To the Raised-Eyebrows of the World ..

You know, I was just surfing the net … a lot of things … moving from some stuff on wind turbines, to AC generators, to analysis of Rank Order Scaling (thx to the curiosity generated while constructing the questionnaire for Divs’ research project , “Job satisfaction in the NGO sector’ :D *met her after AGES! – n still cant get over the goody-goody feeling* ... ) anyhow..

So..was doing all that, when I suddenly remembered having read this newspaper headline the other day: JK Rowling contemplated suicide while struggling as a divorced, single mother. (!!! )

I’d made a mental note to read up on it..but that had slipped my mind (umm…or whatever rudimentary substitute I have for The normal Human Mind)

Well, it just struck me, a while ago, and I keyed in these words … and Lo! U had innumerable pages listed in a second. I clicked on the first article wherein JKR confessed to having been severely depressed, and expressed her gratitude towards her doc who saved her life through Congnitive Behavioural Therapy (In a nutshell, this technique basically identifies those assumptions, beliefs, thoughts, behaviours etc that give rise to debilitating negative emotions leading to depression in the patient, and seeks to help replace those with other positive, self-helping alternatives. This would also involve overcoming avoidance of certain activities due to fear of failure etc)

JKR states that she is happy to discuss her depression to challenge the stigma associated with the condition.

"I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. Never,” she says.

"What's to be ashamed of? I went through a really rough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that.”

Considering the stature that she enjoys in public, and her huge fan following, the fact that The Lady can come out in the open to discuss her own mental disease(n I use the term ‘disease’ on purpose – to rub in the fact that it is something not very socially-palatable), should definitely go a long way in helping many others confront their own problems, or those of their near and dear ones, and to seek medical treatment for the same.

BTW: I recall Vikram Seth coming out to declare that his sexual orientation is ‘Bisexual’- which unfortunately, many prudes or ‘confused-systemists’ greeted with cynicism or outright outrage. The Confused- Systemists are a breed, in my observation, who seek solutions to all problems in the world in the argument that “The System is Supreme- it must prevail, and the established order must not be disturbed in the slightest! The logic, I believe, is that all parts of a system work in harmony with each other, and maintain the overall wellbeing of the system. Thus, one part diverges from the rules laid down, and the system comes to a halt.

Just like a living organism: If the heart starts beating at a different rate one fine day, then obviously, the system that is the human being will suffer. However, the logic is flawed- coz, such deviations may result in illness leading to death in an organism- coz the organism is not dynamic- it cannot change its morphology over its lifespan. A person thrown into water will not develop gills top breathe, no matter how long he manages to stay put there. However, Societies are dynamic systems in every respect. When a change is introduced in the system, the society does not die (except in rare cases of wiping out of an entire civilization- by a catastrophe or massacre, as was attempted by Hitler-wiping out the Jewish race from the face of the earth-)

Societies CHANGE. And that makes all the difference in the world. A people who use stones to kill, capture food, give them a bow and an arrow/ spear – which they can use to kill each other more effectively, wage greater, more elaborate and bloody wars against each other.. well they do all that, but that’s not all they do. And, in effect, they end up doing a lot many more constructive things that they did prior to the introduction of the newer tools and weapons. They donot wipe each other out, as would have seemed possible- the population only swells in size!

Okay, a better illustration. A Society that endorses Polygamy – Such as ancient India. You introduce concepts such as Monogomy, sanctify fidelity to a single life partner, and what you get as a result is not Confusion, Chaos, etc etc but a restructured order: A system which accommodated for the changes, as and when the need arose, and as far as it could stretch, and of course, over a reasonable period of time.

The Confused- Systemists (confused coz they are not very sure about the premise of their logical framework themselves, as I will explain later..) insisted (and here I’m referring to those my age, whom I had the fortune of interacting with ) that Mr. Seth was One, seeking cheap publicity by lending his name to a controversial cause [ahem to that, coz here is the Guy who retorted with a “Behave yourself. Why should I discuss my relationships with you? “, to a fan’s query – “ why don’t you ever tell us about your girlfriend”, some three years ago.] . Two, even if he is ‘Abnormal’, he shouldn’t go around wearing that fact like some kinda ‘badge of honour’, the ConSysts hold.

**** I had started writing this post some days ago. Resumed today… after a loooong break.

Well, to cut a long story short … (coz the sentiment that this issue evokes will run into pages!)

To those consysts, I’d say (like I did the other day, though I don’t think much came out of it) that people like Vikram Seth donot require / desire sensational publicity of that kind and do very well (thank you!) without it.

Secondly, the reason someone of his class and stature comes out and takes a stand on a social issue is NOT to flaunt their “uniqueness” – one that is bound to invite more of ostracism than respect and inclusion, but to lend weight and credibility to the cause. (in this case, Same-Sex issues.)

In the civilized world, this is termed as “socially responsible behavior” on the part of those who have the privilege of voice and vote, and the advantage of visibility, credibility, and resources.

And why do we forget that one need not have be a direct victim, to feel actively for a cause.

You need not be a woman to feel and speak against rape, molestation, gender biases.

You need not dwell in slums and live in abject poverty, to think of and act on measures for poverty alleviation and promoting literacy.

You need not belong to the socially ostracized (unrecognized) class of eunuchs/ homosexuals/ mentally/physically challenged, untouchables and the like, to sympathize with their cause.

(and yes, the clubbing has been done on purpose because there is really not much difference in the nature of these problems.)

This is because you never know when you may find yourself on the other side of the fence…

Desperately yearning for help/support, for a friend, child or parent, from the “normal” people who constitute the majority in this world, with little tolerance for the “abnormal” ones.

A similar hue and cry was raised when JKR declared that ‘Professor Dumbledore was Gay’. Some were offended at the fact that he was “gay” and therefore abnormal, while others merrily jumped to he conclusion that JKR was doing this for cheap publicity- letting slip “scandalizing bits” about the Star of her epic.

I will quote the excerpt from the interview with her, where she first spoke up about this fact of her Epic character’s life.

The way I see it, she had held back this fact about Dumbledore (and yes it’s a FACT coz it was a character close to her heart, and vividly clear to the writer right form the beginning) for so long, to avoid any such unnecessary slander ..and spoke up after so long, only when prodded … and provoked by a direct question (not answering this one without all the facts would have amounted to lying!)

Q. Did Dumbledore, who believed in the prevailing power of love, ever fall in love himself?

JKR: My truthful answer to you... I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. [ovation.] ... Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald**, and that that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was. To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent, but he met someone as brilliant as he was, and rather like Bellatrix he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him. Yeah, that's how i always saw Dumbledore. In fact, recently I was in a script read through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying I knew a girl once, whose hair... [laughter]. I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, "Dumbledore's gay!" [laughter] If I'd known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!

JKR --The Potter books in general are a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry, and I think it's one of the reasons that some people don't like the books, but I think that's it's a very healthy message to pass on to younger people that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth.

**Grindelwald was an exceptionally bright (like himself) friend of Dumbledore’s, in his young days. He later went on to become a powerful, evil dark wizard, by exploiting his powers for negative use. It was Dumbledore, who took it upon himself to kill him in a duel and end his atrocities, years later.

Ohhh..this brings me to the real reason for this post! …. I was reading this article on how Vatican is up in arms in JKR again (the same old hogwash about the books being anti-christianity, promoting witchcraft, sorcery etc! ) .. and was quite amused by the responses to the article, posed by readers who took well aimed digs at this prudish behavior of the Vatican. Some of them had me in splits!!

Here is that article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/15/nharry115.xml

and here are the absolutely lol-evoking comments!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/15/nharry115.xml#comments

Arps, enjoy reading! :D