A thought on Lockdown.

I think it will be better to extend lockdown but with better measures.
According to me, agricultural and industrial production should be increased by first of all, testing the lower strata of population i.e. daily wage workers for COVID-19 by the government and giving them temporary jobs in these two spheres where manual power is lacking these days while making the middle class strata stay under lockdown and imposing a special revenue on upper strata income on profit making after a certain income level.
I know it’s difficult to take such steps as the population is huge but it still can be done rather than staying disorganised during lockdown and yet extending it, putting all the pressure on the same very few frontliners. Moreover, final year medical students can also be encouraged to help by granting them stipends particularly for working in hospitals in lockdown days, and some people from the general public can be given responsibility for carrying on the duties of police (under the supervision of police, of course) specially for the purpose of keeping gathering of people anywhere under check.

I know India has a mixed structure of socialist and capitalist economy more tilted towards capitalism but socialist measures are the need of the hour.

A few of these steps have already been taken; I hope it can help.

(Originally posted on 7th April,2020)

Covid-19 cases are again peaking. DON’T YOU THINK THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT IS EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT AND UNORGANISED?? Do they ever learn anything or just keep rotating their inefficient strategies??

Beware of wrong kind of motivation.

Overly-motivational videos sometimes make you feel like you are the only one not doing good enough in life.

Use them with caution and only when you are willing to do something and are not depressed because believe it or not, it tends to depress you even further when you watch them talk about how one can “rise from the ashes” “go from rags to riches” “from blank to highly enlightened” with pure passion and courage and spirit. No people! Courage, spirit and passion are only a minor proportion of what is required to reach your destination. If everyone could attain everything based on mere passion which is actually only emotional power, each one on this planet would have been an achiever.

Where on the one hand, they are right to motivate others who need only motivation despite having every other thing required to reach a goal, on the other hand it can make one feel really weak who has no plan or target to achieve. One needs logic, grit and resources more than mere motivation. It’s like if you want to run a wheel, you need, first of all, wood or metal and tools and knowledge to assemble it to make it, rather than having a potential energy to be changed into kinetic one. One cannot make a wheel out of leaves or air or water merely with passion.

Kudos to those motivational speakers who talk about steps as well to attain your goals. They have in-depth knowledge of how things work and they talk with logic as well as emotions.

Knowledge-A yardstick of utopianism.

You will move a mile

And think that you ran hundred

When you don’t have a yardstick to measure what you are doing.

People read and study a lot

Not for no reason,

It helps in knowing how much you know

How much you need to imbibe and learn

What you need to eliminate from your mind,

You can think that you have created something exceptional

Until you know that it’s already available, tested and dead;

Reading, studying and learning is so important

It eliminates the IGNORANCE dread.

(Getting the already existing knowledge, it’s opposition to test its veracity and the results that came out and the conclusions drawn is so important. People generally think a lot on their own and then feel that they know a lot, like they have found something exceptional, they keep those ideas with them for years, struggle to make them a reality, only to end up in knowing that the same ideas were carried out in the past and failed miserably. It’s not bad to carry on with the same or similar ideas again as there is still possibility of their success due to changed circumstances but thinking that they surely will end up in success, specially when the independent variables are uncontrollable, those ideas prove to be just utopian views. That’s why knowledge of what worked in the past and what did not is really very important, be it regarding any field or realm.)

Testing waters.

Testing my waters is going to be of no help,

When you don’t know how to swim.

DEMANDING TIME

And if I say one more time

I need some time

I feel I will lose you again

So I wear a smile

Not having a word to say

I can’t make you wait

I can’t get you now

I can’t let you go

I can’t make you stay

So just a smile I can give away.

I know there are many who want you

And I can’t do anything

Even if I stay

I think you will go away.

When I think of you

I remember the past

when I was helpless

the way I am now

I can’t even say

what I have in my mind,

Just want to win upon demons in my own mind.

Depressed soul like me is not meant for you,

I am trying to give upon my dark side

my shadow side.

If that love even begin

I want it to stay forever,

I can’t handle anymore

the repetition of the past ever.

Just in case I will have to lie,

I will just use a smile,

For what’s going on in my mind

I need to keep it to myself for a while,

For I know that you will help

And I don’t want to feel like a burden

I want to be happy,

Though not all out of a sudden.

Sometimes, I think I complicate things,

But then feel that I am just simplifying,

Though I know I am very strong

But half of me is dying.

This on and off is ripping me apart,

I don’t know what to say what time,

I feel the pull with a certainty,

The push also has a message sublime.

This feeling makes me so anxious,

How do I put my sanity at stake again,

I don’t want to feel like a burden,

I want to meet when on my own

I’ll be happy again.

WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE CONTROLLING?

CONTROL ISSUES.. Something most of the people don’t understand in the real sense. You may think that somebody is trying to control you, physically or psychologically, but in reality the people trying to have a control over others have no control over their own life.

Always observe who is trying to control his/her own behaviour and who is trying to control that of others. Reasons can range from very innocent to malignant in the mind of that person(s) and it is highly likely that they don’t have any idea why they have such issues. Most probably they feel lost in their own world and feel like everything is falling apart, so they try to settle everything and everyone around them, apart from their own self. It might also become a kind of addiction of being ‘a helper’ because subconsciously they need to divert their mind from their own world, family, friends, love, career etc. There is indeed something really misplaced in their life, that’s why they think that they are doing the right thing by fixing others. People with least self-control or least control over their own life have a tendency to control others and situations related to others the most.

I am saying this out of my own experience and as an observer. I had this kind of addiction for a few years which ended about 4-5 years ago. And now I have observed the same in a few people.

So, what you can do when you observe ‘a fixer’ in your life??

1. ASK THEM QUESTIONS-Ask them if they themselves are okay? We project our inner world on the outside world and if somebody is finding a problem in us, it most probably is a problem they could not find out in themselves. Eg. (A) “I think you are in pain.” “No, I am not.” Here the first one himself/herself might be in psychological pain. (B) “Nobody understands you.” “I don’t even care.” Here, the first one feels like nobody understands them. Ask them questions or reply very subtly but directly and in a non-attacking form. Only ‘are you okay?’ can be sufficient sometimes but not always. Others can be “I am finding this in you actually. Is it true?” But do it (ask) only if you have ample time to listen to the answers because insufficient attention or interest taken may make them feel like either you are doing them a favour or are just trying to use them to pass your time.

2. CHOOSE UNDERSTANDING– If they are unwilling to tell you anything, then understand that they either don’t trust you with their delicate information or they simply don’t want to touch upon a subject. Do not push things further even in the other direction like trying to act like everything is fine on their side just because they have not told you anything. Here, just saying “I am all ears to listen to your story if you want to tell anything anytime” can also work pretty fine but say “anytime” only if you can be available to them like that, otherwise describe a specific time like “I am free at ____am/pm, just in case you want to talk” or anything like that will work.

3. READ THE CUES BUT DON’T OVERLY ANALYZE THEM- You might be surprised to know that sometimes we begin to over-analyze everything way too much. The one who seems to be controlling us or a situation in our life is actually trying to learn what would work for him/her in such a situation. The solution finders are learners and vice-versa. But if they seem to interfere a lot directly or indirectly, you can straight up tell them about it, but do it politely. Mostly we become so afraid of being controlled that we tend to be over-critical of others who even try to help us because we think that we don’t need help and end up controlling them rather. That’s why you need to be aware of the ones trying to control others, it might be possible that they themselves are afraid of being controlled. The helper needs help. But remember that primarily you have to take their words at their face value because you cannot press upon them to reveal anything. Respect privacy.

I could not think of other measures at the moment. Suggestions will be most welcome. THANKS. 🙂