below (there are news from other areas of India too, later on). 

TNN | Dec 20, 2013, 05.53AM IST

YAMUNANAGAR: Two years and a long legal battle later, a teacher has been arrested on Wednesday for abetting the suicide of a Class XII student of a private school here.
The student had set himself ablaze in December 2011. His mother Sunita had alleged that his teacher had driven him to take the extreme step. The boy also had left a suicide note in which he accused the teacher of harassing him.  With police failing to take action, the boy's mother approached the Punjab and Haryana high court pleading for action against the teacher.

I.I.T or Indian Institute for Technology are other hotspots for suicides (or, media is quick to report a suicide happening in such places.  there is even a blog which focuses on suicides in various IIT's).   Below is some excerpts from news reports:

a report about IIT Kanpur, which is infamous for highest number of suicides among IIT's...

“Students from no other state face such huge pressure, and my experience over the years shows that most AP students experience it (parental pressure).  Its unfortunate that some of these students take up extreme step unable to bear with pressure” (sanjay g dhande, former director, iitk – taken from a newspaper article from internet)

Another report about IIT Bombay... 
 "With increase in student suicide rates, there is an immediate need to address academic, emotional and psychological attributing factors faced by the students. Accordingly, there is a need to establish and enhance a professional counselling service programme at IIT Bombay," said Sandeep Pandya from the 1986 batch, who is also treasurer of the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund (IITBHF).

The programme, says a white paper on the project, will look at recruiting professional, high-quality medical/psychological counsellors and creating a collaborative programme to leverage expertise and assistance from top medical/psychological institutes in Mumbai. It will also focus on formalising and providing mentoring services through the alumni community to help with career counseling and industry mentoring.

The batch aims to raise Rs 2.25 crore for their legacy project, where 50 per cent of the contributions are expected to come alumni in India and the rest from those abroad. "The 1986 batch legacy is to strengthen existing and create new programmes related to students and is the first batch to adopt this approach," says the white paper.

A report from Maharashtra state... 

The hindu - maharashtra, January 10, 2012

The mother of a 16-year-old girl student has blamed four teachers of a school in Shirala in Sangli for her suicide.

Hemlata Patharbale, in her complaint with the police on January 6, has accused the four teachers of the New English School of harassing her daughter Komal Patharbale, a class 11 student.

Ms. Patharbale has filed the complaint on the basis of the suicide note left by the girl. The complaint apparently narrated the incidents leading up to the suicide and accused the son of a police constable studying in the same institution of harassing Komal.

Although Komal had brought this to the notice of the teacher, action was not taken.

Instead of preventing the harassment of the four teachers started insulting and taunting the girl with obscene comments, the mother said in her complaint.

The humiliation by the teachers prompted her to take the extreme step, she added.

Now, connecting suicides by farmers... 

 

In 2012, more than 13,000 farmers killed themselves in India.

Most were saddled with steep debts, having failed to pay back loans they had taken from banks, micro-finance companies and money lenders after their crops failed. Farm suicides - nearly 300,000 since 1995 - are India's shame, a colossal national tragedy.  But, can the lenders be lawfully charged with abetting such suicides?

From mental health point of view, depression as an illness can lead to suicidal behaviour.  But there might not be a long standing mental illness in many a case of suicide.  In the same vein abetting homicide also could be claimed.  But then, the Indian supreme court’s comment that there has to be an active and criminal intention to prove abetment of suicide.  Similarly are banks abetting suicide of farmers?

Similarly would legal provisions come up with abetting homicide?

Living in present...

It’s like holding on to a yoga posture and living that moment – with being aware of each moment through our body and shifting forward to next pose and reliving that same present awareness again.  In such a process, I accept as I am & the world around as it is.  

 There is a part connected to the dissolving past, and another welcoming the emerging future, though they are connected as a flow...  acceptance of that flow and not aiming for a static experience we can hold on to, but going with that flow...  and thus blend with surroundings, blending with nature.

 An experience such as this occurred while doing a beach run to me.  Fort unately there was an empty beach, with fluffy sand and time enough for

a long run.  Initially there were lots of thoughts crowding the awareness, but as the run progressed, and strain increased due to lack of physical activity in the office since almost couple of years.  This strain and breathlessness enforced a heightened level of concentration, where the single step awareness, a short present sense remained.  

 Whole body awareness of each muscle in the body pushing toward the next step exploded through the mind and without any effort, I was able to keep my mind at that.  It was almost as if time stood still and the world too in a way, though there was movement and efforts and intense feeling of being alive.  A brief sense of one feet pulling away from behind and similar sense of the other feet pushing forward were there, but the middle sense of being in that present with my whole body straining was the major present sensation.  

Could this feeling, which can be addictive, be the reason for people going for long distance running? Maybe, but its a tough things to maintain, as its not easy to find time, place and yourself free to go for such a run and such a fun.

Mumbai local train – yoga (similar to Ashtanga yoga ;)

I had been out of touch with Mumbai and its local train journey during rush hours, for few years.  But fortunately I got a chance to do it once again recently.  I could not help compare it with Ashtanga yoga session I did recently with it.  In Ashtanga yoga, you take a yoga posture and maintain that pose for few seconds, and then change. 

After I pushed myself in and was pushed by people rushing in to the train, even though it seemed impossibly full of people, the local-yoga session started.  There is another thing – you don’t do these yogic postures on your own, but it’s a group thing – everyone does their own postures, but since everyone is so closely packed together, what others do affects you as well.  It goes like this –

There is a steel bar above, and steel hand holdings as well.   

But, as soon as I got in, the train started moving, but postures also began.  I was pushed ahead from waist above, and had only enough space to stand on my toes, and to maintain my balance, held on to the steel bar above.  On my sides, 2 people doing their pose, also press me from both sides.  After sometime, I realize I cannot hold that pose anymore… I gently and not so gently push around, and move my feet at the same time to change.  A more comfortable pose now, where my back is straight, and weight is on my feet.  But next railway station arrives, and a group of people leave the yoga session and jump out without any goodbyes, and another group jump in unceremoniously. 

Everyone’s pose change.  I am pushed to my left side, and my back on one side is pushes to a strange angle…  I try to straighten up, with help of my hands on the steel bar on top, and have to push with my fingers with all my might.  I realize new muscles based on my fingers and am pushing myself to the limit.  But am pushed beyond my limits and there is a feeling of relief as I realize some hidden strength from inside, and that I can keep on going for few more seconds than I ever thought possible.  I change my feet, and the man next to me also helps by changing his pose. I bend my knees and put my weight on feet again and push back my waist and relax my arms. 

Another station arrives.  This keep going on, and the station where I am supposed to get off is nearing.  I move towards the door and prepare for departure.  Near the door, there is more wind and it cools down my sweaty body a lot.  Just before the station arrives, vigorous push from inside by all those who want to get out makes me change my posture and I have to put all my strength into my hands to keep myself inside the train… the next crowded station appears in a blur of faces, and as soon as the train stops, we jump out of the yoga session.  I walk a few more steps, and then stand and look around at people rushing past.  After a half a minute calming down stance, I start my walk towards an apartment near the station. 

Another free Mumbai local yoga session is over. 

this picture - what all does it tell you?

this picture - brain washes a lot.  what all does it tell you?

every kid dreams of the same luxurious things..  and they are sad, when they don't get it. 

it doesn't matter, whether their parents are loving and caring, the child will be miserable without those THINGS

you are supposed to think about disappointments of your childhood and those moments, when you were angry at your parents, because they didn't get you (buy you) certain THING... and you thought of it as a symbol that they do not love you...

so, you better feel nostalgic and guilty - for feeling anger and hating your parents - in your childhood... it was YOUR fault,

that you wanted those THINGS, and media had no role to play in that image and concept of YOURS... 

its the duty of parents to look after children - and if they are poor and can't afford the best for their children, they will be condemned by others..  and the worst of all, their children will hate them, be angry at them..  and would not think about love and care at all, till they see such a sentimental picture years later.

parents should love and care their children and the children too must do that... otherwise they all should feel guilty..  and soon, this family thing becomes a close knit group, a clique, who will try to get the best for each other, while exploiting others, because getting THINGS for each other in the family is most important..

but they will teach the kid superficially that selfishness is a bad thing.  they will also condemn the social moral standards, and how much competitive things have become, due to insatiable greed of others and crazy consumption patterns...

what else?
(of course, some people would be offended..  because, since decades, they have this emotional connect with family members (other human's don't matter)... and they feel its natural..  i would throw 'anthropocentric' on their face, if they'd ever realize what that is.   what we feel now is due to centuries of brainwashing... worst of all, gender based brainwashing)..  now again returning to..

WHAT ELSE?