Not all stars make it to the skies..

'There is only one thing that arouses animals more than pleasure, and that is pain. ' ~ William of Baskerville,The Name of the Rose


It was a dim cloudy evening in Bangalore when I met Narayanan after some 7 years since we left the school. He has improved a lot or was it again my assumption. Even after advising myself that how and who am I to judge someone's behaviour, I am surprised in a good way to see him behaving quite sensibly or maturely. We spoke about what each of them is doing, where are working, do we have contact of anyone else and then he bade good bye and went on our ways. Definitely he has improved, but not sure how much ever he need to catch up with his age. This reminded me a very sad story of one of the most mentally and physically abused lads I have come across in my non-fictious past.
His disability in understanding the society where he has to live, his reserved nature, lack of communication, isolation from any group activities and disobedience towards unruly mobsters made him the favourite target for Bullying in school for many. He was never retarded, his intelligence was exemplary so was his academics. But psychologically he probably felt like trapped in a dark well, so he attacked any thing and everything in the darkness. There wouldn’t be anyone whom he trusted, he never had any best friends in his school. His acute isolation was never psychologically treated, neither by his parents nor by his school. Through the ravages of time his schizophrenic mind kept on hating external world. Meeting him this time, I felt that he has found a cure himself. Hope he will soon be a part of this world, however insane be it.
Clinically this behaviour is being called Autism - a borrowed label from adult psychiatry where it had been used to refer to the progressive loss of contact with the outside world, experienced by schizophrenics. And it is clearly visible from the age of 1 and is curable if treated in their early ages. There is no specifically known medication or therapy, the treatments include educating the parents and integrating the children into a society enlightening him and encouraging to get involved with the outside world. In the initial stages I think he should be allowed to observe, listen, see the surroundings and letting him free until he finds a fitting position in that scene. Teach him to trust, never compare him to anyone so as to invoke the inferiority complex in him, give him challenging tasks suiting for that age, teach him the practice of helping others, introduce him to the world of music, dance and sports as much as you do for academics. If not sure about how to deal with it consult a paediatric or psychiatrist. The primary aim is to build his confidence and to let him understand the need and capability to build that, his lack of confidence could discourage him from confronting anything external. He will be hesitant to mingle, his actions if ridiculed could worsen the situation.
This is a very common and a highly neglected illness so it is very important to observe each and every behaviour of the children. They are much more rational that we all think of, they have the ability to understand and differentiate the reality and story, which is the shocking truth behind this illness. It is probably us who take time to understand and learn from children than them. If you find any kid who is just shying away to join the crowd, who is staring blindly on nothing, who is so concentrated on finding symmetry in everything, inform his/her parents about this. It could be that the kid is perfectly normal but still that it is all right to be aware, because the 'He/She' could be your very brother, sister, friend, son, daughter . .

(reference: wikipedia)