Lost time

Got through a sling of seminars and case conferences. Now a presentation coming up in November. Writing has been a little shaky in the last few weeks. Now will make up.

Suicide terrorism

Had a seminar yesterday on suicide terrorism. It was mainly on the question of whether a personality profiling is possible in case of a suicide terrorist. In simple words is it that with the appropriate social, political, economical and personal events and pressures any individual can become a suicide terrorist? Or are there some personality characteristics which predispose a person to transform into one?
There is no good study evidence for either. Obviously a suicide bomber wont go to a psychiatrist to take part in a study before bombing. If he goes to a psychiatrist because he is confused then he is not a suicide bomber and is not worthy of being a study subject.
Still if someone speculates on the subject it is likely that a suicide bomber will be having some personality predispositions. The reason is that there are people with the same ideological fervour with approval for the actions and purpose of a suicide bomber but who is still not a suicide bomber. There will be hundred people who will firmly believe that suicide bombing is the best and the only weapon against a formidable enemy against whom collective force is impossible.
But how many of them would become a suicide bomber? One or two may be. It shows that just believing strongly in suicide bombing is not enough to become a suicide bomber. All of them don’t have tragic personal experiences also. Some of them are professionals having a seemingly normal family life. So it has to be some personality traits.

The dark knight

Its dark for sure. It plays out like a shakespeare tragedy.
Writing a superhero franchise is never easy. Hero has to win in the end. Villain will have to fail. Heroine should still swoon over the hero. There is not much creative freedom. You cannot disturb the status quo. You have to preserve the legend and all associated characters.
But Nolan explores the darkness of the human mind beautifully even between this. Its sad, scary, tragic and brilliant. Nolan will now face the difficulty of making a bigger villain in batman 3 after pushing limits giving life to Joker.
In the end Batman is someone you feel sorry for, not one you want to be. He is prisoner of his own destiny.
As Dent says in the movie,' if a hero survives long enough he becomes a villain.'

Do you have a mental illness?

Prevalence in general population of
Depressive disorders:1-23%
Schizophrenia:1%
OCD:1.5-3%
Phobias:4-11%
Generalised anxiety disorder:3.5%

Are these people getting the medical help they deserve? Are they even aware that they may be having a problem that is treatable? Or is it the stigma of being mentally ill that keeps them away from a doctor?
If some one doesn’t laugh at a person who has diabetes because of imbalance of insulin why should he laugh at a person who is having schizophrenia because of an imbalance of dopamine in his brain?

Jaane Tu...Ya jaane naa

First of all let me tell you that this movie is fair when compared to all the filth discharged by bollywood in the last few months.(If you think Om shanti om is 'the movie' please don't read further. This is not for you.)
But Abbas Tyrewala screws in terms of consistency of tone of the movie.
1-Is this a light vein college romance which brings a smile to your face and try to tickle your mind's fine threads of emotion?(whatever it means)
2-Is it an over the top comedy (you know the kind where dead people talk in photos and people go to bar on horses) where writer is repeatedly trying to prove that he himself has not taken the story seriously?
3-Is it something that celebrate the spirit of youth?(means that you get a lot of people walking together in songs and there is lot of jump cuts during this- it’s a craze after 'dil chahta hai' you know)
well I don’t know. Because the film maker couldn’t make up his mind. So what he does? He mixes every thing together.
The idiom here is not 'when in doubt do nothing'- its 'when in doubt do everything'. The end result is something that is brilliant in patches. And also horrible in patches.
The best thing to come out of this movie is some fresh acting talent. Rathna patak is brilliant. Manjari Phadnis is nice. Imran khan doesn’t disappoint but will have to be tested in different roles.

Delusion or Overvalued idea?

What is a delusion?
I am talking about strictly psychiatry. As a kind of thought disorder. Not in our common everyday sense of ' I think he has a delusion that he is very important' and so and so.
In psychiatry delusion is defined as ' a firm abnormal unshakable belief held with adequate conviction which is not shared or derived from his socio cultural background'.
Someone saying that aliens inserted a machine in his head is having a delusion.(until X Files reveal with real proof that indeed its happening)
The bold texting is mine. If you remove that clause every one will be having a delusion. But even believers say 'I believe in god', not 'I know there is god'. For that matter atheists also. So I guess deep down its shakable.
There is another concept called 'overvalued idea'. Here the belief in itself is not abnormal but the behaviour related to it is abnormal. The person become so much preoccupied with his belief that it gains precedence over all his daily activities.
A person who says 'we should plant trees for our environment' is not talking abnormally. But when he starts spending all his time and money on this avoiding his family and business it becomes overvalued idea. It in itself is not diagnostic of any psychiatric condition.

Now tell me something about all those people who get into some train to mumbai to become a movie star but has never acted in their life except in front of their mirrors. Or actresses who live on mineral water and vegetables to reach the 'size 0' through out their healthy digestible adult life. Or people who spend all their hard earned bank balance and future credit on buying 'brand'y apparels and expensive cars hoping that it will make up for the ailment of a lack of meaningful respected existence. Or someone ready to kill for money to get a decent booze even if it means that after a day what will be left is a hangover, a bloody knife and an entire life inside four walls . Or all those aspiring professionals who burn their midnight oil hoping for a secure future while world is blooming, withering and preparing for rebirth outside their life proof walls. Or all those who are wallowing in the exhilarating intoxication of hatred towards a country, caste or creed forgetting that the enemy in whose throat your knife is just an accidental, innocent product of a sperm and egg who didn’t even know that they existed let alone the fact that they are going to generate a person with greed and fear and insecurities.

Tell me something about all these people. Are they having a delusion or an overvalued idea?
At least in some cases I am not able to make up my mind.

Amer Fort

Went to Jaipur on a conference. Though I didn’t go much for sight seeing in jaipur one place that made a lasting impression is the Amer Fort. The hotel was very near that we could see the walls of the fort on the hill while we had our food in the restaurant.
One day morning we ventured out there. The lake in front of the fort has been dried up due to the sun. but I can imagine how beautiful it would be the gaze down from the windows of the fort when there is water.
It’s a steep climp. By the time I reached the top I could imagine the hardships for a potential enemy who has to climp up to reach the fort . That also amidst a hail of arrows and rocks. Bullets also I guess.
I was really enchanted by the sheer size of the living quarters. Of course the big halls, the renown sheesh mahal, artistic domes everything was nice and good. But what left me thinking was the no: of chambers in the living quarters.
The whole panorama of life that would have been unfolding in these private quarters' . The relatives of all dimensions who in someway or other related to king living in the royal shade. But who still will be cringing for more, jealous towards those who are edging towards the king's good books. Always desperate to be under the kings umbrella, to be his right hand or may be his left. Or at least be his sandals.
That’s where all the real stories are. History writes about kings who made castles and won wars. But that’s not the real story. Its just a way of recording an event. In the first place the kings doesn’t built castles or win wars. Its done by people who for most part don’t even have names. Let alone kings doesn’t even make decisions to do all this. It is taken by his influential relatives and intelligent courtmen. He is just a rubber stamp. His job is the declaration of inevitabilities.
So when I stood in those dark chambers I thought about all those drama that these walls would have witnessed. Love-hate-jealousy- murder-loneliness… everything. When we stroll and chatter with our cameras may be these stones are thinking about that. That how life changes.
How a human being now cannot imagine that loving someone can be other than about dates, phone numbers, shopping and ego trips. That for someone inside this walls at some times it was about avoiding king's wrath and a noose around your neck. That it was about behaving like you are a stranger to your loved one in front of others. Meeting them in dark corridors. (yeah there are a lot of them in this fort) Uttering every word biting down the fear that you may be discovered any moment.
Still they did it. That’s the interesting part. Still they did it.
In the innermost part of the harem I saw a bathroom. In the centre of the bathroom is a well like bathtub 4 feet in depth and 2 feet breadth and length. There are windows opening into the view of the distant hills. In the accompanying room there is a water reservoir from which obviously water is being brought and poured into the bathtub. When I stood there I could imagine the royal ladies who would be lying in the water, naked, gazing into the hills. The female servants bringing water in pails pouring into the bathtubs.
What would be those ladies thinking about? Will it be about some incompetent husband who is lagging behind in becoming the favourite of the king while some one else is gaining fast? Or about some handsome lord in the court? Or about a belligerent son whose cruelty is becoming a disgusting topic in the food halls?
And what would those servants be thinking about? The beauty of the jewellery lying on top of the pile o f clothes in the corner of the bathroom? The advances of son of the lady? Their starving children down the hill waiting for them to come back?

I don’t know. It makes me sad but the beauty of the whole thing is that I will never know.