I never thought I would be writing this but today I am forced to do this because I can’t hold back my emotions any longer.

It has been more than three days since the news of your demise came out but still I’m not able to get over it and I don’t know why the death of a person whom I have just seen on the screen is affecting me so much or may be it’s affecting everyone who ever admired your performance and personality. To be honest I have never been a staunch fan of any actor but your death has disturbed me beyond words. Your acting was no doubt one of the finest acting I have ever seen. Your realistic portrayal of the character in the front of the camera was a treat to watch but look at the irony that we will never see that cheerful face on the big screen again. The characters you portrayed never looked like the character but always like you yourself was the character. Whether it be Ishaan from Kai Po Che, Dhoni from M.S Dhoni, Anni from Chichhore , Sarfaraz from P.K, Lakhna from Sonchiriya, Raghu from Suddha Desi Romance, Mansoor Khan from Kedarnath, Jillian and Shiv from Raabta, Samar from Drive and Byomkesh from Byomkesh Bakshi your performance never failed to mesmerise your viewers.

No one would have even imagined that a person with such an infectious smile was going through such deep shit and was forced to take the drastic step of ending his life on such a sad note. It’s hard to believe that people around you didn’t paid attention to the huge behaviour difference you were showing in the last six months or may be they have noticed and they have just ignored it but now when you are gone they are feeling guilty. I want to ask such people why feel guilty why huh when he needed you the most you didn’t came to help him but now when he is not there you are showing fake sympathy towards him.

Is this world that level selfish and hypocrite that they can’t help you out when you are alive but pray for your soul when you depart for heaven. I feel the phrase that says that it takes your life for the world to notice you. As long as you are alive people will not give a damn about you and as soon as you die they will start recognising that you existed.

I know the world including me as well is extremely egocentric but your life was much precious than that, you should have trusted at least a single person to tell what all you have going through. My heart aches when I write that you preferred dying over living because you didn’t find even a single human being on earth reliable enough to understand your suffering.

I understand that you didn’t received the massive acknowledgement which you deserved from the audience, and as a audience I would like to apologise for that because in the era filled with nepotism and favouritism a guy from a non filmy background with no godfather in the film industry carved a niche for himself just with his hard work and perseverance.
You always fought for the things that you really wanted in life so why you gave up this time . You left the battle in between, I didn’t expected this from a fighter like you, you would have been a clear winner if you would have fought this battle with depression. You would have told stories about how you fought with depression, that there is nothing to panic about but you didn’t do that you chose death over life instead. Not done SSR not done.

It was because of you so many young artists got inspired, it was because of you so many people got the opportunity to pursue their dreams. You gave people strength and courage to fight for their dreams, you taught them that a person who dares to dream can achieve them and no matter what your background is with ultimate will and perseverance you can achieve big things. Your journey from Patna to Mumbai was an inspirational story for many and all of a sudden you left all, you didn’t thought about that if you will die many people won’t be able to fulfil their dreams as they will get demotivated. Many parents will not allow their children to go in film industry many will force their children to leave what that they like and join other profession as one would want their child to die and they will cite your death as an example.

It was because of you so many got the opportunity to live their dreams and it will be because of you so many will be denied of that opportunity and I’m sure you must be feeling very bad after knowing this.

You underestimated your worth it was much more than your assessment . This swallow world didn’t gave you anything in return except pain and suffering. You deserve a life much better than this and I wish and pray that you get one soon where you and your talents get appreciation as much they deserve.

Your fans love you and always will

Much Love ❤

See you on the other side

A staunch fan of your’s

Students play a very important role in removing illiteracy. … This is because the students are responsible for ensuring they themselves are engaged in the learning process and in ensuring that they become enlightened to be able to help others on coming out illiteracy. In this modern age there are several ways to ensure you don’t miss out on education and end up in poverty.
Without students being available and ready to learn, teacher would be wasting their time and at the end of the day they would not have someone to teach.
It is very unfortunate some students cannot access education due to poverty or other life situations that hinder them from participating in the education process. But one thing that is important to note that for there to be eradication of illiteracy the students themselves must be willing and available to partake of this treasure. The thirst for education or for learning is what is required for one or a nation to eradicate illiteracy.
This means that even that are in poverty, they need to be willing to learn even from their counterparts that have access to education. This means that access to education is readily available in this contemporary world is readily available.
Therefore from this alone one is able to understand that students play a very important role in eradicating poverty.   
Students can play an imperative part in expelling lack of education as they have a lot of time.In summer vacations they can give several hours to instruct the uneducated people in regions or towns close to their residence. They can stir the uneducated people in living aptitudes, appropriate cleanliness, childcare, and sustenance. Additionally, they can evacuate particularly the social wrongs from the psyche of ignorant people like visually impaired faith in superstitions, religious bias, communalism and limited – mindedness.

They can educate about the significance of being illiterate.They can get to different plans of the administration for their inspiration and growth. they can render it better with the assistance of educational organizations, National Literacy Mission, NGOs and social gatherings.

A country wants to achieve the goal of 100% literacy, it will have to involve the students in the literacy programmes.

Each one teach one is a famous historical proverb that originated in America before the declaration of the Emancipation Declaration. The black people did not have privileges to education. Thus, this campaign ‘each one teach one’ was launched to educate the colored people. The few educated black people taught as many uneducated people as was possible.

In the classic and unforgettable song, ‘Ebony and Ivory’, written by Paul McCartney and sung in duet in McCartney and Stevie Wonder, an extremely sensitive question is put in the forefront: if ebony and ivory, the black and white reeds can coexist in piano keyboard “in harmony” why doesn’t it happen in our case? The song became public in 1982 but the question remains a nagging one in human civilization even today. Why do we play the superior-inferior game on the basis of the colour of skin? It is especially intriguing. Science has proved beyond doubt that it is not caused by anything else but by the varying degree of melanin in our skin. Those who among us have lightly pigmented skin types possess approximately half as much epidermal melanin than those most darkly pigmented. There is no better or worse DNA involved to make one group inherently superior at the cost of another.

But societal ideas defy scientific rules. Nowhere perhaps it is more evident than in the distinction between black and white. The US just recently has witnessed the eruption of protests following the killing of George Floyd, a middle aged Afro American, by a white policeman. When he cried and appealed to the policeman who had his knee on Floyd’s neck, saying “”I cannot breathe”, it fell into deaf ears. Within a couple of days after this horrific incident another black man was shot and killed by a white officer in Atlanta. President Trump seeks to solve the problem on his own style by promising some revisions of policing standards. But everyone knows that the solution is too superficial to tackle the problem. The roots of the problem lie much deeper into our minds and it is engraved in society and in our everyday life.

One need not romanticize the black cause. But as the leading slogan of the recent protests asserts “Black Lives Matter”. In fact, any life matters. It is also good to see the number of white participants in the protests, who are equally conscious of the terrible outcome of such distinction based on colour. South Africa had long been a warning to the world in having practiced apartheid. One can even argue that the world got a great leader like Gandhi, partly due to the fact that he was thrown out of a train in that country despite being a ticket holder but daring to travel in upper class. Officially apartheid is no longer there in South Africa after the blacks gained power. But in most parts of the world the same attitude remain unofficially. In various European countries too, like America, which are otherwise admired for proclaiming liberty, freedom, rights and equality for all, behind the constitutional provisions such discriminations remain. More  alarming is the latent racist bias. The skin colour plays a vital role in determining the degree of opportunities, social and economic positions and status in society. The fight must go on. Martin Luther King, Jr., the iconic leader of civil rights movement in the US and a disciple of Gandhi, made this remark: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

An Indian cannot rest assured that we are far removed from such incidents. Any Indian committed to the welfare of our society also know that we are not immune from the same disease. Recently, in West Bengal one headmistress and one teacher of a government-aided school were suspended for teaching from a textbook which has the picture of a black man as ‘ugly’ and a white man as ‘uncle’. We all know that ‘colour sensitivity’ is a pan Indian phenomenon. Despite the fact that our skin colour in general gains the white tag many of us are extremely obsessed with being fair at least. Fairness creams and solutions have a wide market. Despite being banned from advertising proxy advertising goes on unabated. The horrific television commercials of a girl using such cream before the first date or before facing the interview board may be a thing of the past thanks to large scale protests by social activists. But our perception of ‘fair is beautiful’ has hardly changed. The matrimonial columns of all newspapers prove the colour obsession of Indians of all varieties.

It is not a crime to be black. Nor is it a crime to be white. The gravest crime is to assess human beings on the basis of colour. Rightly the piano provides a valuable guide in this regard.

Over the period of time, the idea of prison has evolved from just punishment to rehabilitation of criminals. The reason behind the rehabilitation was to prevent the convicts from repeating the crime.

One such attempt was made in 1787 when a group of influential Philadelphians met at the house of Benjamin Franklin. They considered that the environment of a shared cell by male, female, children and prisoners convicted of heinous crime resulted in bad influence on each other. Thus, they came with an innovative idea of creating an environment that supported repentance by the convicts.

They built Eastern State Prison, in which each prisoner was offered a separate cell containing a flush-toilet, central heating and an outdoor exercise yard covered by a 10 feet wall. The skylit room and the hallway that resembled the church like appearance, made the prison a perfect place for spiritual repentance. The prisoners would be left in silence and solitude to reflect upon their mistake. The Eastern state building was usually referred to as Penitentiary because the criminals were expected to become penitent during their stay in that building.

But when the convicts were brought to this building they experienced a different realm. Charles Dickens, an English author, upon his visit to the Eastern State Prison says the following in his travel journal, chapter seven titled “Philadelphia and its Solitary Prison:”

“In its intention I am well convinced that it is kind, humane, and meant for reformation; but I am persuaded that those who designed this system of Prison Discipline, and those benevolent gentleman who carry it into execution, do not know what it is that they are doing….I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body; and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye,… and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore I the more denounce it, as a secret punishment in which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay.”

Most of the inmates in the cell expressed anxiety and despair about their solitude. They were pushed to the limits of solitude in that cell where they hardly heard or saw anyone except the guard. The guards too don socks over their shoes to dampen the sound and even the slightest of sounds from adjacent cells were barred by the cell architecture. This solitude was never met remorse rather considered as mental torture that killed all the hope of living for a prisoner. The prison which was supposed to give back a better person to society, was sending soulless corpses instead. Another excerpt from Charles travel journal says the following,

“Better to have hanged him in the beginning than bring him to this pass, and send him forth to mingle with his kind, who are his kind no more”

The above words reflect the reflection of prisoners witnessed by Charles Dickens. The inmates usually lost all their hope for a prospective living before leaving the Penitentiary. It is hard for us to expect them to adapt to the outside world after spending years with their only companion which never provoked or got provoked by them. When Charles Dickens asks his companion about the prisoners conduct of themselves when they are going out of the prison while hinting his presumption about trembling , he says the following,

“Well, it’s not so much a trembling,”

“though they do quiver — as a complete derangement of the nervous system. They can’t sign their names to the book; sometimes can’t even hold the pen; look about ’em without appearing to know why, or where they are; and sometimes get up and sit down again, twenty times in a minute. This is when they’re in the office, where they are taken with the hood on, as they were brought in. When they get outside the gate, they stop, and look first one way and then the other; not knowing which to take. Sometimes they stagger as if they were drunk, and sometimes are forced to lean against the fence, they’re so bad: — but they clear off in course of time.” 

This explains the extent of mental distress the inmates might have experienced during their stay in the penitentiary. What is more shocking is that representatives of many countries around the world flocked to witness the penitentiary only to adopt this model later in their country. Though this penitentiary, after its commissioning in 1829 was closed in 1971 for the reasons of overcrowding. The painstricken screams of the inmates which never crossed their mouth can still be witnessed by the words of Charles Dickens.

But the modern world prisons have got rid of those systems for imprisonment and use them only as punishment. The fear of this type of punishment helps the guards to maintain the social behaviour of inmates. 

Source:- 1. Charles Dickens excerpt. 2. Eastern state prison

At the outset, I salute to our valiant and courageous soldiers who have sacrificed their lives against aggressive Chinese force. Our soldiers sacrificed in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh region to protect the country.  In spite of worst climatic condition, they were guarding our border to protect Indians. It has to be admitted that no one is more selfless and brave than a soldier.       

       India, from ancient period, have good relation with China as many travellers visited India and appreciated Indians,  our culture, hospitality, food, etc.  One famous traveller was Fa-hien a Chinese Buddhist monk visited on foot from China to India. He visited many sacred Buddhist sites to acquire Buddhist texts and had jotted down his impressions about India. Another Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited India during the period of emperor Harsha also known as Harshavardhana. When he went back to China, he wrote impressively about India in his book ‘Si-yu-ki’ means ‘Record of the Western Countries’.  Third Chinese traveller is I-tsing, a Seventh century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, was highly impressed after visiting India. Three  names have been mentioned here.    

    Thus from ancient period onwards we have good relation with China but problem started after the Chinese Communist Revolution. It is observed that they have developed ‘expansionist attitude’. It may be mentioned that during the early 1950s – the period marked by an increasing Chinese military superiority over India – both countries were friendly and cordial to each other and the Chinese did not want to disturb this because ‘they found in Nehru an important champion of their case in international forums and thus a great help in their control of Tibet’.  “In the year 1955 the euphoria of “Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai” continued unabated. After his return from China in November, 1954, Nehru started making preparations for the forthcoming Bandung Conference to be held in Bandung, Indonesia. This first large-scale Afro-Asian Conference was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent. It was sponsored by India Indonesia, Burma, Pakistan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and took place during the week of April 18-24, 1955. Having just returned from his China visit, Nehru’s enthusiasm for China was again exhibited at this Conference when he became the main sponsorer of Chou En-Lai to this conference in spite of reservations from some countries” (new.resurgentindia.org/the-history-of-sino-indian-relations-and-the-border-dispute-between-the-two-countrie).  Further, it is pertinent to mention that “India actually helped China consolidate its control over Tibet. In October 1950 India refused to sponsor a Tibetan appeal to the United Nations. When El Salvador sponsored such an appeal, India played a key role in squashing it” (www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~johnston/garver.pdf).

So the present   leaders of China should not forget India’s massive friendly and generous contribution towards China. Unfortunately, in present days we have been observing different China, now international community blaming China because of COVID-19, economy of China is in recession stage, unemployment has been scaling up etc. To justify the same, few lines from the newspaper, South China Morning Post (SCMP, 20/2/2020) are presented here,  “Coronavirus costs keep mounting for manufacturers, who are facing huge losses in sales and struggling to ramp up production. If such losses take place then there will be negative effect in the economy and poor Multiplier Effect meaning more unemployment, less purchasing power of the people, and finally a sort of “Vicious Circle of Poverty” qualitatively may operate”.  With all these issues faced by the leaders of China may be they have adopted tactics of conflict with India. China’s aggression vis-à-vis conflicting attitude is observed not only with India but Hong Kong protest, South China Sea conflicts are few among many where China is involved.  Hope good sense will prevail among the Communist leaders of China and they will discard transgression attitude.

Dr. Shankar Chatterjee

Former Professor& Head (CPME)

NIRD &PR

Hyderabad-500 030

India

Although an acute awareness has started emerging after years and decades of negligence in discussing mental health and mental illness as one of the prime subjects in today’sworld, mental illness in children still seems to belong to a narrow lane behind a shadow which most people are completely unaware of.

Over 40% children from this generation face developmental disorders including anxiety disorder, depression along with other mood disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders so on and so forth. Since it is very normal for children to have a fickle mindset due to which the common symptoms of these disorders are generally ignored by their teachers, parents and other elders.
The best possible way to detect whether a child is suffering from any of these disorders or not is to get them to talk. A psychotherapist who has sufficient knowledge in child psychology may be appointed to get in touch with the child and proceed with the process which may or may not include medication.

However, ignoring these symptoms in children may lead to life fracturing impacts in their characteristics which will eventually refrain them from having a normal and sound personal and professional life. Therefore, mental health in children should be discussed as a prime subject and should never be neglected or ignored by the elders for the children to have a successful professional and personal life in their future.
There have been many instances where mild to severe symptoms have been neglected which has caused alcoholism and depression in future. A recent study shows depression takes place at a rate about 4-5% in children and upto 20% during adolescence and most of them need to be clinically diagnosed with proper medication, otherwise, it leaves life and scars in an emotional and psychological sphere.

Autism spectrum disorder is another illness that can cause lifelong impact on children if not diagnosed in a proper way since the beginning. Kids with autism require special care and treatment in order to lead a normal life further.

Various studies show 1 out of 10 children from our generation tends to suffer from mental disorder that in most cases goes unnoticed. These children tend to be nervous most of the time due to their lack of ‘normalcy’ that they are very much aware of. Bullying in high school and its contemporary institutions makes it worse for many. They suffer in silence which affects their mental health in a huge way.
Ignorance towards these things can lead to long term as well as short term consequences which include but are not limited to changes in sleeping and eating habits, abuse of drug and alchohol, gaining/losing weight, hypertension and depression.
Although many people tend to consider medication to be the only treatment available today but in many cases mere psychotherapy sessions work magically. A few excercises are supposedly recommended to those suffering that works really well and medicines are recommended only in crucial conditions.

Henceforth, even mild symptoms should never be ignored by the elders for it may leave life long physical and mental scars that would make their lives highly threatening.

– Suvasree Bandyopadhyay.

It is often said that while success has several suitors, failure has none.

Nepotism might be an alien term for many but for some this is a cause of depression or on a higher scale cause of death. Favouritism or special attention granted to close friends and relatives by the people in power is called nepotism and we all face this in one way or the other. No matter which field you are working in, nepotism is everywhere. It is like a disease that has already made the world hollow and is still mushrooming. It is all about power, the damn chair! We all are part of it, sometimes as a victim and the other times as the sinner. The tragedy is we all believe that we are victims and we do nothing bad. The truth is, we all are trapped in this materialism knowingly or unknowingly and it doesn’t matter because we are too weak to come out.  What do you think was the reason Voldemort chose the dark art and attacked Hogwarts or Kaleen Bhai wanted his two men to be killed by his son in Mirzapur, all of these to not let the other one powerful than you because we can’t stand someone being more powerful than us. Be it reel or real nepotism is everywhere. We want the other person to respect us. Nobody wants to give up their power and let the other rule, even if the other person is better than them.

All of this has become the part of a dynasty. The biggest example of this is the glamorous industry BOLLYWOOD, hollow and shabby from inside. Many normal people with big dreams go to Mumbai to fulfil their wishes. But the most appealing has its own secrets, its flaws. As soon as an outsider start making progress, making fame after working hard. These big names ban them, ignore them, boycott them and what not. Everybody has its own way to handle it but not everyone can handle it properly.

A child may be a victim of depression too. But hardly have we cared. As for us nothing like this exists. Talking about mental health is a taboo because we don’t know how this society will treat us. That’s why to most of us it doesn’t even exist. All we get from such people is a one liner- EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY, DO NOT OVERTHINK.

This is the most irritating line when you are in pain and going through a lot. Nobody needs advice at that time. That entire person with depression need is to be heard, your support without you being judgemental. But the cruelty of society doesn’t let it help people without judging them. Life is all about helping each other in the time of need. It doesn’t matter much If you cannot be with someone in their happy times, at least try to be with them in their time of need, and stop using others for your selfish interests.

In the end you will definitely get what you have planted. Plant your destiny well. Spread love. Karma spares no-one.

We all just need to be patient time heal wounds. Your life matters the most. Nobody will get affected more than your parents and your loved ones. Think about them before taking detrimental steps.