Classic Democracy- Still Relevant?

You walk into an aircraft. The flight takes off smoothly. Everything is going as nonchalantly as it can. It's a long flight so you doze off, relaxed and satisfied. Suddenly you are woken up with a jerk, and even as you are frantically searching for the seat belt hooks, you hear the dreaded announcement. "The plane is going down as both pilots are unconscious, anyone with the necessary skills to fly the aircraft please come to the cockpit immediately." Fortunately, one trained pilot raises his hand among the crowd of passengers. Another one makes a passionate speech of why he should be flying the craft instead of the trained pilot although, he confesses, no experience of flying a craft. People decide to vote for it. They vote for the passionate one instead of the trained pilot. The jetliner, not surprisingly, dives to its death, killing everyone on board.

An amusing story with a tragic end. Sadly, the story is an allegorical account of the current state of democracy around the world today. When the ancient Athenians came up with the idea of Democracy around the 6th century BC, they would have never thought that it will spread like a wildfire around the globe. Even far-flung areas not inhabited at the time of the Athenians would accept democracy as a way of life would have been too farfetched for them to comprehend. So what happened to the sacred idea of democracy? Is democracy still thriving around the world or the romance over?

to be continued....

-Sunny Gusain

Mystery of Sushant's Death and The Way Forward

As Sadguru puts it, “In our eagerness to develop our economy and exploit the world, we have forgotten to fix ourselves.”

This is in continuance to the earlier article. Sushant’s suicide was no fluke. It is part of a larger pattern 

Sushant Singh Rajput

of suicides in the country. According to a Lancet study titled Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2016, Suicide is the most common cause of death in the age group of 15-39 years in India. There is plenty of data available on suicide which is enough to scare anybody yet there seems to be a quiet acceptance of suicides in the country. I believe there is no bigger disgrace to society than seeing its young commit suicide. It pains my heart deeply. Students face huge stresses today than in the past. They carry the burden of expectations of their parents, relatives and society.

Coming back to Sushant, he wasn’t a failure by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, as per the reports, he was diagnosed with depression 6 months before his death and was taking medications for the same. Everybody faces stress and anxiety at some point in their lives. We talk about developing skills among the youth so that they can better utilise technology and tools to transform their lives but we forget to give them the crucial skill sets to deal with anxiety and stress. Sushant’s suicide wasn’t his failure but ours as a society. We have failed to understand that just like we need skills to get employed, we need skills to deal with anxiety and stress. A strong institutional and educational framework dealing with stress management could have prevented his death.

Frittering Away Unseen

There is too much stress in India and a too little talk about it. Be it in schools, colleges or workplaces, everyone faces trauma and distress regularly. In an attempt to become successful at all costs, many young people succumb to death by suicide. The new Zeitgeist of succeeding at all costs seems to be one of the major reasons for suicide among the millennials. Just search for motivational videos on Youtube, and you are bombarded with results with recurrent themes of success at all costs. All costs? Even death? This result in a perennial dissatisfaction among the masses. We need not glorify success to the extent that it becomes a matter of life and death. Our mainstream media and society at large are responsible for glorifying successes and comparing one individual to the other. We need to teach and showcase to our youth that there is nothing abominable in failure. It’s a part of life and should be accepted gracefully.

Now let’s come to the solutions to this crisis. India, the land of yoga and meditation, has the tools to tackle this crisis. Acceptance of stress and anxiety as existing within one’s own physical boundaries and emotions is important.

1. Recognition of stress as a problem is paramount before we learn to deal with it. School and college curriculums should compulsorily carry stress management as practical approaches towards a fulfilling life.
2. Yoga and meditation should be made mandatory in schools and colleges. We have blindly 

   

   Ray of Hope?

   followed the western model of education sans physical and mental development. Yoga and meditation have the power to become the best tools for dealing with stress and anxiety. Having experienced it first hand, I can personally stand up for its efficacy. A mind without stress has the power to not only benefit the individual but also the country at large.
3. How does one define progress and growth? Progress should be measured by parameters of Wellness and Happiness than by abstract financial numbers indicated by GDP. Just imagine a country where the government is trying to keep its citizens happy.
4. On an individual level, families and parents should understand how life works before putting undue pressure on their wards. Unlike what Viru Sahastrabuddhi said in the movie 3 idiots, Life is not a race, if you don’t run fast, you will not be a broken anda. Lose your focus on being ultra-competitive. And we should remember what Keyness had once said, "In the long run we are all dead.” Would you rather see your child dead than not being successful at getting admission into an IIT or a Medical College or a Job?

The simple yet powerful steps above could help tackle not only the health crisis of suicide but also stress-related conditions such as diabetes, depression, migraine, Alzheimer’s, Obesity and Asthma. Lastly, for God’s sake, stop blaming nepotism, him, her, this, that for Sushant Singh Rajput's death. His death epitomizes the poor stress management skills we have as a society. Hopefully, it will work as a wakeup call for many of us to bring about changes in our lifestyle.

Rest in Peace, Sushant.

-Sunny Gusain

*Views are personal.

Mystery of Sushant's Suicide

An old saying goes, "A man has three faces, the first face you show to the world. The Second face you show to your family and friends. The Third face is the face you never show to anyone but yourself."

Sushant Singh Rajput

Sushant Singh Rajput's untimely death was shocking and distressing to the entire country. To see a lad, give up on the wonders of life is a sad commentary on the state of current human development. While there has been a raging debate about nepotism, groupism, favouritism and factionalism in the film industry whereby star kids apparently find it easier than the outsiders, everyone seems to have missed the wood for the trees when it comes at finding the real causes of his suicide.

At the expense of sounding philosophical, I wish to explore the dimensions which many elites from the glamour industry fail to comprehend. Actor Sushant's public persona was of an exuberant and joyous person. But we all know that public persona is the disguise actors have to flaunt in public to keep them in the spotlight. Fans look up to them for optimism and positivity, but the inner turmoil of many such public personalities remains concealed. The third face, as the saying goes, one never reveals to the outside world and is the truest reflection of what one really is. Depression, anxiety and other psychological disorders are often hidden from the public gaze. Celebrities become prisoners of their PR machinery. They can't be seen crying nor can they be seen displaying any forms of weakness in public due to their self created public persona. If and when they do open the Pandora's box, fans aren't charitable and graceful enough to accept infirmity from their heroes. The public regards them as infallible. Any sign of weakness results in the battering of their public image - the larger the weakness the bigger the loss of public affection. Heroes never fail, is the underlying theme propagated by the popular cinematic universe. Even if the protagonist faces struggles in the movie, ranging from fighting off a villain to grappling financial woes and courting a girl, by the end of the movie, he emerges triumphant. Real-life, unfortunately, doesn't end in three hours. Happy ending, therefore, isn't a destination that needs to be reached.

Entertainers, as they say, are entertainers and should not be taken at face value. But in a nation filled with idol-worshippers or bhakts, every move of the public figure is under intense scrutiny. The celebrity is expected to be idealistic and virtuous. The entire film industry is, amusingly enough, an industry. And just like any other industry, the film and entertainment industry is also teeming with stress for the stakeholders. Call it whatever you want- stress, pressure, depression, unhappiness, workload etc.- but it is an integral part of the industry.

A cursory look at the NCRB data below paints a grim picture of the society at large. More than 1.3 lac people perishing by suicide every year for the past few years is in itself a public health emergency. Contrast that with the number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the country so far, 15000, and you're astonished to find out the different treatment given to the two, if I may call so pandemics. Why a knee-jerk decision of a lockdown for one and nothing for the other? Aren't suicides a priority for any health ministry of any government in the country?

Number of Suicides over the Years

Just visualise 70,000 deaths due to COVID-19 by end of June, wouldn't the government be taking remarkable actions to prevent or at least lower the mortality rate then? Why it is then that suicide is given a step-motherly treatment?

I'll continue the subject in the next blog with more personal insights and possible solutions.

-Sunny Gusain

*Views expressed are personal.