Let me say at the outset that I had nothing to do with Arshad Nadeem’s winning a gold medal in the javelin throw at the Paris Olympics. More to my shame, I had nothing to do with the defeat of Neeraj Chopra, his rival from India, and silver medallist, not to mention a subedar major in the Indian Army. There would be mixed feelings there. A Pakistani beat an Indian. Yay! A civilian defeated a military man. Hmmm.
After the defeat of a serving subedar major of the Indian Army, there must have been calls for Chopra’s demotion. He would have been busted to buck private if Arshad had been in the Pakistan Army.
Meanwhile, a somewhat more exalted figure was arrested in Pakistan, a retired lieutenant general. If he is convicted, then I would suggest that there be a thorough investigation into how Faiz Hameed was inducted into the Army in the first place. In other words, the ISSB psychologists concerned should be put on trial. They would have retired by now, and there is no guarantee they are still alive, but the sort of crimes that are alleged, would only be committed by people who should have been detected by the selection process, let alone the promotion process.
Is the selection procedure flawed? Or was it wrongly administered by a few misguided psychologists? Whatever the case, one Faiz Hameed should be enough. And if the matter is not properly resolved, we might be condemned to a repetition of the May 9 incidents. And this time, the Indian subedar major might win.
Speaking of subedar majors, Chopra is not yet 30. Unless he blots his copybook really badly, by losing yet again to that Pakistani civilian, he should make captain, or perhaps even major, by the time he retires. Or else he could end up as the most senior subedar major in the Indian Army.
Presumably, that will not drive him to suicide. A child in Muzaffargarh, instead of taking up the javelin or the shotput, committed suicide. He had not done all that well in his Class 9 exam, which is Part 1 of the Matric exam. Apparently, his chances of making it into the college of his choice,were blown. As a matter of fact, he had flunked mathematics, which is not all that hard to do
Being a farmer’s child, there was weedicide lying around, which he drank. In the good old days, one would tie a noose around a fan, then around one’s neck. Or else one would consume copper sulphate. That was a pesticide, which meant it would be lying around the home, even nonfarming homes.
One reasons for suicide hasn’t hit us yet, though it’s increasing in the West. It seems that with some illnesses you can be kept alive, even though in great agony. So one commits suicide. Not only has medicine not reached that portion, but you must remember that people sometimes have to be forcibly evicted from government residences, even though they retired a while ago. So you’ve not got many people who would be willing to leave this world just because of the pain.
Here, suicide follows traditional patterns, and Failure is the main reason. And even that shows an inter-relation. First, as in our young lad from Muzaffargarh, comes Failure in Exams. Now you need to pass exams so that you can get a good job, and thus marry the princess of your dreams. If not, then Failure in Love is the next reason for suicide.
And if you escape that, and reconcile to getting married to some girl whose parents don’t mind the low-paying job you got because of youd Exam Failure, you could succumb to Economic Failure. That’s why you get a spate of suicides around Eid, when people find they can’t afford new clothes for their children.
Perhaps the last suicide could have been avoided if the person had been sensible about things the very first time, when he flunked his exams. And remember, flunking doesn’t mean failure. It could mean not getting enough marks. Ask Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra. It’s not that he can’t throw a javelin. It’s that he can’t throw it far enough. Ask Lt Gen (retd) FaIz Hameed. He didn’t move any higher, did he? Even though he wanted to.
