Editor,
The news reports about the boy being forced to wear a garland of shoes and chappals by the teachers including the head teacher is heart wrenching. We don’t know yet what other abuses/ humiliations the boy and possibly other students of the same school had to undergo at the hands of these abusers unless a thorough investigation is carried out. However, I doubt this will happen considering that the boy in question is a rural boy of poor parents who may eventually be convinced to reach a ” compromise ” and withdraw the First Information Report filed with the police.
It cannot be over-emphasized that the boy in question needs prolonged counselling and that too not from those dime a dozen pretenders who masquerade as counsellors or from those church elders who might pompously tell the child ” to get over it.” It doesn’t work this way because psychological traumas don’t get erased so easily. Unless the boy gets serious help from professionals, he will suffer his entire life. He may even inflict injuries on himself and others.
I reiterate that psychological traumas are not easily erased. I say this from personal experience albeit under different circumstances from that of the boy’s. Being a child of parents who belong to two different racial groups can sometimes be a curse. I remember as a six year old I was frequently mocked, belittled, humiliated and brutally rejected by my teacher in front of the whole class because I looked different and because my mother, according to said teacher, did not choose her husband wisely. This went on for the whole academic year. I was almost totally broken in spirit. How I was promoted to the next class and escaped from the said teacher is a story that is not relevant here.
In subsequent years, I had the great fortune of having good human beings as teachers and this mitigated the trauma inflicted on me to a considerable extent but many consequences of my negative experiences continued, until, in my early adulthood, I started becoming more self- aware and noticed that ( because of the brutal rejection during early childhood)my behaviour and actions in relation to other people was mostly to avoid rejection or to gain the acceptance of others. I also noticed that I always automatically rejected myself when others reject me and this made me depressed. I further noticed that I was timid and had mild panic attacks (kept in control by exercise of will) when required to approach any authority figures.
These insights helped me a lot but it was not the end of the road but only a new beginning. To cut a long story short, when I reached my early thirties and with more insights along the way, I found life to be more tolerable and had more confidence to navigate the ups and downs of life. Please note that it took more than 25 years for me to internally reach somewhere relatively meaningful and that’s a very long time, human life being short. But that was me and I was privileged for being a town dweller with a decent education and access to resources ( only books during my time, but better than nothing at all). But what about the boy? All I can say is that he will definitely have to tread a life path full of thorns. He can get off this path relatively much quicker than me only with the help, guidance and hand-holding of dedicated professionals and support from his loved ones, otherwise, he will get stuck in his internal hell for as long as I did or even longer, God forbid.
Yours etc.,
Samuel Swett,
Shillong-2
Barbaric violence in Manipur
Editor,
Nothing is as condemnable as brutish sadism and cruelty. In Manipur, the base human instincts and vices have been on full display for the past three months. It is often difficult to view video clips of such barbaric atrocities and killings that went viral on WhatsApp. It clearly shows that humans have lost all sense of compassion and fellow-feeling. A visit to a wild life sanctuary would reveal heartwarming scenes of animals coexisting harmoniously, exemplifying their innate compassion and civilized behaviour. Humans on the other hand have proven to be the most cruel creatures.
Here, the main question is: what are the reasons for this continued and unabated violence leading to the heartless killing of the innocent, including children and women? One clear reason is “hatred.” Hatred for fellow- brethren is the root cause. Why do we need to hate those with whom we should be living together in harmony? Should we not again find out the causes of that hatred? Unless we pinpoint the causes of hatred, we will not resolve the Manipur issue permanently. Peace and the idea of co-existence will continue to elude us. The police and paramilitary forces patrolling the state are only a quick-fix solution. Hatred surging from within cannot be shot down with bullets from guns and pistols.
Yes, for true peace and to foster love, we should turn to religion. It provides a ray of hope and spiritual solace. All religions teach us why we need to love our neighbours and serve them in their needs, regardless of their creed, ethnicity, and economic status. Religion is also one of the main vehicles that take us up to the doorway of the Almighty.
However, going by the present circumstances one doubts if the “way and style” in which we have been practising our sacred religions will ever take us to the creator. The hatred we harbour against others for “various reasons” has completely numbed our humane sensitivity. Hence we see our fellow brethren approaching God a little differently as our arch-enemy. We have taken up arms to hurt them because they call Him by different names and hum in different tunes!
If violence and cruelty can lead us to God, religion has been wrongly understood. Many of us have also been using “religion as a licence” to unleash our inner demons. Were sacred religious places not the first casualties of this Manipur outrage? How does the desecration and destruction of religious sites delight God in Heaven? I think we have been thoroughly misled in every respect. We have failed to understand that hurting humanity would hurt God the most.
Yours etc.,
Salil Gewali,
Shillong