The enlightened call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results.

— Krishna in The Gita

The mind is everything. What you think you become.
— Buddha



Thursday 27 January 2011

Stranger than fiction

Three totally unrelated events/issues, but they sure highlight the complexities of human life and psychology. These incidents are known to all, this post is just about my perspective.
1). The Talwars—Dr Rajesh Talwar and his wife, Nupur—who, according to the CBI are suspects in their own daughter Aroushi’s murder. Dr Rajesh has also spent some time behind the bars and was brutally attacked recently by a young man who resented his “fame”. The CBI insists he's the prime suspect, but so far no charge has been brought against him for lack of evidence. I’m as confused as the next person. But just imagine for a second that he’s innocent, as his wife so passionately insists—they lost their only child, reputation and all semblance of a normal life, and the murderer is still at large. Just seeing the Talwars on the TV is enough for me to lose my sleep.
2). This one is courtesy the BBC. A young American woman, now 23, was abducted when she was an infant by a woman who brought her up as her daughter. Her (foster) mother’s inability to produce any birth certificate made the young woman suspicious and she eventually found her photo as a baby on the Missing and Exploited Children's website. “Mother and daughter are finally reunited and the abductor faces the police,” Nik Gowing said something to the effect on BBC’s The Hub.
What should be a happy ending, set me thinking. 23 years…isn’t that a lifetime! What if the abductor had really loved the girl like her own daughter? And will she, the girl, able to forget the 23 years that she spent with a woman who was the most important person in her life? I’m not denying that it was the cruellest crime in the world—to take a child away from her mother is an unthinkably vile act. Having said that, I still see shades of grey in the story than just black and white.
3). This is a happy one. It turned out that Oprah Winfrey has a half-sister, Patricia, she never knew of. Patricia was given by her mother (a housemaid then) for adoption when Oprah was nine.
On Oprah Winfrey Show, Patricia said she started thinking that Oprah might be her sister when she saw an interview with Vernita Lee (Oprah’s mother) on television. She eventually tracked down Vernita, but was told by the adoption centre that the mother did not want to get in touch with her. Patricia managed to reach Oprah's niece and DNA tests showed that they were indeed related.
We thought we knew almost everything about Oprah’s life—the soul-numbing poverty and abuse, and the subsequent rags-to-reaches rise. But looks like wonders never cease in her life. Out of nowhere pops a half-sister who she never heard of. And from Patricia’s point of view, just imagine waking up one fine morning and discovering Oprah Winfrey is your sister!
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. But the best part of the story, as I see it, is that she never tried to sell her story and make some quick buck.

16 comments:

  1. Yes some things are stranger than fiction, but we as outsiders may never know the exact truth behind these stories, so it never bothers me.

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  2. 1. i dont want to comment on that cause we will never know till the proof comes which will never come .. What you see is not always true.. YEs you might say i am heartless or otherwise BUt beleive me , in my kind of job i have seen people who are otherwise , so I dont take anything at facevalue anymore expereicne taught me that ... BUt yeah if they r true then hope god gives them the strength to bear all this pain and loss

    2. end of the day its a crime done and justice needs to be done , depends on the daughter if she will be able to pardon the captor, and if she is happy .. law will takes it own course

    3. No comments.

    Bikram's

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  3. You are right these are indeed stranger than fiction

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  4. Hi Neena,

    These true stories sound stranger than fiction.

    As far as CBI is concerned they are a bunch of bungling idiots,a group of puppets in the hands of the politicians.

    Thanks for sharing these interesting true life stories.

    Best wishes,
    Joseph

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  5. Good compilation. Journalist talking...Very good post Neena

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  6. Dear Neena,
    Three incidences not connected to each other by any imagination still you have tried to club them together and analyse human psychology.You amaze me by your analysis of events. Most would just listen/watch and then forget about it. Not you. You try to go beyond the stories. It is all about love and emotions. Some have lot of love and affection for others. Some are so selfish and self centered that they dont care what happens to others. It is because the percentage of people in the first category far out number those in the other category, world is a better place to live. Good blog.

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  7. Patricia has lot of dignity , may be she doesn't want to use Ophra's name to get publicity. But now it is public??

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  8. In India,the law takes funny turns.The culprit often escapes.There are politicians always to support and protect the criminals.

    23 years,no excuse.Whether this woman loved the child or not,she deprived the child of her mother's love and a good childhood.She deserves punishment of the highest degree.

    I don't think much about this Oprah.She is just bloated up.What is there in her,other than her difficult past?

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  9. absolutely...Truth is indeed stranger than fiction...

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  10. Yes some times life is more stranger than fiction

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  11. Yes! All are strange incidents.

    I agree on the grey shades associated with the second story.

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  12. Hello!
    I agree with You, these are indeed stranger than fiction.

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  13. Infact, these trues are flashed in open so often that many of us have no idea what actually is going on. These stories are true but to us, these are always strange incidence. Life is full of variety,ups and down is common phenomena for our life.

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  14. Relationships are no more steady. Any bond is easily giving away nowadays. Talwar may have killed daughter in a fit of rage, who knows...
    And most adopted children try to seek their biological parents and most return to adopted parents

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