Monday, March 12, 2012

When Mars mars the Man


"Mangal Dosha is an astrological combination that occurs if Mars is in the 1st,2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, or 12th house of the Vedic astrology Ascendant chart. A person born in the presence of this condition is termed a manglik.
This condition is astrologically believed to be devastating for marriages, causing discomfort and tension in relationship, leading to severe disharmony among the spouses and eventually to other bigger problems."
-Wikipedia 



I used to find some aspects of astrology very amusing, but lately being of age that I am, I do not find some concepts so funny anymore, both as a psychologist and as a human being.


It is a fact that when there is ambiguity, rumours will come up, and people will keep cooking stories to get a sense of satisfaction of knowing what is out there. Just before examination results, students will try to find out the result by asking that crystal ball reader online or perform a lot of rituals, as if the marks are miraculously going to change. 
All these are nothing but tactics we employ when we are anxious to calm our nerves with this perceived sense of control we get.
In the society of arranged marriages, where the bride and the groom are are strangers to each other, both sides of the family are digging for some amount of certainty, some assurance that all will be well. For this reason, very prevalent is the practice of matching horoscopes. The boy and the girl will both have their janampatris or horoscopes, based on the exact time and the location of birth. This will detail their personalities, problems, etc. based on the positions of the planets at the time of birth. 


"Mangal dosha" is the most common problem in horoscope matching. Mangliks are said to have a disastrous relationship with  non-manglik, to the extent that the presence of the former can lead to accidents, ill health, and even death of the latter. Hence, Mangliks can only marry Mangliks to "cancel out" the ill effects. 

How would you feel, if you woke up one day to realize you are a bad luck? And why, because your deeds are bad? No, because you were born at the certain time at a certain place. 

I always was of the opinion, that even if I do not believe in these superstitions, it is alright to respect others' sentiments and sit quiet, as there is no harm. 

However, I rethink the last part of the sentence. There is harm. Lot of it.

If we come to think of it, there maybe so many cases where lovers would have to part because of this superstition, and so many cases where they would have go through a completely unnecessary struggle!
And I will not even talk so much about lovers. I will here talk of the person who has been diagnosed with this "Mangal Dosh". How would it effect the individual's psyche, his self esteem, even if he/she is once told he/she is a threat to his/her loved ones? And in cases of arranged marriages, the word spreads among the community, who tut-tut the individual and pray they get someone...anyone with a similar dosh. 
I would not like to insult positive people, but its almost like you have a sexually transmittable disease, because your mother's labour ended at a certain time and hence can only marry a partner who too has that. 

I am in fact encouraged to study the self esteem levels of these people diagnosed with Mangal Dosh. No doubt it is affected, and more so of those who internalize this belief.
Self esteem, which plays such a major factor in one's emotions, cognition, and performance does not deserve to be marred by a superstition. It is criminal. In fact, I would strongly advocate legislation against this. We can match horoscopes for fun, even for 'compatibility' alright, but no one has any right to inflict such shocks on you, that you are unlucky or mystically life threatening! 

Legislation will not happen now. There is too much of a vote bank on stake. If Sati pratha and Hindu Succession Rights faced so much opposition, this is likely not to happen very soon. But us, the youth of marriageable age can stand up strongly against it. Look around, it could be your friend who would have liked to get married before she hit 30, but is forced to stay unmarried as she is not getting a "suitable partner" whose major qualification to be her life partner would be that he is manglik. It could be your girlfriend/your boyfriend, your potential spouse in an arranged marriage. It could be you.

These days, there are "cures" for being manglik. This has evolved only because the society is evolving and more and more people are choosing their partners themselves, popularly called love-marriage n India. They obviously do not match horoscopes before falling in love. So to adjust their dakshina with this crowd, the pandit community have come up "cures" and "solutions" to reduce the impact of mangal dosha. 

There are elaborate poojas and kumbh vivah. How demeaning can it be to go through such rituals to free yourselves from some superstition? I dont speak of the rites per se, but I do speak of the intentions and the concept behind the rights. Like I pointed out earlier, no human should be made to go through this...its inhuman.

I was born on the first day of the navratras (a good omen), just after a lunar eclipse (a bad omen) ended. I shudder to think what would I be going through had the foetal me decided to give my mother a little less of labour pain. 
But regardless of what I would have been made to go through, rest assured, I would have definitely not taken all this lying down. Neither I will let anyone around me get effected by it, however mildly, nor should you.








Sunday, March 11, 2012

Language and Confidence

Sometime back I got a query. It was a young man, who wrote to me at length about his dream of clearing the SSB, and his lack of confidence which pulled him out of GDs and Interviews. From the language and the grammar of the mail, it was certain to me that the boy, though smart and articulate, was not comfortable with the English language. On probing, he shared that he was allowed to speak in Hindi (his mother tongue), but he tried to speak in English during the selection processes as he thought it will fetch him extra points. He wanted a solution for his "GD-phobia". I told him he cannot be diagnosed with any phobia via email, and he may visit a psychologist near him if he feels the need. Nevertheless, I shared with him some general points to help him out, which I will share here as it can be applicable to anyone...




Being skilled at multiple languages is always an asset. It is good to learn and practice as many languages as possible. Just like it is the best to read about stuff you do not know about. However, when it examination time, and you future depends on this examination, would you choose to answer a question you are sure about, or would you try answering a question you do not know about?

Similarly, when you know that during the selection process, they are testing your intelligence, your articulation and most importantly, your confidence you should not try to use a language you know you are not comfortable with. It is better to speak fluently and correctly in Hindi in your GDs and Interviews, than incorrectly in English, which will only highlight your weakness of not mastering a language. Other than that, you lose out at another front-confidence. When you know you are not good at something, this belief will always be stopping you from performing your best. You will appear nervous and unsure.

It is understandable that English now is a global language. You may practice the language while conversing with a well-versed friend, till it develops enough to be used at such critical junctures.
Having said that, it is important for every Indian citizen to know that our government jobs do not ask for mastery over English language. Its good enough to just understand it. The government has all your languages listed up- so any person, whatever State they reside in, can converse comfortably in his/her mother tongue when going for a government-job selection.

Certainly, for all India services like the army, a standard language is required and hence they give you the option of English or Hindi. But if you are like this gentleman who was comfortable with Hindi and not in English, please use Hindi. Your expression and confidence will cover up all doubts you have about losing points when you use Hindi.


Language is a beautiful gift to the human beings. Use it to your advantage, do not let it become your handicap!


Good Luck :)
Yours Personally

Saturday, March 10, 2012

India's "joint families" and its population woes!

Before I even start this, I will take a few words to say to all those who live in joint families that I am aware of our "culture" of extended families staying together. I feel its a beautiful concept of togetherness that has many advantages...the commentary below is just that-a personal commentary based on my observations. 


What two concepts am I proposing to connect? Who one lives with does not at all effect one's choices regarding family planing. Or maybe, it does. And much more deeply than you think.

Sociologically, the Indian son never grows up. The daughter does-she attains puberty, and her roles change, she gets married, and she leaves her house and her parents, she gets new roles (and lots of "responsibilities"), she becomes a mother (and is told that it is only then that she is "complete"), etc. etc.
So yes, she evolves in our society, but the son will always remain the infantile son.

He stays with his parents throughout his life. His mother takes care of him till he gets a wife to do that. If he is earning an independent income, it is usually put into a family account and he has to ask his parents for a pocket money. If he is not earning an independent income, that is also just fine. And THIS is where I connect the joint family to our population woes.

The Indian sons and daughters are married off "at a certain age". This is usually irrespective of where they stand professionally, or even psychologically. Additionally, marrying sons off is seen as a way to get the sons "under control". Just like having babies is seen as a way to resolve marital conflicts.

If only the sons too were allowed to grow up. If they did not have their parents' household ready to move in a wife whenever the mother felt the need for a bahu, things would have been different.
The son would then grow up become to be a man. He would first take care of his work, his bank balance, a place to live, etc. before getting married. This would delay his marriage to when he is mature enough to understand the meaning of being in a wedlock, to when he understands his responsibilities towards his wife.

This would further delay childbirths as he would also now understand the having children has a purpose more than giving his parents entertainment and heir. He would have them when he feels he is ready to take good care of them, just like he got married when he felt he was ready for the role.

The men with such character with also tend to respect their wives and their decisions regarding family planning, and not blindly follow his oedipal instincts and follow the mother's instructions towards such private matters. This maturity and sense of responsibility in men shall have a cascading effect on our population statistics. Not only will the children be born late, they will also be fewer in number.

Joint families were meant for strong emotional support. However, bringing up your son to become so pathologically dependent on you that he has no productivity or a sense of purpose or responsibility is a crime many families are committing against their sons. And to clarify, this is prevalent across economic classes.

Seriously, just because your father's business is doing well does not mean you are ready to take on responsibilities of a married life. Let alone those of a father.

Get a job. Get a life. Control Population.