Is Euthanasia Killing or Giving Freedom to an Exiled Soul?

‘Active euthanasia’ (mercy killing) is still illegal in India while 'passive euthanasia' may be permissible in exceptional circumstances, according to a recent decision by the Supreme Court of India. The court recently dismissed a plea for mercy killing brought by writer/journalist Pinky Virani on behalf of a 60-year-old nurse, living in a vegetative state for the past 37 years in a Mumbai hospital after a brutal sexual assault.

Case Background:

Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, a nurse of KEM Hospital in Mumbai, was raped by a ward boy in1973. Aruna was menstruating on that day and therefore, the rapist did not penetrate her but instead choked her with a dog chain and raped her anally. She bled for days from the anus and the attempted asphyxiation had cut off oxygen supply to her brain resulting in a brain stem contusion injury and cervical cord injury apart from leaving her cortically blind. She went into a coma after that incident and was pronounced brain dead.

Currently, she cannot speak, hear, or see; she is unable to communicate in any manner. And she is force-fed every day. The former nurse has become 'featherweight' and her bones are brittle. Her wrists are twisted inward and her teeth are totally decayed. Also, she is now prone to bed sores as a result of being unable to move by herself and in one position most of the time.

The Legal Issues:

The injustice first done with Aruna after those brutal happenings was that her attacker was punished not for rape or sexual molestation, nor for the "unnatural sexual offense" (which could have got him a ten-year sentence by itself) but rather for assault and robbery for which he received a total effective sentence of seven-years with each offense running concurrently.

A writer cum journalist, Pinky Virani, filed a petition in the Supreme Court for a passive euthanasia for Aruna, to which the honourable judges rejected the plea as there is currently no law in place for euthanasia. The bench, however, did say even though there is no law presently in the country on euthanasia, that mercy killing of a terminally-ill patient ‘under the doctrine of passive euthanasia’ can be resorted to in exceptional cases. But the bench clarified that until Parliament enacts a law regarding euthanasia, its most recent judgment on active and passive euthanasia will be in force.

However, the Supreme Court did make some suggested guidelines with regard to passive euthanasia but they were not immediately available, according to reports.

Conclusion:

So the Supreme Court of India seems not to reject the idea of passive euthanasia. It is the lack of a law which made the honourable judges give the verdict against Aruna’s petition for mercy killing. We hope the Indian Parliament will pass a bill for passive Euthanasia so that Aruna may forever have the peace and freedom she deserves.

I am not a supporter of mercy killing or euthanasia in every step but while making it a law may create many hazards and complications in society, it can be highly essential in some cases like Aruna’s. And we can’t just shut our eyes and force Aruna to live a life, practically which she is not living at all.

I hope the Supreme Court will someday permit passive euthanasia for Aruna (alas they could not, because there is no perfect law regarding this in our country) so she could have the peace and freedom she deserves.

23-March, A Day for Challenging Beliefs and Faith

The day 23 March has great importance in history and today again proved its importance in Indian History. This day is famous because it is the birthday of great Socialist thinker Ram Monahar Lohia. This day is also famous because in the colonial period, Bhagat Singh, a leftist freedom fighter, was hung by British rulers along with his two other comrades. Today, this day becomes significant because Kanu Sanyal, one of the premier left-wing terrorist (they say revolutionary) thinkers committed suicide by hanging himself in his home.

Twenty-three-March is a symbolic day as it is commonly associated with events having connections with socialism and other leftist activities. The day 23 March is associated with two other hangings; one was imposed and the other was a suicide. But moreover, it made me think about the reason that made the socialist like Kanu Sanyal follow the path of suicide. As per their concept and consciousness, the leftists always act as most optimistic in their ideology and also in their activities. The socialists or communists or Marxists are not like the French Existentialist writer Albert Camus in that they will think the reason why people are not committing suicide even though they face a meaningless lifestyle in their day-to-day lives.

In the seventies, Kanu Sanyal and Charu Majumdar were the two names who gave a new turn to Indian politics, though never they had entered into any level of Indian government. In fact, they spent most of their years in prison. But they brought the name of a small village ‘Naxalbari’ into the Indian mainstream, which has still been existing as Naxal activities or has been synonymous with Maoist activities. The Naxal movement of seventies only affected Kolkata and few villages of West Bengal or Andhra Pradesh. It had little effect on either Orissa or in Bihar (now known as Jharkhand). Now, Naxal or Maoist activities have spread from Nepal to Maharashtra, including more than seven states of India.

In the seventies, the Naxals announced that power would generate from the barrel rather than from the ballot box. They adopted the violent methods of Bakunin’s or Mao Tse-tung’s anarchist class struggle. Bakunin was buried into ignorance and Mao Tse-tung’s Redbook was exiled from his beloved country of China. Still it remained in South Asia with the goal of establishing a new form of “State,” which after the end of cold war, became itself an insignificant one.

Naxal is now synonymous with terrorism, what in the seventies neither Charu nor Kanu thought any day. In later times, Kanu Sanyal kept himself away from the leftist government and so-called contemporary Maoist activities. And at last, he was found hung in his room in his village near Naxalbari.

Away from the political observer’s guessing and remarks, what made me to think more about the actual cause of Kanu Sanyal’s committing suicide that it is the fate of any faith or belief that lacks the capability to bind any people permanently for a lifetime, even lacking its control over its creator.

Going back to history, in 543 BC, on a full-moon day of May (the month of Baisakha in the Hindu Calendar), on his deathbed, Buddha uttered his last words, “All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting.”

The realisations of Buddha and Albert Camus (in Myth of Sisyphus) and Kanu Sanyal are the same, even though they represent different ways. Are they nihilistic in their approach? As a social thinker, will anyone be an optimistic one? It is a great question, a great crisis and still for me, it seems like an unsolved puzzle. The suicide of Kanu Sanyal makes us think of this crisis of all beliefs and faiths again and again.

Science, Superstition, or Bollywood?

NDTV Imagine’s new reality show, “Raaz Pichhle Janam Ka” has been going on the air from 7 December 2009 at 9:30 p.m. and as a daily prime timeslot from Monday to Thursday. The show is based on Past Life Regression Therapy (PLRT), where some Bollywood celebrities like Shahrukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Sanjay Dutt, Karishma Kapoor , Celina Jaitely, Shekhar Suman, and Monica Bedi will appear with other common people to subject themselves in PLRT. According to news source, Dr. Trupti Jain, the PLRT therapist of the reality show claims that she will use a meditative technique to take people back in time to rid them of their present-day fears, phobias, and physical ailments by finding their roots in their previous lives.
The idea of Past Life Regression is based on Hindu philosophy. In Bhagwat Gita, it is told that the soul can never be cut into pieces by any weapon, nor can he be burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind. According to this theory, the ‘atma’ or soul takes rebirth or reincarnation, as people often leave their old cloths to wear a new one. The ancient Indian Yoga philosopher Patanjali told about the soul being burdened with the accumulation of impressions (samskara) of karmas from previous existence. He advocates the practice of yoga meditation for alleviating the soul from such interminable encumbrances.
The Buddhist concept of Nirvana works along similar lines. The main motto of Nirvana is to stop this reincarnation.
Greco-Semitic religions do not believe in a past life. These religions believe that humans are only born once and only die once and that there is no endless cycle of life and death and rebirth, an idea inherent in reincarnation theory. These religions also believe that after death, we face final judgment, meaning that there is no second chance, like there is in reincarnation and karma, to live a better life. You get one shot at life and living it according to God’s plan; and that is it.
The idea of rebirth and reincarnation was introduced to the West through theosophy. Madame H.P. Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, introduced these ideas to the Western world. But much before the formation of Theosophical Society, Allan Kardec, a French spiritualist, wrote about reincarnation and karma in his book, The Book of the Spirits (1857). But the first person to use regression as a therapy was probably Dr Denys Kelsey.
A book co-authored with Joan Grant, Kelsey's Many Lifetimes (1967) is the first book on PLRT and focuses more on the therapeutic aspect of the technique rather than on stories of relived experiences.
Practitioners of PLRT use methods of hypnosis for inducing patients to regress to their past lives and identify the root of their present problems. This is the first phase (the 'realistic-cathartic' stage according to Jungian psychotherapist, Roger J. Woolger). The next step ('symbolic-archetypal') is for the patient to project the present himself/herself onto a past personality. The third step is to come to terms with what has been relived through regression in this 'integral-mystical' stage. However, the therapy proves to be beneficial only when the patient is able to accept the past trauma and is ready to progress beyond that. If the patient does not accept that past trauma, the therapy fails.
It is highly debatable if there is any scientific basis of this process, though the experiences described by the ‘subjects’ may be ideas hiding within their sub-conscious mind.
NDTV Imagine may use this therapy in a reality show to increase their TRP, but I have some doubts about the truthfulness of this method:
1) Why does no one who subjects himself or herself to this therapy ever finds himself or herself as an animal or an insect or a bird or even a plant? Hindu reincarnation theory states that the atma can travel through different ‘yonis’ or species.
2) If we take it, then, as a hypothesis that humans reincarnate into humans only, then how does the population of humans increase from day-to-day? Even today, we find the birth rate is higher than the death rate.
3) In the show aired on 7th December 2009, therapist Trupti Jain asked the’subject,’ who had allegedly lost her past life in a plane crash in 1966, if there was a watch inside the plane near the dead body. How could Dr.Jain know that there would be a watch there inside the plane near the dead body?
4) Ravi Kishan, the host of the reality show, claims on the screen that no hypnosis is used for the programme, but viewers witnessed Dr. Jain hypnotize the ‘subject’ to apply her therapy.

Are We In Danger?

I haven’t seen Bollywood movie “Wake Up Sid”. I haven’t read it’s review. I was not aware about it’s info till today. It came to my knowledge that Film-maker Karan Johar on Friday apologised to MNS supremo Raj Thakre for using the word 'Bombay' instead of 'Mumbai' in his new film 'Wake Up Sid'. It is reported that Raj has warned the film maker to prepare for the consequences , as they have hurt Marathi Manas by using the word Bombay in place of Mumbai.
I can’t understand, how the spelling or pronunciation of wrong words hurt the sentiments of a particular mass. Odisha, my own state has been spelt as Orissa, Udissa or Urissa, by non Oriya speakers and I don’t think, by spelling such they have any intention to dishonour my state or its people. It is just a question of ignorance, habit and tradition. Germany is spelt as Deutschland by Germans. In German, France is still called Frankreich, which literally means "Realm of the Franks". In Spain, they pronounce their country as Espana and their language as Espanol. In German Spain is known as Spanien. In Spanish they call France as Francia.In Danish it is spelt as Frankrig.
There are a lot of examples that show the name of one city and country has been spelt differently from language to language. When we are living in a global perspective, how can we expect that we would make every one to bind with our law. It is also very disgusting and anti democratic that Raj Thakre as an individual should issue any ‘forman’ (order) to stop the movie. It is the duty of judiciary not the MNS chief to make decision on any such matter. No one did bar Raj Thakre to ask for justice to the court of law.
This ‘news’ made me to worry. Are we going on the way to burry our democracy. Our democratic rights and are we becoming more intolerance to democratic values. Aren’t the radical elements making us fool by exploiting mass sentiments?

They Did It

"Girls sink gender bias in Mahanadi" was the headline of The New Indian Express , when four girls, studying in under graduation classes in Orissa started an expedition to tame the Mahanadi River by covering 297 km on a raft in 7days.They are Rajashree Mohapatra (16), a plus two student of Chandol college in Kendrapada , Rosalini Pattnaik (28) , an LLB student from Khurda, Rosalini Behera, (18) a plus three student of Puri's A D College, and Sonaphoola Sabar (18), a plus three student of Nuapada College . The girls, coming from different backgrounds and having a zest for adventure, participated in the first-ever Women Mahanadi River Rafting Expedition started under the guidance of Rabindra Kumar Bhuiyan , the director of National Adventure Foundation (Orissa Chapter) in the State, who coached the rafters. It is also aimed at promoting river rafting as an adventure sport. The expedition which started from Sambalpur on August 12 and ended on Tuesday.
Since 1997, boys have been always participating in the rafting expedition to Paradip along the Mahanadi from the picturesque Baliput (Satkosia) by covering a distance of 270 km in seven days.But this time the girls crushed the boy’s record by covering 297 km in 7 days. The girls decided to challenge them and proposed their coach for a rafting expedition on the Mahanadi from Sambalpur to Paradip with a deadline to cover a distance of 296 km in seven days. Seeing their enthusiasm, the coach went ahead with the proposal and the rafting expedition started on August 12, as reported by Orissadiary.com

The site adds: “The girls informed that they had to face lot of difficulties during the expedition and especially when three of the crew members fell from the raft at Ghanteswari. However, nothing happened as they were wearing life-saving jackets and our coach was able to rescue them, they added……..We enjoyed each and every moment of the expedition as it was an adventure sports and most of us were first-timers, said Rajashree Mohapatra. The expedition proved the unflagging stamina and determination of the girls, said Bhuiyan. The team reached at Kalapada in Kendrapada on Monday and the expedition culminated at Paradip on Tuesday.”

Caminho das Índias ( Way to India)

Caminho das Índias (English translation: Way to India) is a Brazilian popular TV soap opera, with highest rating among Brazilian TV audience. Produced by Rede Globo , its core director is Marcos Schechtman and serial directors are Fred Mayrink, Leonardo Nogueira, Luciano and Roberto Sabino Carminatti. The story is written by Glória Perez, and its first broadcast started on the network on January 19, 2009. it is a love story of a bania (tradersman caste) girl and a dalit (un touchable) boy of Rajasthan,india.

Juliana Paes, Márcio Garcia, Rodrigo Lombardi, Christiane Torloni, Débora Bloch, Alexandre Borges, Humberto Martins, Humberto Martins, Antônio Calloni, Eliane Giardini, Eliane Giardini, Nívea Maria, Bruno Gagliasso, Paula Pereira and Carolina Oliveira are some of artists who played well in the serial. It is also an astonishing factor that the directors do not beg any help from Bollywood for their venture. The story author Glória Perez, is also a popular Brazilian TV episode writer. Her daughter, actress Daniela Perez, was murdered by a co-star on December 28th 1992 in Rio de Janeiro .

You can see some of the video clippings from the links below:


An emotional scene from Caminho das Índias

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPouriv00Lo

A famous Bollywood film songs used in Caminho das Índias

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UTxviBespQ

A love scene from Caminho das Índias

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQfBlgBEGy4

Gandhi's heritage returned back to India

At last, Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings including his iconic round-rimmed spectacles , sandals and pocket watch , the national heritage of India have been returned back to home . The round metal spectacles were a trademark of Gandhi's persona and are basic to his illustrations to date. A simple line drawing of Gandhi's face in profile with the glasses, accompanied by his famous quote — "be the change you want to be" — is recognised the world over. His pocket watch attached to a string attracted comment and is noticeable in the early 1930s photographs of Gandhi. The said belongings were subjected to auction sale by Antiquorum Auctioneers . 'There was a lot of confusions and controversies because the Indian government was trying to get these items.
Before the auction began, about 40 bidders had registered, from Australia, Germany, Austria, India, Canada and the US, among other countries. In comparison, there were only six registered bidders in October for a watch belonging to Albert Einstein, which sold for almost $600,000.
The above auction proposal was highly criticized by media houses for trying to make money on 'the altar of Gandhi's legacy.’ At the last moment, Los Angeles collector James Otis had decided to pull out the auction , but that was ruled out by the auctioneers' chairman, Robert Maron .
Inside the auction room was a mix between elite Indian-born businessmen and diehard watch collectors. One of the potential bidder was Sant Singh Chatwal, an Indian-American businessman who is close to former president Bill Clinton.

'I made up my mind to go up to maybe half a million,' Chatwal, told the Times in a phone interview before the auction. 'We'll see how it goes.'
'Anything when it comes to Gandhi is emotional, sentimental and patriotic when it comes to Indians,' said Shyan Gulati, chief executive of the Infopeople Corp, an information technology company based on Wall Street.
Describing the scene at the auction house as a Who's Who of New York's Indian elite, Gulati said: 'In the last ten years, Indian professionals are doing extremely well all over the world and they'd like to contribute.'
Bidding began at $20,000 and rose to the final price within seven minutes. Finally, Indian liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya is very pleased with his purchase of a set of Mahatma Gandhi's personal belongings including his iconic round-rimmed spectacles . Liqour tycoon Mr.Mallya expressed his happiness as he could bring the national heritage home. He purchased the items for $1.8 million .
Mahatma Gandhi was known for his anti alcohol propaganda . During India's independence struggle against Britain, Mohandas K. Gandhi identified the consumption of alcohol as a major social evil and urged a ban on drinking. To respect his anti-alcohol ideas , the Indian Government wrote a section into the Constitution declaring its intention to enforce prohibition.
Vijay Mallya is an Indian businessman and Rajya Sabha MP and the Chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines, which draws its name from United Breweries Group's flagship beer brand, Kingfisher. Mallya took over as Chairman of the United Breweries Group in 1983. Since then, the group has grown into a multi-national conglomerate of over sixty companies with an annual turnover which has increased by 639% to US$11.2 billion in 1998-1999 . The focal business areas of the group encompass alcoholic beverages, life sciences, engineering, agriculture, chemicals, information technology, aviation and leisure. He owned McDowell Crest, which took loans in crores of rupees from the general public.
In May 2007, United Breweries Group announced the all-cash acquisition of scotch whisky maker Whyte & Mackay for 595 million pounds (approximately 4,819 crore INR ). In 2005 he took over Millennium Breweries Ltd (formerly known as inertia industries ltd), which owned the two premium beer brands named SANDPIPER and ZINGARO .
Besides liquor business , Mallya owned Kingfisher Airlines and F1 racing team Force India (earlier Spyker).He sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs in Kolkata and also in cricket he ssponsors the Royal Challengers Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League .
It is an irony that Mahatma Gandhi , who was known for his anti alcoholic views , had to depend upon a liquor tycoon to rescue his belongings .