MASLOW'S HIERARCHY AND THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE

          As I chanced to read about the Maslow's hierachy of needs, one thought filled up my mind. 
The current state of education especially in medical schools has been critiqued immensely as to the knowledge levels compared to the past. It is very easy to say that the pursuit of knowledge has declined over the recent years. Forced to see what lies beneath, we now enter into the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Bottom most in the hierarchy is physiological needs- including water, air, food and rest. And then , safety- a roof above, financial security, then the feelings of belongingness and love, esteem, cognitive, aesthetic, self actualisation and transcendence. 

  The top 4-5 levels didn't matter much because we still have unfinished business with the bottom 4. 

The sorry state of the medical schools across India, especially with respect to the accommodation provided for the junior and senior residents - the old, dilapidated, near to collapsing hostel rooms, a single bathroom for almost half a dozen students, which mostly lacks a latch or hygiene, unpredictable water supply, rusting pipes leaking gallons of water where it should not suppose to, unequal work distribution, demanding more than what can be humanely achieved in a quantum of time, deprivation of sleep over unfair last minute demands, deprivation of the fair leave policies, unapproachable administrations, ridicule over a woman's plan to marriage or conception during the residency and what not.

   Now, the second level - Safety, feeling safe is again a distant dream for the medical community . The assault against doctors, lack of protection in the working environment, especially during this Covid crisis, where the threat of infection and lack of protective gear is another issue. Feeling safe is only a fantasy anymore.

The third level, Belongingness and love -  I used to wonder if the interpersonal relationships between the residents and with their teachers remained so in the past as well. Someone whom we know for a few days, and see rarely becomes an acquaintance and we do develop concerns towards them. And the 3 years of post-graduation training is too long a period for enough bonding to happen between students themselves and their teachers. Students are turned towards each other to facilitate easy administration in the pseudo-political milieu of at the organisations. Is it only a medical school scenario or anywhere else, I am at loss to say. But, with expectations we come to residency with fantastic images of group discussions with students and professors , discussing in depth the intricacies of the subject with no inhibitions and fear. Whether the imagery came out as reality, yes, at times, thanks to those professors who made it true. But predominantly, we miss it a lot of times. The idea of learning in groups brings negative memories of being taunted, sarcasm and comments of being targeted  for issues not related. The dream of having our professors as well- wishers and second parents remains to be fulfilled at large.

The next level is too exotic for now. 

 The over optimistic approach to all these issues, adjusting, dismissing and invalidating them  might work for the time being thus whipping the residents to work beyond their capabilities and restrictions and turning a blind eye to what really needs to be rectified. In the long term, it will prove a major catastrophe for the medical community and the quality of medical education in our country. The paucity of Quality research from Indian medical schools has been well documented and concerns being raised on a continuous basis and steps being made. Unfortunately, we are looking at the Surface of the issue and refusing to look deeper. 

At times, people do rise and develop with great strain, the higher levels of hierarchy with deficits at the lowest levels, meanwhile fighting for the same, the sparse subset of population which acts as the check for adjusting into this dysfunctional system. Often such are disregarded as being anti-social or narcisstic. We need to preserve and value such people for the sake of individual and institutional growth, as the foresightedness is beyond our sights and we would know it only when it happens, but by that time it is already late!

As the individual rises, the institution rises, not at the expense of the individual! 

I am sure you can relate this to any issue at hand and at any level of the community unless you are a habitual oppressor! 


        

                                                            Let us count the stars!

The moonless sky is staring at us

Enticing the mind to shift its eyes

To wait and watch the enormous sky

As the dark hours pass by.

Seemingly a purposeless task 

I am embarrassed to even ask 

For what use it is at this time

When the fast paced life rings its chime

A source of inspiration when life is at low, 

A faithful companion when it is lonely so,

A feeling of being grounded when direction is lost 

A travel to the memories from the past. 

Only the eyes watch the stars

But the minds search within

For the lost pieces of the heart 

And to repair those ripped apart

We shall watch the stars this night

And relish the splendid sight 

Store it in our memory to be relished

When the love has transiently perished

Words can fail amidst stronger emotions

Forcing one to hold false notions

For a while let us stop and stall

Count the stars! Time is short.. 

MYTHS ABOUT MENSTRUATION

   
       Until a few years before, the word " PERIODS" or " MENSES" used to evoke a lot of shame among the adolescents and adults as well. Looking back through the centuries India has lived through, atleast from the glimpse of what the scriptures and preserved texts say, a woman who is menstruating has been looked down upon as a contaminant. It grips my heart to just think what a lot of suffering she should have undergone and the extent to which she was taken for granted.
 1. Menstruation is a normal part of the woman's cycle.
     Even now, if any religious ritual happens in the household, the menstruating woman is deemed unfit to enter the household.  I wonder if religious rituals are all against nature.

2.  A woman sheds a lot of blood. So there is evilness around her.
     I would like to ask the elders who would go on proclaiming this, whether" They would leave a sick man in their household who is bleeding from his rectum or vomiting blood separated from the household.?"
   Evil is not in the pitiable menstruating woman but in the minds of those who discriminate against the feminine trait of menstruation.

3. She is unclean.
  Whoa! Whoa! Wait please!
  Those days were days when soap and sanitary napkins were not available.

4. She might be too tired to do the household work. SO we are saving her from the husband's demands.
 Probably those day's husbands were too ignorant of the female anatomy and physiology and humanitarian concerns. And sex education and better communication between the couples has improved their knowledge and they are more considerate in sharing the work .

5. A bad odour emanates from her.
    Again, napkins and soaps.

6. We are Orthodox! We don't want her to spoil the religious sanctity.
   HELL !!!  That's nothing but a really ugly  projection of your idea on what is considered " GOD". YOU  GET A BIGGGGGG ZERO IN SPIRITUALITY. Spend the rest of your days with your "so called Gods" in the forms of idols and chants. You have not even started the journey on spirituality.

7. She should not be menstruating during her marriage.
      Probably she shouldn't even attend any of her nature's call on her marriage. All those are wastes too. A lot of women go around asking the doctors what tablet should they consume to postpone the periods fearing they would get their periods on the day of religious ritual or visit to temple.  It just disturbs her naturally smooth cycle and creates problems otherwise she wouldn't have incurred. Who cares ! :(

8. She shouldn't visit a temple that time.
      Ladies!! Temples are symbols of art, architecture and unison of man with nature. If nature's entity is not supposed to enter a temple when she is incurring a natural phenomenon, I wonder what Godliness is there inside.

Again a big question to ask yourself, for people who say the same old ignorant dialogue                                   " EVERYTHING HAS BEEN KEPT FOR SOME REASON"
People nowadays are intelligent and women are too. Everything that is said blindly can no longer be accepted. Question yourself on how you came to a conclusion. Just because your mother said Because your mother's mother said and so on!  Time to wake up to acknowledge the ignorance!
   
       Age doesn't define maturity! Anything we enforce on others due to the advantage of being elderly can never work if not backed by good logic! I am sorry if hurt a few egos there but I should.

LEAVE THE UNWANTED OLD STUFF BEHIND! QUESTION EVERYTHING!  We can always UNLEARN and RE- LEARN, only if we drop our EGOS.



 .
   

A Mother of 20 at 30

                                 We learn, we earn , we yearn. A bank account with 6 digit balance. A new house under construction. A car exchanged for a new one every 6 months. A shopping mall a week to while away the time. A group discussion at a friend's house - hot topics- London Olympics, New car designs, Latest mobile phones. All these describe a common life course of a young adult. This did not strike me abnormal until i witnessed a different hold on to life. It was a saturday afternoon. We were awaiting a guest at home. I am even ashamed to admit that I was borderline biased  about the charity organisations and was not eagerly awaiting them. We were setting aside things UNUSED for their USE. A young couple with 2 children came inside. Slow and steady, transparent and unbacked by purpose was their conversation. The young lady  was an employee in an IT firm, quit her job for a real purpose. Her husband, a forest officer was the bread winner. They have 2 children of their own and 20  other children they have adopted for education. The children were not orphans, but the children of daily wage workers and tribals who never went to school. They said that they had a really hard time convincing the parents into sending their wards with them for education. To bring them out of their dogmas, to ward off the feeling of inferiority in those children and instilling a spark of confidence should have been a mammoth effort. We saw the 2 children she had brought with her. Brightly dressed, cheerful and definitely confident were those young men of about 10 years old. Though they wanted to have a maximum of 5 children for this purpose, they couldn't stop the parents from bringing in their children at times. She was their cook, teacher and mentor. Her husband, a strong supporter, infact the initiator. I couldn't stop envying the match- the most beautiful pair I had ever seen! They shared a common purpose. What they said was this,"  Relationships wrought by birth are always there for a celebration but not when it comes to sharing the sorrows and joys of life." Though this is not a generalisation, it is a well known fact. She showed us some of their pictures. Her own children were 2 among the 20. I saw a God particle in there! 

The negligence of an insignificant man!

      As much as indelible consequences arise out of direct actions, they also arise from indirect unseen actions. We can endlessly go on quoting the recent examples- the child who fell through the hole in the bus, the Bihar bore well pit incident.. and so on. Who is to be blamed is the million dollar question. In a country where we do not have clear job descriptions and proper division of responsibilities, these mishaps can never cease. And more than the dents in the administration, the common man holds responsibility too. Of course within his reach, within his territory, where he need not bring in the role of the police officials or the politicians, unless he has the material and man power to tackle the same. And it is too much of an expectation that such a man with that amount of power should be concerned about these issues. So, let us have it as a hypothetical situation. The butterfly effect one should have been aware of or at least heard of (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect) gives much insight into this societal aspect as well. When we imagine us as a part of a society, however strong we are, however educated, well off, intellectual, we are unable to see the kinetic and potential energy we have buried within us. And what masks it? The arguments that we have lost? Unfulfilled wishes creating a false impression of a feeling of uselessness? Domestic inefficiency? Academic underachievement and so on. These shrouds shall be removed not by the awareness or solution to the problems, but the awareness that all these hurdles are not actually masking these apparently hidden competencies. They are made so and we learn to assume so. Now, relieved of the first obstacle to an ideal living environment, what else prevents us? Sane Selfishness can only divert you more into achieving this. So, that is no longer a tangible reason. The knowledge of what has to be done in a situation is vital in determining if the action will be made or not. It is a general tendency that people get to understand and do something about a problem when a solution is easily available. What I can relate to, is this.  Physicians can readily diagnose diseases that they have understood and for which they know the treatment. ( Do not be suspicious of your doctor if he doesn't diagnose your problem ). It is the human mind's natural tendency- "You see what you know". And all this blab definitely has something to do with our topic too. Rather than  the question, "Who is responsible for a mishap", asking " who and what all were responsible for the mishap" can lead to reasonable solutions. The exact sequence of events can never be tracked. But the possible complications with a structural setup can always be predicted and avoided. Let us take an example. The child who died following a fall in the bore well pit- Lot of rage in the media slamming every administrative personnel and the parents, and people praising the militia . What has been done about it? The worker who drilled the pit should have said he was not aware of the rules or regulations set by the firm or he was not being provided the material to close the pit or he was overworked. The bore well firm should have said that they always gave standing instructions to the workers but it was them who never followed it. The supervisor should have said that he was supervising elsewhere and man power was inadequate. The local people can very well say they were not aware of the fact that the pit wasn't closed or they never expected the child to have been allowed to play there. The area Councillor  can be questioned if he is available. He is busy preparing explanations for the previous session's questions. The chief minister says it is the responsibility of the minister for safety ( Do not be shocked if he says that the  bore well dug near his house remains open   too). The minister of safety now takes a partial responsibility and sets up a council to discuss on the safety measures already being followed at industrial sites. The concerned MD is being called for an explanation.      ( On how much he can spare for not being prosecuted). The council adds and deletes a few words on the safety measures and distributes it in a new form to the industries. All the workers are required to know it by heart and being given an exam on it. ( That is too much effort now).  Companies stick posters in the workplace. There it ends. What has the common man to know from this. Do we now know whom to call in case such a thing happens near our locality? There lies the refusal to assume responsibility and the negligence to assign responsibility. Say if they announced in the media- Call your nearest ___ in case you see an uncovered pit and he has to see to it and if he does not attend to it in 2 hrs, call ___, imagine what a change it would have been. The core problem in us lies not in the problem itself , but the hesitation to look for solutions. After all, it is the negligence of an insignificant man and who wants to make a story out of it !!!   

My neurons are half made !

                   It is time since I had a good read. I chose a corner for the study. Needless to mention, a corner with a window by my side, brightening up  what I had to study. My eyes! I can focus them . My mind , I can , if only my ears were more careful in selecting the sounds it could allow. The screen  sieved the bright sunrays and displayed the perfect hem, always unnoticed. The temple nearby throngs with sacred chants. The never ceasing motor drills the ear. I badly wished I were deaf. What was the solution? Acceptance- Because the acceptor is a single person - a trivial minority? Resistance- To enrich the already resistant tolerance? Focus- On why is it difficult to perfect things here? And now, Thoughts are even more louder than this noise. " STOP", I said to myself. Be the subject instead of the reader. And drown the rest in it ! Every moment my neurons were about to establish their connections with the other side, I see them swooning. The afferents, though in millions, failed to converge. They were half made and thirsty. Waiting for the monsoon to see them grow!

The child who grew up on his own!

On a sea shore in an island
He made his first foot print on land
How he came to be isolated there
Not any one knew, but it was not fair.

While the children needed help for their walk
He was already running, but unable to talk
What is the need for a language when there is none
And when nature and you are one.

Smile was his all day wear
Not a moment when the wear could tear
He tamed the fire and turned the waters
He learnt by himself how to slaughter.

What was his use for guilt, shame or pretention
When he viewed the monkeys as a competition
It seemed as though the sun rose for him
And when he got tired it became dim.

To which school  did he go?
To Which God he wanted to bow?
What were his dining etiquettes?
In cities, he must have been stamped a delinquent.

Parenting ,though is an art,
Is not only your effort.
The spent attention sought again.
The sought attention spent again.

Care for the child when dependent and
Encourage the need to be independent
The disasters which have to be suppressed
Were the desires which were once suppressed.

The left alone child whom we left alone
Isolated the world of him
Him, Whose brains must have passed
All the Benefits of evolution.