Callous Indifference Virus strain infects Indians. No body cares.

Special Correspndent, April 24 (PNN) - The recent behavior of the Indian Ambassador to Armenia following the negligent death of an Indian medical student, Prashant Anchalia, supports a dangerous theory of a rare infection eating up the body of Indian civil services. National Geographic filmmakers and photographers studying animal behavior can distinctly identify the virus strain that causes this infection, but only among some species of carnivores. This is a kind of virus that induces a callous indifference to the suffering of members of same species. After years of filming in the wild, Mike (The Hike) Pike of the Green Oscars fame confirms that the phenomenon of natural selection is ingrained in the psyche of most animals. They absolutely don’t bother about caring for a wounded or needy member of their species. If at all, these animals only take care of their immediate families. However, on conditions of anonymity, Mr. Pike also admits to witnessing this behavior in most Indian civil servants, especially those who see even a faint financial prospect in a given situation. He coaxed a zoologist friend, Ms. Kanoni Lehmkuhl, to investigate this further.

Ms. Lehmkuhl presented her findings in front of an incredulous bench of zoologists. All of them later accepted her report and have come to recognize this as the Influenza D virus, subtype C5I7, which has a carnivorous intermediate host. It’s beyond doubt (and beyond humans’ puny comprehension) that this virus has managed to mutate and spread among the ranks of Indian bureaucratic establishment, which is responsible for serving a significant portion of human population residing in and outside India. The symptoms of this infection are most readily seen when the Subject (an Indian bureaucrat, a civil servant, or an elected representative) is put in a situation which demands quick thinking and definitive action. Scientists say that sudden activity is induced in Subjects’ endocrine system as a result of these tense and demanding situations. In the presence of Callous Indifference virus, this results in a total logical, and more dangerously, a total emotional blackout. This impedes, and at times completely obstructs, a dutiful response.

Having seen the no-show put up the Ambassador, Nanyaar, a student in Armenia demands to know whether this concerns anyone else while stating facts highlighting his disappointment with the Indian embassy:

· Rector showing no situational discretion pours out provocative remarks against Indians
· This provocates students to go out on streets
· there is a protest march towards the Armenian parliament
· No embassy staff arrives yet to safeguard the students & to curb them
· Protest in front of parliament continues for more that 3 hrs yet no response from the embassy
· 4 Indian students permitted to go to the parliament in absence of an official representative from the embassy [now that’s outrageous]

[…]

· Ambassador finally arrives after 8 hrs of the sad incidence
· Ambassador goes to parliament
[Nothing much happens after that]

The embassy officials informed the Anchalia family that their kid committed suicide, even before the investigations could be concluded [ref: Heqt Online, The Telegraph]. A British journalist, Onnik, reports that Indian students continue protests despite losing hope and no clear plan of action [links to Onnik and Nanyaar]. Students share a deep concern that the spread of this lethal Callous Indifference Virus (C5I7) has prevented justice to their dead classmate, and such situations can recur in the future. Indian students are marching in the streets of Yerevan, Armenia, trying to inform the officials about the same, but no one seems to be care.

Nearer home, Readers’ Editor of The Hindu, Mr. K. Narayan today questioned the response of the public to incidents of grave concern around us. In an agonizing article, he first took a point about police’s dealings in West Bengal:

The boy [traveling in a train from Chennai to Kokata] died in the train after hitting a post near Bhadrak and the police "disposed of" the body after post-mortem. No one was informed even though the body had a reserved ticket on it. Four family friends from Kolkata, after frantic enquiries at Howrah station, finally located what remained of the body in a wayside bush off Bhadrak.

So far the findings are consistent with the virus infection theory. However, one reader of The Hindu made an observation which may point towards the startling fact of this virus, or a lesser variant thereof, spreading to the society as a whole. Continuing the same article, Mr. Narayan writes:

The reaction it [the story of bureaucratic indifference] produced in one reader (there was no other) should make everyone ponder. Radha Gopalakrishnan of Chennai was shocked by the lack of any response. "What is wrong with us as a nation, as human beings?" she asked. "When Ganguly had problems a few months ago, there were reports on almost every page. We can agonise over Iraq, worry about Nepal, inform ourselves about the student uprising in France. ... We have reams of information about the most trivial of events but the tragic death and callous and inhuman treatment of the body of a young man inspires no outrage? ... Why are we so much more concerned about a cricketer's woes and turn away from events that should horrify and goad us to protest?"

But scientists (and sociologists) are optimistic about the resistence society has shown against this virus in general. They cite a few recent example that stand out. An alert bus driver in New Delhi threw the bomb out of the bus to save fellow citizens; he lost his eyes in the attempt. 19 year old Javed sacrificed himself while saving young kids from Meerut fire. Citizens from around the country are known to have taken up well known and lesser known issues alike to ensure justice. They only hope that in the race for survival of the fittest, human forms closer to animals and susceptible to these kinds of infections will lose out.

[On Saturday, I tried to contact bloggers who had a wider audience than mine to write about Prashant Anchalia's fate. I’m happy Varun, and Anshul responded. I was heartening when Siddharth Varadarajan, Deputy Editor of The Hindu, also promised to take this up once he’s back from Nepal. Unfortunately, it’s going to take at least a week.]

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Update - April 24, 2006: Nanyaar says that after 4 days of protest, the future still looks bleak.