3+ Week Vacation in India

OK so I was looking forward to the 3+ weeks in India as a time off from my routine life here in US. It started off with a 3 day trip to Jaipur for my father in laws post funeral service. The mood was somber but I was glad to see everyone at least giving a hint that things are moving on.

And then things went downhill from there. Dad got sick and was in ICU for enlarged prostate. Spent a whole day getting him through tests and paperwork to get him admitted. He recovered quickly after they catheterized him. And then off and on, days were spent in hospital OPDs. Not to mention his behavior as a patient which were were left wanting. 

Then a few days were spent decompressing with cousins, a marriage and shopping for that marriage. The days around the marriage were fun. Had a lot of laughs and giggles. Apparently I rediscovered my silly side where I couldn't stop making people laugh; a contrast to first half of the days were spent in hospitals. It was a good exercise and use case in that how important it is to decompress with booze less crazy stupid silly stuff  when you are stressed with breakneck pace work and family matters. Just go out at a chill but inexpensive place, happening but not crowded joint or a gathering of close but not many friends and smile a bite, poke a bit of fun at yourself and others and in the process shed the skin of stress and wear and tear of the past week and move on for a fresh one. That's what life is; a day at a time, a week at a time, month by month and year over year.

Thoughts on Sandy Hook Tragedy

Learned today that 20 odd kids and 7 adults have been shot in a school in Connecticut.

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims. But a part of me is also leaning towards the human being who committed this unimaginable act. What promoted his mental state in such a dark corner that all he felt was a rage towards these little souls, a rage that cannot be reasoned with, a rage that cannot be pacified, a rage that is so frightful that it erodes away any last shed of humanity left in the person.

I will be closely following the case of the man and try to get into his mind. The mind of a killer. I will not be surprised to find out if he was sick, felt rejected, felt alone, considered his life to be of little consequence or meaning and hence in the process was jealous of all those who seem happy and contented in contrast to his own life. But there has to be more. 

And as I have followed previous cases viz. the Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Aurora and Oak Creek,, the abridgment of my findings and thought is shaping up to be around the nature of our society today. All these tragedies and the individuals involved in culminating them are all but symptoms of the way our society is today. If their little problems that can be solved by society that includes family, friends and just well wishers compound into personality disorders, chronic insecurity and what not. Society; a lonesome, unforgiving, intolerant, panicky, angry and discontent entity which we all comprise of and hence are molded out of.