NARA'S NOTEPAD
VOLUME 15
MAY 2019
NUMBER 5
IS SUPPORTED BY READERS LIKE YOU...
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
SUICIDE - A GLOBAL PROBLEM
Committing suicide is a world-wide problem. Men and women, young and old
irrespective of race, caste, religion or nationality commit suicide. It was in
1952 or so when I was a student in Intermediate (now class 12), I used to read
in newspaper about students who failed in final examinations committed suicide
by either consuming poison or by hanging from ceiling fans. To my young mind it
appeared something unusual and unwarranted. So I wrote a letter to the
newspaper – Dinamalar – about the ill-effects of suicides. Shockingly I found
my letter got published in the ‘Letter to the Editor’ column. Still I remember
that. So the suicide by people remained in my mind as a stain forever.
There are obvious reasons for people taking this drastic step in their
life. What are those reasons? As I mentioned, failing in examination is one of
the reasons. Helplessness in life, like poverty, lack of job, torture by
spouses, failure in business, unable to pay back loans, loss of dear ones,
anxiety and depression, incurable diseases are some of the reasons one can
think for committing suicide. The methods of suicide are many. Consumption of
poisons, over-doze of sleeping pills, jumping in front of running trains,
jumping from tall buildings, hanging, jumping into the well, shooting with gun
– are some of them. All of these are the means by which one decides to kill
oneself.
In India, some years ago we were shocked to hear about farmers’ suicide.
Everyone including the media talked about it, but no one came forward to find a
solution to this vulnerable problem. State governments and the Central
government tried their best by appointing committees to find out the causes of
farmers’ suicide. The report submitted remained as reports rather than actions
taken.
The reports concluded that the causes of farmers’ suicides were
bankruptcy or indebtedness, family problems or farming related issues. All of
us know that farming is a gamble with monsoon. If there is no rain there is no
agriculture in India. Thus farmers depend on rain; if rain fails they are
distressed and take the extreme step of suicide. Waiving of bank loans,
compensation for crop loss, crop insurance are some of the measures
various governments introduced over time. But the implementation of these
schemes did not work effectively. A recent report of the National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) showed in 2014 as many as 5650 farmers committed suicide.
It is interesting to note that some of the States like Jharkhand, Bihar,
Odisha and the North-East showed no suicides of farmers, whereas Maharashtra,
Telengana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Chattisgarh showed higher number of
suicides. Male farmers were more who committed suicides than the women farmers.
According to NCRB the farmers are defined as those who own and work on field
(cultivators) as well as those who employ or hire workers for field work or
farming activities and exclude agricultural laborers. The statistics provided
for 2014 did not include the agricultural laborers as NCRB says. If those
suicides are also included the number will be more than 5650 as reported!
In order to
prevent farmers’ suicides, it is better to organize the farming and farmers.
Organized farming with scientific cropping pattern linking markets and crop
insurance will help the poor farmers not to think of suicide. Educating farmers
about the ways and means to come out of their distress is one another methods
to avoid suicides. Nowadays, there are experts to coach farmers about will
power to get over their difficult times. Such coachings have to be arranged by
the Departments of Agriculture at village level. I do not know how far we are
able to change the individualistic decision of committing suicide in our human
population. – NARA
YOU MATTER
Your thoughts matter
Your feelings matter
Your problems matter
Your opinions matter
Your happiness
matters
Your voice matters
Your life matters
You matter
WANT TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE?
1. Don’t keep doing things you hate.
2. Stop terrorizing yourself with your
negative thoughts.
3. Choose to enjoy the simple pleasures
of life.
4. Watch what you say; don’t put
yourself or others down.
5. Take care of your body and love and
care for it.
6. Develop a life-style that helps
develop self-esteem.
7. Don’t compare yourself with others;
note where you have grown and changed.
8. Stop trying to change others; keep
the focus on yourself.
9. Laugh a lot; enjoy yourself; and
don’t take life too seriously.
10. Accept compliments, and value
everything you are.
IMPROVE YOUR CONFIDENCE
1. Be
willing to fail more often - as that means you’re taking on more challenges,
and being prepared to try, learn and grow.
2.
Keep track of improvements, positive changes, successes, growth and
accomplishments.
3.
Don’t compare yourself to other people. The only person you’re competing
against is yourself. Also, we have an unhelpful tendency to compare our
struggles with other peoples’ successes and high points.
4.
Work on your posture and your fitness levels as they affect our appearance, and
how we feel about ourselves.
5.
Don’t just hang out with people you are comfortable with. Also, gravitate
towards those who are new or different.
6.
We’re influenced by those that we spend time with. So, make friends with people
who seem warm and confident.
7. Be
a true friend to yourself – and shut off the commentary that is negative,
attacking and lacking in compassion.
8.
Commit to practicing these different skills – as they’ll take root in time, and
change the way you act and feel.
LAUGHTER
Laughter increases
the blood flow throughout your circulatory system and smiling releases
endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine in your brain. These endorphin hormones and
serotonin and dopamine neuro-transmitters act like natural painkillers and
antidepressants respectively, providing you with a sense of relief and general
well-being.
At a traffic court, the judge asked the
motorist: “Tell me why did you park your car here?” The man said: “Well, there
was a sign that said FINE for parking”
Call from a bank to a girl. Bank: “Hello Madam,
we’re offering credit card with best deals, no annual charge, no interest on
balance for 3 months, big credit limit, no penalty for over spending”. Girl: “No
thanks, I have a husband with lifetime zero fees, unlimited limit, no interest for ever”.
MAY 2019
1 May – May Day
3 May – World Press Freedom
Day
15 May – International Day
of Families
17 May – World
Telecommunications Day
20 May – World Bee Day
29 May – International Day
of UN Peacekeepers
31 May – World No-Tobacco
Day
LINES I LIKED
Ø
Being alone forces
you to develop your personal strength.
Ø
Being alone gives a
person opportunity to explore what she or he really thinks, feels and knows.
Ø
Being free is doing
what you want when you want.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
CROWDED WORLD
Very often we
all used to say – crowded cities, crowded trains, crowded buses, crowded
streets, crowded schools and colleges – Yes indeed! We do find large groups of
people aggregate everywhere. The number of people in a crowd varies from
thousands to millions. As the human population goes up, the size of the crowds
also increases. Few people cannot form a big crowd. They may meet to chat or
play cards or join for an evening party. We may not call it a crowd. Small
parties for birthday, family and friends get together. Such small groups of
people really enjoy the occasion.
Generally large
crowds are seen in political rallies, sports events, travelling, religious
festivals and celebrations, big marriages, shopping, scientific seminars and
the like. These crowds will not escape our eyes because they are planned in
advance and announced all over through media and advertisement channels.
The political
rallies are common in a democratic and even in autocratic countries. In a
democracy rulers are elected by the people of the country. So rallies are
organized to gather people’s valuable votes. Elections are held once in four or
five years. Before such elections political parties – hundreds of them in every
State of India – may be little less in other countries-organize rallies with
the top leaders. Crowd pulling is not easy nowadays; still because of high
unemployment problem, people are available to participate in rallies. These
people are paid, fed and transported to the venue of the rally by the crowd
pulling agents. Well organized indeed! We see such in TV channels live.
Sports events
are another arena people aggregate in large numbers. We often see live the
sports programs in TV. Stadia – big and small – are constructed in major cities
of a nation with modern facilities to attract large crowds to watch the sports.
It may be cricket, tennis, foot ball, athletic events and the like. The
sports-crazy crowd pay to watch such sports. Tickets are sold well in advance
on line nowadays and the crowd gather on the stipulated date
in a given venue. Sports events extend for hours together. People stay shouting
and supporting their country-teams and also enjoy and appreciate the talents of
the sports persons. Such crowd ia mixture of all age groups. At
times clashes occur between the team or the team supporters especially in foot
ball matches.
Travelling has become a necessity for humans nowadays.
Travel relieves tension and anxiety. So many people travel with their family
during school and college holidays to far off countries. People are crowded
in airports, railway stations and even in hotels. If a flight is delayed or
cancelled due to unavoidable reasons, you can see the angry crowds all around. So
also, in and around railway stations. One has to book the tickets well in
advance to reserve the journey. Often we see the crowded trains, buses and
flights during festival and summer holidays.
There are
umpteen numbers of religious festivals at various places in the world.
Christmas at Rome, Huj at Mecca, Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, Makaravilakku at
Sabarimala, Durgapuja at West Bengal, Bramhotsavam at Thirumala, Shivrathri at
Isha Centre, Coimbatore – oh, hundreds of festivals all around the world
attract crowds and crowds!. It’s an every year feature of crowding up.
Marriages of
rich people also attract crowds. They like to invite as many people as possible
to the marriage of their kiths and kins to show their popularity. In fact, in
such gala marriages the crowd enjoys meeting the relatives and friends and also
the sumptuous food. Crowds are seen in marriage halls that accommodate
thousands of people. These halls are modernized and air-conditioned. Marriage
crowd is for enjoyment. Even a small family marriage nowadays is crowded
sufficiently with hundreds of people.
Shopping has
become a fashion. All want to shop for dress, house-hold items, gifts,
electronic goods etc. People flock the shopping malls, bazaars and
super-markets. Although we have on-line shopping still the physical crowd on
the street is not yet reduced.
Finally I have
to mention the crowds in scientific seminars. Professional seminars – national
or international ones – are held annually around the world. One such is the
famous Indian Science Congress. Apart from this i have seen large crowds attend
these seminars for a short period of 3 to 5days. Once one of my students commented
that these seminars are like big marriages where people go, eat and meet their
friends as we do in marriages. I agree with her.
Looking at all
these, we are witnessing crowds all around us. As the global population
increases, the crowds will also go on bulging. The need to control and manage
the crowd has given rise to the study of crowd
psychology. New ways and means have to be designed
in future. The size of today’s crowd will be multiplied many
fold in future. The future generation has to face. - NARA
DO YOU KNOW?
1. In 99% of cases, the reason to change comes
from personal suffering, sadness and hurt.
2. Reading will turn you into a better thinker
and writer.
3. Machines can create songs on their own using
AI.
STRESS MANAGEMENT TIPS
1. Breathe slowly
and deeply: Shallow chest breathing makes your heart beat faster, and tenses
your muscles, so you feel more stressed. In contrast, breathing slowly and
deeply helps you feel much more relaxed.
2. Visualize
yourself being calm and relaxed: Imagine all your stress being washed away; or
try and visualize yourself in a peaceful scene such as lying on the beach or in
a garden, with a book.
3. Smile: Research
shows that when we force ourselves to smile it actually improves the way we
feel.
4. Write your
feelings down on paper: Writing gives us a way to express how we feel, and it
helps to release our pent-up emotions.
5. Count to 10:
Give yourself some distance and time before responding. If you react right away
you might regret it later on.
6. Go for a walk:
Endorphins are released by any form of exercise. These improve our mood and
help us keep things more in balance.
7. Soak in a hot
bath: There’s nothing like relaxing in a hot bubble bath to reduce your stress
levels and improve the way you feel.
8. Turn up the
music: We all have favorite music that distracts us from our problems, and
listening to that music can help us feel less stressed.
GET OVER PAST MISTAKES...
1. Remind yourself
that everyone makes mistakes, does things wrongs, and has moments of regret.
There are no perfect people out there. In that sense, you are just the same as everybody
else.
2. Remind yourself
that “that was then, and this is now”. You can’t turn back the clocks and
change what you did, but you can be a different person in the future.
3. Allow yourself
to experience and name the feelings you are struggling with (regret, guilt,
shame, disappointment, embarrassment, sadness, etc.) – then make the decision
to let those feelings go. In the end, it’s unhealthy to become attached to
them.
4. Ask yourself
what you can learn from the situation. What would you do differently if you
found yourself in that situation again? How can it change the person you are
now (so that you feel better about yourself)?
5. Recognise that
failings and mistakes are part of the growth process. It’s inevitable that
you’ll encounter obstacles, challenges and failures throughout life. Don’t let
that stop you from really living life.
6. Remind yourself
that “it was what you did, it’s not who you are.” Don’t allow any single event
or experience to define you. You are more than – so don’t let that become your
identity, or your destiny.
7. Give yourself
the gift of a new day and a new start. and let go of the past, with confidence move on with your life.
JUST FOCUS...
Don’t think about what can happen in a month.
Don’t think about what can
happen in a year.
Just focus on the twenty-four
hours in front of you
and do what you can to get
closer to
where you want to be.
TO QUOTE...
The beautiful people we have known are those who have
known defeat, known suffering, known
struggle, known loss,
and have found their way out of those depths. –
Elisabeth
Kuber-Ross
The word GOD is for me nothing but the expression and
product of human weakness. – Albert Einstein
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