Odd Ends of Sanity

I wanted to make a peppy post to start the year. But then this just struck me and I didn't wanna forget to write. It ain't glum but one that might make you think.

As I write I am hearing the character speak, as I consider it. His language for what I know is only filled with swear words. As if he were taught these in place of our conventional languages. Trust me, these are some of the most hideous of works in tamil. He only says em when the road is empty or there is a lone traveller. Strangely, the guy stop shouting them when he sees kids. He sits on the platform right outside my room so I have the prevelege of hearing him a lot. Rainy days are when he mumbles the most :(. Taking shade under our need tree which gives a bit of shade on the platform. It ain't his abode as he takes up different places in the locality every day. I have even seen him with a clean hair-cut and shaven. He looked so bright that way :). He often stares at me in silence as I enter our gates. Truth be told, I am afraid of looking at him, considering that he may be offended if I did so.

A couple of years back I used to work in bangalore. During my frequent visits to madras over the weekend, I used to commute from the trainstation to home by bus. During the wee hours in the morning, at the bus stand opposite central station I'v noticed an individual living on the platform. He was lying over just a couple of news papers and very little accessories. Even when lying down he was mumbling, and when he woke up he used to mumble aloud / silently in bursts. What he spoke didn't make sense to me but for him uttering names like MGR, Anna and a few more famous politicians. As if these men were alive.

I don't feel sorry for these people (coz I detest pity and I guess they would too). But I do wonder as to what could drive people into such insanity. Of course, the word by itself is just an point of view ;). It made me realize that every one of us is insane to various degrees. Imagine youself being in a place where you have none to talk with. Or just nobody talks to you and you eventually give up trying. If you carefully observe people who are subject to such circumstances, you'd find that they start talking with objects around them and even just themselves. They even make characters out of nothing just to keep conversing.

Does this just show as to how much of a social animal humans are? Forget these extremes. You can observe these traits even with people who just don't get to talk much. Like when they miss someone who had always been along. They talk to themselves, plants, animals, god etc etc. Didn't John Nash experience similar delusion due to schizophrenia?

Sometimes I feel that religion, our sacred texts and all have come into existence this way. A moral mans delusions of an entity he called god which was probably a figment of his own imagination which edified all that we have known as sacred text. Obviously if such were told by a man, people would hardly pay attention to it. I know its a far fetched speculation :), but quite plausible. Ultimately, it can very well be an insane mans delusions which is keeping so much of humanity (the believers) ticking ;).

Bottomline, I guess there is insanity in everyone of us. It is only a question of in whome this has manifested similar to talents of people whome we deem "Normal". I hope this makes you think twice before you presume someone is crazy ;)).