Why Suicides?

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary describes 'Suicide' as a deliberate act of killing oneself. Is there a sudden spurt in the number of people committing suicides? A farmer, a technocrat, a police officer, a student, a bureaucrat and  an actor ... endless people end their lives  every day around the world. No action is possible without a trigger. Here a self-destructive action, a self punishing one is not possible without a provcation. The  immediate reason may be internal or external. But there is a cause to function in a certain direction.  

The American researcher Durkheim talks of four types of suicides: egoistic, altruistic, anomic and fatalistic. Out of these anomic is the most common as the economic disparities are growing since the market economy's invasion. Individuals have limited control over their income levels, irrespective of their business size. The small trees are unable to withstand strong winds and the big are unable to face the big storms. The fall is common for the rich and the poor  in market economy. Hence unemployment or underemployment or poor wages do play a role in the fatal decision making of individuals.  

Apart from the economic troubles individuals do come across innumerable critical situations that cause them severe agony which they are unable to bear. The market economy has been constantly raising the expectations of people.  The new aspiring generation are in crowded cities but feel isolated. The traditional Indian way of simplicity  is abhorred and a  longing for a luxurious life has become the order of the day. Time tested support systems in the form of joint families are slowly giving way to nuclear families. Experienced elderely persons are rarely found in our modern homes. Either they are left in the villages of found in old age homes. There is a rat race for success and there is an intense competition among the  people who are blessed with 'Success Techniques'.  

The modern indiviudals are well connected with intenet and stay disconnected with their loved ones. Almost all who live in big cities are in want of emotional security. People are unable to bear the pressure applied by their peers, family, friends, the  system and the society.  Apart from the social net working sites our people watch and read the stuff offered by the media. Most of them carry invaraibly all the negative news stories across the world. Watching a negative TV soap or a violent scne  late night and going to bed without any further interaction win any form causes immense damage to the emotional balance systems of the brain. Even in sleep, the thoughts would continue to haunt and may result in nightmares. As the humans always try to connect with what they saw or read with their real life ones,  there is every chance that more and more people become victims to the distant violence. 

Altruistic suicides are for a public cause. When mass hysteria is created over an emotive issue and spread by the media, individuals who feel close to the cause take a hard decision with a hope that their decision may have a bearing on the future outcomes.  History  tells us that a Tamil king commits suicide as enough rains had not blessed his kingdom putting his farmers to much hardship. The same tendency is still seen in the southern part of India as we  all were witness to a thousand suicides for the cause of Telengana state. 

An escape from the complex web which we have woven over ourselves is not a difficult one. Every one of us must have a person on whom one can confide in. Share and care must be the mantra. The kinship doesn't matter here. How close one is to the person concerned  only matters. Here too there is a chance for disappointment. But one has to prepare for such an eventuality too. A return to our traditional value system would go a long way in strengthening the bond among all the family members. Finally one who thinks fatally has to remember that 'Death' is surrender and 'Life' is victory. 

To smile you need not be a Monalisa.

Man always needs an invisible guide

Sins of man

Pope Francis urges action on climate change on visit to US - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34337942

Should there be Pre-school education?

In India formal education is open for the kids who have completed at least five years of age. Even till the late 1980’s teachers have to canvass among parents to admit their kids in schools. Then, kids who were even seven years old would get admitted into first standard. Due to the epochal societal and economic changes that had taken place in the recent years, tender kids who are not even two years old are out of their homes and of their mothers’ laps.

More and more women have joined the formal work force and an unprecedented migration towards cities has resulted in fragmentation of joint families into nuclear families. Left with no option, parents seek a shelter for their loved ones during the day time. Thousands of Crèches and Pre-schools have sprung up across the nation where babies and young children are cared for during the day.

The rat race for success becomes more intensive as the parents think that their kids have only one option if they want their survival and success- that is education. The rural life used to nurture multiple skills and talents in a natural environment.  Even an uneducated farmer knows the entire scheme of things for his crops, building small or big houses, riding carts or tractors to till or carry loads of produce, to attend to small electrical or mechanical faults of his pump sets and many more. But a city bred child gets no opportunity to learn such skills  from the  immediate environment  as the child is  confined to the four walls of a flat placed at a height that even birds fear to fly.

Now the central government seems to be in favor of laws that would seek extension of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act that came into effect in 2009, to Pre-schools too. This thinking has started in 2011 itself and the highest body in taking decisions on school education, CABE had constituted a drafting committee for this purpose.

It is feared that such a move would legitimate an unhealthy practice being practiced by parents and other stake holders.  The question at what age children should start formal schooling is debated upon for decades and the academicians are in favor of increasing the school entry level age to 6 or 7 from the existing 5.  There is overwhelming evidence proving that late schooling is the best option. The schools in Sweden and Finland admit kids only when they turn 7 and the academic standards and the achievements in such children are found to be quite high. 

In fact the present system has got a British legacy, as the English system was introduced in 1870 in England, to get women back into work rather than on the basis of any educational benefit to kids.

Pre-schooling not only robs our kids of their precious childhood but damages their psyche much.  The efforts taken to build a knowledge based society are laudable; but a society of healthy individuals is preferable. Increasing violence and crime and the mushrooming life style diseases have got their origin in children’s childhood.  In fact there must be no schools at all for any kid who has not attained the age 7. Today’s homes are isolated but the kids are learning fast to get connected with the outside world of knowledge and a variety of games thanks to the internet reach. As parents are also educated the kids won’t remain empty handed till they start attending the school. What would happen is learning without any burden. Such learning would be ideal as it is happening in the familiar environment of the child.

A society that wants healthy and happy citizens must spend time and money on researches that would throw more light on the functioning of its educational systems. Bringing in kids into schools at an age when they have to be playing is simply cruel.  Kids learn faster when they are allowed to play and experiment on their own instead academically directed instructional methods. Let the kids be at homes as long as they are kids.  No need to send the toddlers to schools with any more laws.