Know AIDS and accept the Positives

More than spreading knowledge about AIDS, what is necessary is perhaps to create a society that accepts HIV-positive people as normal fellow humans.

Back in the 1980s, while watching television, you would come out of your house and move the antenna pole to get the best signal. You would turn the pole around and ask: Aaya? or Hua? (Is the picture clear?), and somebody from inside the house would shout yes or no.

Today, we can watch different channels with a remote control in our hands without worrying about the antenna giving up on us. This is development.

It was also back in the ‘80s that the entire world was surprised by a new finding - the emergence of the HIV among human beings. And since then, the human race is trying find out the panacea for it. Occasionally, it is rumoured that medicine against AIDS has been invented, but the increasing number of the HIV positive people flies in the face of such bogus claims. HIV/AIDS is spreading its tentacles globally.

Arunachal Pradesh is no exception, either. The number of HIV/AIDS infected people in the state is increasing alarmingly. The official record says Papum Pare leads followed by Lohit.

 The first AIDS case in Arunachal was detected in Anini in 1998. The person was infected through blood transfusion. Various steps have been taken so far to check it from spreading in the state.

In this regard, Arunachal Pradesh State Aids Control Society (APSACS) is rendering its yeoman service in the sate in creating awareness among the mass against the HIV/AIDS. APSACS funded seminars and workshops are held every now and then at different schools, colleges and other institutions in the state. Every district medical officer is asked to carry out the task according to their convenience.

APSACS aims to cover the entire state in creating awareness against HIV/AIDS. The campaign on Integrated Counseling and Testing Centre (ICTC), aimed at drawing people towards ICTC for information on HIV/AIDS, has started showing positive results.

The taboo regarding HIV/AIDS, however, is still the same as it was before. When people talk about HIV/AIDS, the first impression that comes to the mind is Sex.

No doubt sex plays the major role in spreading the AIDS virus. But there are many other reasons which the people are not aware of. The impression of sex being the only reason must be removed from the minds of the people.” 

Whether the names of HIV-positives should be made public or not, many are in favour while many others are clearly not in favour of the idea.

Many argue, if it happens, the sky will fall upon them and their lives would become like hell. They would be deserted by their own parents and relatives. Nobody would accept them. The patients would get nothing but hatred from every corner of the society. So the names of the patients have been kept confidential.

 But who can be sure whether or not they might be spreading it to others out of frustration and anguish?  The greatest hurdle anyway is that nobody wants to be tested for AIDS. Also, in most cases, doctors cannot find out whether the patients are locals or non-locals, since they know about it through the blood samples received through donation.

No doubt there is ignorance about AIDS but, so far the state has succeeded to make people aware about it to some extent. APSACS, on its part, is trying its best to check it. Besides this, other organizations and NGOs must lend their hands to fight against the menace of AIDS.

 The student community has the most important role to play in preventing it as they can teach and talk to their parents and illiterate friends openly and frankly about AIDS. The people must be convinced that AIDS doesn’t spread if we sit with patients, touch them or share meals with them.

Programmes like Haath Se Haath Mila and movies like Phir Milenge and My Brother Nikhil could be screened by the state government and other organizations to make the common people aware and informed about the syndrome. 

Yumrin Nokma of Arunachal, who has been an HIV positive for the last few years and is open now, when he knew that he was infected with the virus his world had broken into pieces. However today, he is living happily because of the cooperation he gets from the society and now he works for creating awareness among the mass and advises them not the repeat the mistake which he   did years back.

That, perhaps, is the key: an understanding society.  For it may take time to make the earth free from AIDS - if not today, tomorrow; and if not tomorrow, the day after - but certainly a cure will be invented because, as Napoleon said: “The word impossible is found only in the dictionary of the fools.”

And human beings are no fools.

Freedom is meaningless when no one is Aazad !!!

When I was passing out from Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU), I asked a Deori friend of mine coming from Assam to study in RGU how did he feel staying two years in Arunachal Pradesh?  Happily he replied, “I really enjoyed being here. I like Arunachalee contrary to what was told to me by my relatives when I told them I took admission in Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh. People here are simple and straight forward sans cunningness and deceitfulness. I enjoyed every freedom here and loved being here.”

Time changed! Today, somewhere inside our hearts, many of us find we cannot enjoy the real freedom. Many feel, the state is not as safe as it used to be, though many may claim. Inside our hearts we, somehow, believe and accept that the place is becoming insecure for us irrespective of caste, community or region.

Recently, while buying chana-matar-badam from a chanawala at Nahralagun roadside, I  asked him, “Bhaiyya kitna kama liya,” he looked upset and replied, “Kahan sir, abhi abhi ek ladka aaya thaa, haath  mein beer bottle thaa aur pura nasha mein thaa, usne mera jeb check kiya aur sab  kamaya hua paisa le gaya aur saath mein ek bada sa chana ka  packet bhi le gaya”. Surprised by his answer I asked why he didn’t protest. He was afraid of protesting. The man was scared of being beaten up by that drunken guy. How free he feels, only he knows!

Journalism in Arunachal Pradesh is clear example of how freedom is curved, pressed and twisted by few people for their self interest. Journalists work hard risking their lives in mirroring the reality. But everywhere freedom of press is chained. Hard working media persons are threatened and humiliated at every drop of a hat. Not only this, they are warned and intimidated and threatened of being killed or tortured. Do they really enjoy the freedom of press and freedom of expression? Answer is crystal clear.

Concerned parents are always worried about their children’s well being. If they are late by any means particularly at night, many horrible imaginations start coming to their  minds. Their children being in trouble, beaten or killed are few scariest imaginations that haunt these parents. Their minds are not free.

If in an emergency one has to go to any place during night time, one has to think time and again before stepping out from home. No one feels secured or safe to move out during such an emergency. Where is one’s freedom?

Law abiding citizen don’t feel free to drive along the main highway. They are afraid of being hit or smashed by law breakers of traffic rules. Sometimes their minds are preoccupied of being killed or being fined if something goes wrong. Are they really free? You know the answer better.

Only few days back I read a joke about a school going child saying to his mother, “School sey darr nahi lagta hai Maa, Mid Day Meal sey lagta hai”. Joke apart, somewhere between the lines one realises how scared school going children and their parents are regarding their lives. Parents are not free from fear of losing their children. Freedom is confused here.

Rapes and murders were unheard of in the land of rising sun till few years back. Time has changed. Rape, murder and other criminal activities make headlines in most of the state’s local dailies.

Womenfolk cannot move freely at night hour which makes mockery of Gandhiji’s vision, “The day a woman can walk freely at midnight on the roads, that day we can say that India achieved independence”.  They are not free from the clutches of greedy and lecherous eyes. Does freedom hold any meaning for these women?

In many parts shopkeepers cannot keep their shops open till late night. They start shutting their shutters as soon as the sun hides beyond the western horizon. How free and secured they feel is still a mystery.

And finally, where is the actual freedom when a rickshaw puller has to pull another fellow being for earning livelihood even after India achieved freedom many years back? Freedom is meaningless for him. 

However, having said all these, all is not dark and depressing. There are freedoms that we enjoy everyday. We must be optimistic. Let everyone enjoys the things they love doing it without obstructing another person’s freedom. Let each of us feel secured, safe and free. Let there be an environment where each of us can enjoy the happiness of being free and pleasure of freedom or else what is this freedom if no one is aazad in reality.