There Is An Alternative

There is AN alternative The global battle against HIV has become dreary and disconcerting. While the world struggles to break ‘sexual networks’ or ‘multiple concurrent partnerships’, a slew of newer viruses like Avian influenza, Swine flu or something like Mad cow disease are running amuck sporadically. Coming back to HIV, evidence suggests that the HIV virus jumped from a primate species into human beings. Just how we ‘interacted’ with the chimps to gain this piece of nature’s retribution is any body’s guess!? Newer virus strains, shifts or mutations are the order of the day. To the devout, these would mean the dawning of the worst epoch in ‘Kaliyuga’. Whilst vaccines are sought and drug research is underway, the main theme in HIV prevention is Behavior Change Communication. And what exactly is the behavior change sought to be achieved? ‘Condom Usage’ is the new age mantra. Caught in the every widening array of Sexual practices, one has to design a wide array of ‘condom’ pyrotecnics for a mind boggling range of performances. There is oral (man-to-woman/woman-to-man) , anal (Receptive/Insertive), deep oral to oral, oral to aboral (sic) etc. etc. Simultaneously, there are technological leaps to address these needs such as female condoms, although, effectiveness and price remain important and unaddressed issues. Whilst the entire range of approaches from vaccines to Condom use remain important. But there remains a sorely missed angle - the human organism. Women and children are seduced, misled or purchased. There is an ever widening trade of trafficking and trade in women and children who land up in the brothels of Mumbai, Delhi or elsewhere. And then, there is a demand for ‘fresh’ material, which effectively translates into a huge demand for young children. And this influx is a one way street, with no opportunities for efflux. It concerns human beings of flesh and blood, with the same sensibilities and emotions, with same narrow and sinew. But their only fate is to be tightly packed in the dungeons of hell, for life. They are surrounded by the Mafiosi that keep them in perpetual slavery and do not allow them to escape. There is a stifling social order which has no room to accept them back with an open mind. And there is a marginalisation and disempowerment to the extreme. Those who are haggling for their daily bread cannot impose ‘condom use’ upon their clients. It is a buyer driven market. Violence and brutality from brothel owners, clients or the police is an everyday fact of life. Sharing a similar predicament are the ‘transgenders’ or Kinnars. In areas where their traditional forms of bread-winning has dried up, they have increasingly taken to sex work. Scientific research has shown that in certain areas, these communities may be harbouring the highest HIV carriage rates. ‘All Lives have Equal Value’,

proclaims a great philanthrope. But if one goes in for a reality check, these lives certainly do have less ‘value’ than others. Even if all HIV prevention work was to succeed in its entirely, these high risk groups would be emancipated only to receive ‘condom’ covered genitalia thrust into their loins and behinds. And that is the ‘equal value’ being dished out to them, Amen! While the current approaches need to be sustained, but there is dire need for innovative and more humanitarian thinking on the subject. Must the castaways remain marooned away from the social mainstream? Should the high risk groups be denied social justice and equitable opportunities forever? Is having an inter sex child a crime? Must human beings in allegedly civilized society fall prey to such circumstances and lurid machinations beyond their control, unprotected by anyone? Have we succeeded in making liberty, equality and fraternity, equally available to the High Risk Groups? Are they exercising their ‘Right to life and liberty’ as enshrined in our liberal constitution? There are more questions than answers. And the answers that are there do not deliver anything like the semblance of human dignity or equality of opportunity to these desolate lives. At the Dera SachaSauda, Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhji has always laid an emphasis upon human upliftment utilizing sound basic principles. The basic principles are the same to any such endeavour. Equality in status and opportunity is a dire must for furtherance and elevation in the social order. It is well known that education and socio economic status are the two best known determinants that protect against HIV. There is an important analogy; the battle against infectious disease was won in the developed nations by ending overcrowding, providing safe drinking water and improving nutrition. It was not won by fancy antibiotics or anti tubercular drugs. Therefore, the battle against HIV calls for empowerment. Empowerwent comes from freedom. Freedom for our brothers and sisters means liberation from the bondage of sexual slavery. And ending the vicious cycled of exploitation. And Dera Sacha Sauda has taken a very radical lead in this direction. As we pseudo-intellectuals proferred a variety of suggestions, Sant Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singhji came out with something that was unthinkable by us, lesser minds. Guruji proposed that disease free sex workers should be re-accepted into the social mainstream and married off and those stricken by disease should be treated and rehabilitated in other ways. We, puny mortals, had our doubts. And yet when Guruji gave his call, hundreds of men volunteered to marry female sex workers . And the men queing up included MBA’s and professionals apart from simple folks. It was an eye opener for us.

Likewise, a large number of families have also come forwards to adopt these women as their sisters or daughters. The Dera members pledging support to the cause of emancipation of our needy brethren now run into millions. There is no doubt in our minds that the curtain shall surely be drawn upon the miseries of our brothers and sisters amongst the so called High Risk groups. On the anvil is a comprehensive set of solutions to serve every conceivable need. Right from free schools for the children of female sex workers, to hospices for HIV positive ones; From vocational training centres for the able bodied transgenders to Hostels for intersex children; From mobile hospitals to full fledged health care solutions – the entire gamut of their needs is being looked at and shall be addressed in a phased manner. And the naysayers are always aplenty, to say the least. While there is no readymade recipe for success, a new beginning has certainly been made. Someone asked me rather skeptically, How can you even imagine that you could do something about the world’s oldest profession? My humble answer should not be misconstrued. On Guruji’s initiation, If Dera Sacha Sauda could become the largest single voluntary blood donor organization worldwide, it could not have happened without a vision that transcended ordinary minds. Guruji foresaw safe blood as the most important pre requisite to HIV prevention as well as addressing a dire human need. Everyone in Dera Sacha Sauda pledges an oath of morality not to engage in illicit sex, as a cardinal rule of initiation. Everyone who becomes a member shuns alcohol and all forms of intoxicants. There are cases on record who were addicted to 90 injection of opiates in a day and they could give up within one single day! If that be the power of prayer, why say no to prayers? And mind you, these are routine occurences in the Dera which are considered medically impossible, elsewhere. As a student in a leading medical school in India, I have seen my venerable professors who were touted as ‘de-addiction experts’ losing their personal battles to the bottle rather tamely! Therefore, spiritualism for me ranks much much higher than the teachings of self styled academic automatons. If we have people whose self confidence and self control are enhanced to a much higher degree than what science presumes is possible, Isn’t that the link that is sorely required in our battle against the deadly AIDS? Dera Sacha Sauda was the first to rebuild houses in Gujarat or Jammu and Kashmir after the massive earthquakes. It was the first agency that succeeded in getting the tribals of Udaipur to give up universal use of home brewed liquor and accept the more civilized norms of marriage that were previously unknown to them. Incidentally, this is also the largest single eye donor organization in India, today.

Nearly, the entire Indian Women’s Roller Skating Hockey team comes from Dera Sacha Sauda (which won the Asian Gold for the first time), so does half the Indian Women’s throwball team, which again won the Asian gold. The women’s yoga team of the country that won the top honours in the recently concluded World Cup in Europe belongs entirely to Dera Sacha Sauda. And there is a slew of Asian Golds in Judo, at the Junior level. If one Guru can do this as the coach, mentor and spiritual preceptor, then we must at least open our minds some what! Shah Satnam Ji Green S.Welfare Force Wing is an agency led by Guruji which is the premier drought and disaster relief organization in the country which has excelled in all theatres of human need. Well, coming back to HIV, our only humble request to all of you individuals, organizations or Media is that HIV prevention is a social need that concerns the future of this planet. And a cause that needs us to shed our skepticism aside and work unitedly. Can we hope that we shall be able to work unitedly to tackle this sceptre of misery and shame? Our only answer to those who say ‘It can’t be done’ is that ‘It hasn’t been tried? And to us all, these poor children of God who have bartered their bodies to fill their bellies are certainly incomparably more pious than our spineless politicians, who have simply sold their souls! Let us stop being armchair intellectuals and act NOW. Dr.Aditya Insaan [email protected]