WE ARE NOT ALONE......

WE ARE NOT ALONE …  

What is this? Is it an assertion? Or Is it a consolation that many share the ‘issue’?  In any case, such an opinion certainly arises in us at least on two occasions. We need not conclude that only two occasions conform to the above state of mind. Let us try to recognize, how are we driven to reckon so? As for instance, some astrologer suggests that certain planetary positions in the horoscope indicate that for a few months to come, your son or daughter would face health problems largely due to ‘not so favourable’ dispositions of certain planets in the zodiac. So, you are advised to visit a particular deity on day 5 after every full moon for at least 6 consecutive months to ward off the ‘bad effect’ from the disposition of certain planets as per the horoscope. To suggest this, he propitiates some deity with his eyes closed and rolls out the dice and makes some arithmetic calculations and offers the advice ‘go and pray to  the deity in some temple which alone has the deity controlling the planets in question. But, the deity is in a small village about 23-25 km from Thanjavur; the place is accessible by train, as the temple is close to the railway station “Thirumaanoor”. The deity is quite ‘powerful’ in subjugating bad planets. The place is served by a passenger train in the morning and in the evening. On the prescribed day, with all awe and reverence, you take your son / daughter by train. When you buy your ticket at the counter,  you feel,  left alone and worry as to how you would make it on specific days that too by a defined passenger train.  After say – an hour or so , the passenger train reaches ‘Thirumanoor’ . As you hurriedly get down, you are surprised that that nearly half the train is vacated by passengers who alight in the same station. All along you have been of the opinion that such peculiar planetary dispositions are unknown for many. But, as the entire cluster of passengers moves to the same temple, as you do, it is a revelation that ‘we are not alone’. Bad planetary alignments are not uncommon or peculiar to a few alone.

Another occasion in one’s life is, when visiting a specialist physician. Yes, this time it is in connection with some bone problem in hip region. Your family physician suggests that you visit an Orthopaedic physician at a specific hospital in Chennai. You are mentally overwhelmed by the tedium of travel to Chennai and to seek a prior ‘appointment’ with the doctor who would spell if yours is a case of medication or one of surgery. Natural sentiment for any patient is to pray for treatment by medication as the very thought of ‘surgical intervention’ is as much painful as the surgery itself.  Suddenly your neighbour chooses to be an advisor; he recommends ‘ayurvedic’ oil massage which is far more effective,  non-invasive and free from agony of surgery. A man who was so far not well disposed to us, now looks a messiah, having given the option of avoiding the pain of scalpel. Ayurvedic medication is more acceptable, for it is just external application of some ‘concoction’ of herbal extracts in oil and judiciously applied to restore tissue positions so as to ‘restore’ normal setting by mere external dabbling of muscles. The ayurvedic physiotherapist suggests that for 15 consecutive days you visit the clinic by 5.15 am for massaging and there after a steam bath for 10 minutes daily. The next morning by 5.15 am you  notice at least 45-50 people , young and old taking the same therapy . Many of them say, they take to this type of therapy as it is comprehensive with body care and re-scheduling of food intake for alleviating pain and dislocation of muscles instead of surgery. Everyday different sets of men and women appear for therapy. Here also, we recognize that enough people come for treatment of every kind of disorder. Some prefer surgical intervention while many are happy to be treated through physiotherapy. In any place, we are not alone. There are enough [wo]men who share the same problems as we do. One would get to have a like experience when accompanying an ailing relative to cardiology wing or to Urology section or any other special therapy in multi-specialty clinics.   No where we are alone; rather we are not alone anywhere, as our country has a range of specimens for every description. That ‘we are not alone’, is by itself a booster of ‘mental well-being’- as knowing the general trend ‘we are not alone’ is a morale booster. India has a rich population to serve all the varied samples typical for all disorders.  Not merely for disorders. If you visit civil supplies authorities for any disorder in your ID card, there are 100s with similar errors on their documents. If you visit the University examination section for error in your daughter’s name, they readily provide a ‘printed’ format for seeking rectification. It means errors are quite common as to keep ready a formatted petition!.Nowhere is anyone alone.

Prof. K.Raman