Meandering thoughts
which repeat over and over in my head:
One obsessive thought
with me (and probably billions of others is I think), is “ How to have a world free of crime
especially cruelty and how to have a
perfect world. Various ideas run though my head about this theme.
Causes of criminal
behaviour: identify, eliminate and remove causes which foster the development
of these behaviours or traits.
One way of going about
this is to study children’s behaviour and development with close observation from
the day they are born and identify at what point in their life, do they start
showing undesirable behaviours such as cruelty, especially the type where a
child seems to find it funny to see another child cry or enjoy teasing another
child, knowing that the child is suffering. Identify when the child first
starts lying, first starts being secretive…I know that being secretive is not
wrong …what I mean is when traits such as slyness, lying, start showing up and
developing. Study the factors which seem to be causing or helping the
development of these behaviours or traits and see if these factors can be
removed from the child’s environment.
I have observed the
development of a few kids in my family and I have seen that initially the child
(say from age 1 to 2 or 3years) seems to not realize that the other child is
crying because it is hurt. The child is only interested in his/her needs i.e.
the toy that the other child has and grabs it, oblivious to the other child’s
crying. Later I have seen in some kids, hurting a child in anger such as when
the other child snatches its toy away. Hurting the other child, especially a
younger sibling out of jealousy especially when adults pay attention to the
other child is another behaviour I have observed.
But one inexplicable
behaviour I have observed is the child’s behaviour of making another child cry,
for no apparent reason ….the only reason for making the child cry seems to be
enjoyment i.e. to laugh at the crying
child. This is the behaviour I am talking of. What drives a child or adult to
be cruel to another and remain indifferent to other’s sufferings. I am yet to
see this child, who seems to show cruelty for no apparent reason, grow up. I am
curious to see if he will change. His parents are trying their best to deal
with it but have been successful to only a minimal extent. His parents of
course are wonderful people, not cruel at all. His teachers, relatives, school
are all blameless, at least with regard to the care of this child. So what is
driving this child to be so cruel? Is it genetic? Biological ? Need for
aggression? I am not sure.
Dealing with society’s
ills is another major way of reducing crime in this world. But the task seems
overwhelming to me, especially in high population countries with low motivation
on parts of their corrupt governments to bring about changes.
I read the times of India
Many crimes seem to
occur with appalling frequency and it bothers me that the police, the victims,
the government do not seem to identify the patterns and take precautions to
prevent these crimes.
Some of the crimes I
have seen repeatedly and with definite patterns are:
Buildings under
construction falling and killing labourers. Why is a study not made of the
cause of these under construction building falling and preventive measure
taken?
Sexual molestation of
school children by the drivers of the vehicles they are travelling in.
Suicides and suicidal
attempts by so many groups of persons: 10th standard children, 12th
standard children, newly married women( dowry harassment is usually the cause),
students in certain courses only , students from certain colleges or
universities only, students of certain castes only.
Wives of alcoholics
being killed by their husbands as they suspect her of infidelity or these wives
commit suicides : It is a well known fact that alcoholics are brain damaged and
suffer from alcoholic jealousy, paranoid illness, psychosis; it is also well
known that relatives, especially the alcoholic’s relatives believe him and
blame the wife for his drinking habits and join hands with the alcoholic in
attacking the hapless woman. Yet, these cases are routinely reported in
newspapers but no doctor or psychiatrist makes efforts to educate people and
support these women. In fact, so many believe that the wife is sleeping around!
Committing suicide due
to stomach ache is another repeatedly seen item in the newspapers especially
the Deccan Herald! I cannot imagine why people commit suicide for stomach ache,
unless ( I am sure it is) it is a cover-up of the real cause of suicide.
Accidents happening at
the same spot over and over again and the government does not do anything to
find out why accidents happen at that particular place? I remember that the one
particular spot i.e. Byatarayanapura on the Hebbal Yelahanka road, which has
taken the life of many many people, especially staff and students of the
agriculture university, who would be travelling on 2 wheelers between the 2
campus i.e. the Hebbal campus and the GKVK campus.
The recent news is of
people being attacked in the nights especially in areas near IT industries for
money. Yet, the police and the government do nothing.
Death by gas cylinders
bursting, cookers bursting, kerosene stoves bursting, are another set of
repeated cause of injury & death. Yet, no one seems to make the efforts to
see what caused these accidents to happen. Unless scientific, unbiased and
ethical forensic investigations are done, these incidents will continue.
When I talk to people
about these, issues, there is such a sense of helplessness. People are no
longer even frustrated. They seem to be resigned and accepted these as ‘facts
of life’ and simply move on, thanking that it is not of their family or of
their loved ones.
The ones who want to
fight things like injustice, corruption, crime have to have, endless patience!
One person I know is a psychiatrist from
NIMHANS. He has not given bribes in his life and was able to fight ( I know of
one fight only) as he has the most valuable resource, i.e. time! He retired
from NIMHANS and had to shift from NIMHANS quarters to his house. He did that
and the telephone company had to shift his phone….which they did not do for 6
months as he refused to bribe them !
If one has to wait for
6 months to get a telephone transferred a distance of 3 kilometres, imagine how
many fights one has to face to simply live in India
Birth certificate:
Bribe
Visits to government
hospitals: bribes ( Victoria
Getting your driving
licence: bribes
Getting into a school
even if it is a nursery school for a 3 year old: Donations, running into lakhs
of rupees.
Getting into a
college: Donations (no receipts for these donations at school or college)
Getting a government
job: You need ‘influence’ and give bribes or you need to belong to the reserved
category to have a chance of getting the job. I have seen a cousin of mine,
work without pay for two years at a school, in my village in order to be made,
‘permanent’. I am not sure he is getting paid or not, now, after many years or
if he is working at a low salary.
If you are building a
house, then, it is better you keep several lakh rupees for bribing people in
the government for various processes such as registrations of the site, transfer
of the site, getting electricity connection, water connection, sewage, etc.
It has become
impossible for the common man to do anything dealing with the govt without
giving a bribe.
My fingers are aching
now. I will continue later! I am sure there are a million other places, where
you have to give bribes. But these are the only ones I or my family have had
experience of giving bribes or not getting the work done for refusing to give.
My sister refused to pay for getting her birth certificate and she did not get
it even after 2 visits!
I do not own a site or house in Bangalore as I simply
cannot go through the process of bribing and on top of everything, being
‘humble’, ‘polite’, ‘ingratiating’ to the guys I bribe. As you already know, if
one is rude or curt, your work is not done, even if you have given the bribe !
You have
to act ‘humble’, ‘grateful’, ‘sweet’, and then your work gets done ! I
simply cannot go through that torture….especially after bribing! Once I bribe,
I want to give the guy a piece of my mind, yell at him, humiliate him……Not
humbly thank him with gratitude !
Another problem is
that as I am a female, the guys do not ask for bribe but simply refuse to do
the job. I think, if I was a male, they would quickly and clearly tell the
amount and the work gets done. That is another thing with these guys ! They
seem to be ashamed to ask a lady for a bribe, but will still not do it without
a bribe ! ( I think they fear that men will start sending their wives to get
the work done, if they do it …for women, without a bribe!) I know, that there
are many women employees in government, but I have not encountered them. From,
what I have heard, they too take bribes. Probably, they have no escape, as they
have to pass, a part of the cut to their superiors.
Each time, I heard of
someone in my family struggling to get a job (…where they have to interact with
a government run office)done and then getting it done, only after bribing, I
curse the person who took the bribe….my
curse is so vile, I don’t want to write it here, but then, my frustration is so
severe! Even if my family are resigned and accept bribing as inevitable, I
suffer with such severe frustration and impotent rage, that it affects my
mental health!
Considering that the
terrible inflation in India and the peanuts, my family and many other families
are getting in pensions and salaries, how can these vile government servants demand money from these
already tightly stretched people?
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