India makes you crazy...

Darwish

when will it be my turn of getting totally insane here? can't take long I guess

i won't await that moment. i will go to europe temporrily, (for business reasons though)

AwayFromHome

I am surprised you're still there. What could possibly be so lucrative or compelling to keep you there, while harboring such resentment and disdain for the place? Do yourself a favor, and choose a place to reside that you actually like. Life is too short, my friend, to spend spewing vitriol.

ColinT

I’ve only just discovered this thread now and looked at the article about the French guy at the beginning. I notice the article was from 2006. I was once on Anna Salai in Chennai in 2000/2001 or so, sitting on the pavement while someone was cleaning my shoes. I felt someone standing over me. I looked up and saw this straggly haired young guy, looking disheveled and the worse for wear. He told me he was from France, had not been in India for too long and planned to stay for five years. He had given his passport away and all his money and worldly possessions as he was on a spiritual quest. According to him, his mind was on track to achieve this. I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. However, as he had nothing, he needed money. I told him to go to the French consulate in Chennai for assistance and to go over the road to Higginbothams book shop to find the address from a guide book. I know there are quite a few people who end up like this but could he be that person which the article refers to? Guess I’ll never know.

AwayFromHome

Could very well be. I haven't bothered to go back and review the original thread, but I seem to recall this guy was fairly young, but wasn't really into any spiritual stuff. He definitely needed to get out of there, for his own sake. He and India didn't have any 'chemistry' together!

ColinT

In the article, it says he thought he was Lord Shiva. That's what got me thinking that it could have been him. And I'm guessing it was early 2000 when I met him. The dates certainly add up.


a big crock of cric

edwardseco

Back to the girl studying moneylending, maybe found out too much (mafia links?) and became terrified??

Actually, I figure info dries up when you ask for such sensitive info. I used an oblique fashion studying something else and people brought it to my attention. Sometimes gentle blackmail helps motivate people. Not succeeding in one's endeavor can drive one crazy especially in the spiritual area..

ColinT

Link's not working Edward

Nick-H

Darwish, I'd thought you'd gone crazy already! And lived through it!

And AwayFromHome, just because he had a bad day and hated the place, doesn't mean its always going to be like that. Never happen to you?

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

AwayFromHome

Yes, it has of course. But never to the degree that manifested into sheer, unadulterated hatred of anyone or anyplace.

Plus, it seems to be a tad more than just one bad day. I have no hidden agenda here - just hate to see someone wasting his time and sometimes a prod in the right direction overcomes senseless inertia. It wouldn't be outlandish to guess that he posted here to evince this very reaction, no?

Well, I'd lay money that it certainly was him you met. Does that count as meeting someone famous?
And ColinT, loved your "Chasing Rainbows in Chennai" book - please write more!

ColinT

Could be him I suppose. All these years later, I still vividly recall going back to my hotel after seeing him that day, feeling quite emotional inside and constantly thinking that I could have/should have done something more for him. Not sure what though. At the time, I just felt I was giving him the opportunity to help himself by offering advice. After he left me, he stood outside a shop with outstretched arm, asking for money.

By the way, thanks for what you say about the book. Very nice!

Aishah

LOL Nick- your post 45! I think you've well and truly twigged onto something there!!
ColinT - it's not a 'link' that edwardesco has put - he's underlined something I said in a previous post. Interesting info. there edwardesco btw - that oblique way of doing things often gets results for me too! More in the home department I might add...
Fascinating story, ColinT - yep, I reckon you met someone 'famous' there!!

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"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

Nick-H

I think your did the 'right' thing.

kristinm

THe jerusalem syndrome thing is absolutely fascinating, I read quite a long article about it recently - people with no history of mental illness absolutely believe they are Jesus...I think they are usually quite religious to begin with though, but from memory, not always....they are often hospitalised and people are quite used to the symptoms and know to bundle a person off to the hospital... apparently once they leave Jerusalem it just goes away.

Nick-H

My life! Another one for the Jesus ward, already!

Sorry. I know it is not trivial to the sufferers and their associates, but, really...

pquekel

WE used to have a lot of Napoleons in our asylums too, funny lot with all the Jesuses...perhaps it is more rewarding to talk on here about the more enjoyable and less pittyable aspects of the syndrome that Stendhal described in relation to Florence and we here try to analyse in an Indian perspective.