We all read L’ express which has the motto: Sur, Fiable et Precis. Lexpress.mu, the redesigned website has some elements of Web 2.0. This is encouraging! I follow http://twitter.com/lexpressmu for real-time news update.

Hats off to the nice Digital Photography work. Below are some of my favourite pics from the website:

I love the Music of these guys, as well as of Eric Triton

Ahhh...the world cup..if only I could had the chance to lift it and shout: We (L'equipe d'Italy) are the Champions!!

eihhh...beaute fatale - Miss Mauritius 2009

This event was instantly made online via Web 2.0

Toyota

and you, what are your favourite pics?

Finally the Rukmini Dwarka Dwesh Mandir is opening in Mauritius’ largest village Triolet! The Grand Opening Ceremony is scheduled as from 23 Nov till 29 Nov. There will be Bhagwad Katha everyday from 18:00 to 20:00 and Abhishek on 29 Nov.

This is the last time that we are having our usual ceremony in the small mandir. The latter was jam-packed today and believe me, the devotional level was at the highest. All devotees are happy for the Grand New Opening of Dwarka Dwesh Mandir…The first mandir in the world being located in Los Angeles and now the second one being opened in Mauritius, paradise island.

What surprised me is that there will be a “Raj Bhog” consisting of 1008 dishes! Wow Need to have a strong stomach for this… In the pic below is our new location for Mahaprasad, in the Open Air…

After Maheswarnath Mandir (The largest Shivalaye in Mauritius and the biggest one in Mauritius), here we are, Triolet is blessed with another one.

Here is the link for the location of the Mandir (Ahh, Google has not bought satellite images yet, hence the temple won’t be visible on the land)

Jai Shree Krishna!

National Day Celebrations 2009 at Champ de Mars

Some Anecdotes:

Hobbies and Interest (In a CV)

I like to enjoy doing X, Y, Z which forms part of the Mauritian Culture…

Another One:

In the HRM class, when starting the new chapter on Corporate Culture:

What is Mauritian Culture?
And then we have different answers from students:

• eating dhollpuri
• being lazy at work (not willing to work on sunday for eg.)
• being courteous
• enjoying Mauritian Sega
• having a preference for Mine Appollo, Achard, Cheddar Cheese and Tropical Fruits
• without forgetting the typical Mauritian Cuisine: Du riz blanc, rougaille, bouillon, brede and sachini pomme de terre
• having long queues at public utilities for bill payments since we don’t have computerised systems
• slow internet connection
• sending mauritian gifts on Facebook
• sharing tips when Telecommunication companies put promotions (Emtel/ Orange)
• la mer, beautiful fun
• freedom of speech in Mauritius
• Mauritians – kozer ki boukoup, agir moins
• Chauffeur Mauriciens
• solidaritE Mauriciens (no need to take rendez-vous before going at your relatives place) -
• Mauritianism – Jeux des Iles 1984 for eg.
• Kreol Maurisien
• Mauricien kone ” Tracer”
• Mauricien “bater bis”
• ban dialogues mauriciens ” ki position my army, eye husband Good, Big Weight”

Here is a blog post of mine on Culture whilst doing the Sociology module. From Wikipedia’s page of Culture of Mauritius, we can read:

Mauritian Literature:

While Kreol Morisyen (Mauritian Creole) is the most spoken language on in Mauritius, most of the literature is written in French, although many authors write in English, Bhojpuri, and Morisyen (Mauritian Creole), and others such as Abhimanyu Unnuth in Hindi. Mauritius’s renowned playwright Dev Virahsawmy writes exclusively in Morisyen.

Important authors include Malcolm de Chazal, Ananda Devi, Raymond Chasle, Loys Masson, Marcel Cabon, and Edouard Maunick.^{[citation needed]} Lindsey Collen has been able to carve out a meeting of imaginaries in the unique social setup of this multi-faceted country. Other younger writers like Shenaz Patel, Amal Sewtohul, Natacha Appanah, Alain Gordon-Gentil and Carl de Souza explore the issues of ethnicity, superstition and politics in the novel. Poet and critic Khal Torabully has put forward the concept of “coolitude,” a poetics that results from the blend of Indian and Mauritian cultural diversity. Other poets include Hassam Wachill, Edouard Maunick, Sedley Assone, Yusuf Kadel and Umar Timol.

The island plays host to the covetable Le Prince Maurice Prize, a literary award celebrating and recognizing ‘writers of the heart’. The award is designed to highlight the literary love story in all its forms rather than for pure Romantic Fiction. In keeping with the island’s literary culture the prize alternates on a yearly basis between English-speaking and French-speaking writers.

I have sometimes blogged on Mauritian Theatre, the web content which is a bit scarce.

Finally another anecdote:

Whilst at University, a classmate friend of mine asked:

“Are you Proud to be a Mauritian?”

For me, it was a stupid question on behalf of a Mauritian friend. I wonder if he has grown up singing the National Anthem whilst he was at Primary School!

Please view the below video:

something must strike into your mind – What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

According to Wikipedia,

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris). The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the “Most Translated Document”^[1] in the world. The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws

The issues are:

1. Guantanamo Bay. (Article 5 of the declaration: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”)

Amnesty Protest in Nottingham City Centre

2. Wal-martisation of Women’s Jobs

(Article 23, para. 2: “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.”)

3. The case of Education in Mauritius

(Article 26: (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.)

To conclude, I would strongly advise all Mauritians to read Chapter II – Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedom of the Individual, found in our Constitution.

Thank you for taking your time to read your fundamental rights as a Citizen of Mauritius

An update: To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Harvard Law School Professor Martha Minow co-chaired a conference at HLS, “Hope, Critique, and Possibility: Universal Rights in Societies of Difference.” View the slideshow by clicking here. An interesting video:

It was a fine university day. The birds were chirping and purple flowers blossoming. Until, our dear beloved and respected class rep. who is always devoted to her work (Nunds) gave me the golden opportunity to photocopy HRM notes on culture. One fine day, I sat down and I read it – because I do read sometimes, though very rarely: Chapter 3: Managing Culture by Stephen Linstead, under the section, The Origins of Organisational Culture, last 3 lines in paragraph 3 and I quote:

“A good film to watch, which relates to negotiated order, power and culture is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1973) starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Milos Forman”

Given the vivid effects of better understanding HRM (in some way) after watching Office Space. I decided to take advantage of the broadband connection and download the movie from the information super highway. I sat down and with the dolby Headphone enjoyed the 5 Oscar Winning film. It was a fantastic film. Amazing performance by Jack Nicholson. Great screenplay. as well as being entertaining, great way of understanding concepts in Sociology and well as Psychology. Ref: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073486/

Ref: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Sociological Analysis

The movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is based on the experience of a criminal that elected to move to a mental institution to avoid serving his time at a prison work camp.

The criminal, Randall P. McMurphy, or McMurphy, as the other inmates call him, was under the impression that his sentence would be converted to the amount of time he would need to spend in the institution. What he did not realize was that once he was admitted to the institution, he would not be released until the medical staff felt he was safe for society.

McMurphy goes about living in the institution, and creates a society among several of the patients, which has a large impact on the structure of the institution. His relationships with the other patients in the ward develops into a society where thoughts and opinions grow and interfere with the flow of the institution’s rules and regulations, and friction is made between the authorities and the patients.

McMurphy strives to overcome the head nurse, Nurse Ratchet, and finds himself understanding the mentalities of the others in the ward.

Insanity

This movie’s theme is about insanity and how people on “the other side” of the wall view the term “insanity”.

Society

The term “society” is defined as a group of people that share a culture and common identity. This society is present when McMurphy is admitted to the institution, but he changes it by developing relationships with the other patients. This can be described as social influence. Social influence is where other people have an impact on and change the thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors of others.
When McMurphy first arrives at the institution, the other patients follow a structure in the institution where interactions with others are limited. Many of the patients are withdrawn from others, and only follow the daily “routine” assigned to them. This is a society of order and regulations, and the members of this society have a culture and common identity of being “insane” and in the institution for medical treatment.

Role Conflict

McMurphy changes this society by influencing the other patients. During his time in the ward, McMurphy develops relationships with the other patients and teaches them to interact with one another more completely. He also how to work towards what they wanted with both their accommodations in the hospital, as well as their personal goals for themselves and their success with their treatment.

While he is doing this, Nurse Ratchet becomes enraged at his attempt to change the system she strongly encourages and abides by. There is an unspoken feud between the two, and there is a role conflict between them as well. The role conflict is between the power of the authority, and the obedience of the patient.

Since McMurphy is expressing his desire for change, he other patients follow his lead and also demand their own desires. Nurse Ratchet begins losing her authority over the patients and McMurphy gains influence over the patients.

Group Power

The patients, led by McMurphy, form a group. This group interacts with one another, and recognizes their identity through their involvement with each other. Since there is only a group of patients in the entire ward that really interact with one another, this group becomes a primary group. These are the select patients that grow close with each other and possess common thoughts and desires.

There are specific norms in the institution that are expected to be followed by the patients, as well as the employees of the ward. McMurphy and eventually, the other inmates constantly violate these norms.

For instance, McMurphy bribes a security guard to allow his female friends into the ward with alcohol, and the patients have a party during their sleeping time. No visitors are allowed, and certainly no alcohol, but the patients enjoy themselves and disregard that they are violating a norm of the institution.

Culture

Non-material culture is present both inside and outside of the institution. The patients outside of the institution violated the aspects of non-material culture involving appropriate behaviors and patterns of interaction. This is why they are living in the institution- they violated these norms of behavior and interaction. Some of the patients were voluntary, but they felt that they were inconsistent with the interactions with others in their personal lives. Others, like McMurphy, were seen as dangerous or unhealthy to society, and their interactions or behaviors were inappropriate when compared with the non-material culture of their society.

Punishment

Due to the violated norms and inappropriate interactions of these patients, sanctions were the responses from the rest of society and also the medical staff of the institution. For instance, since the patients in the hospital were seen as unsafe to society, others sanctioned them by being placed in the institution. Also, when McMurphy violates the norms of the institution by rioting with the other patients, and he attacks a hospital orderly, he is given shock treatment to control his emotions and behavior. This sanction was a medical treatment that was deemed necessary by the hospital staff because they felt that McMurphy, as well as two other patients, were out of control and insubordinate to the norms of the institution.

Medicalization

Each of the inmates in the institution are prescribed and administered medications by the hospital staff to control their illnesses. In fact, there is one scene that emphasizes “medication time”, and each of the patients must take their prescribed medication in view of the head nurse. McMurphy questions the contents of his medicine, and is refused any information, even though it is his body the medicine is entering. This is a perfect example of medicalization, for these patients do not have a choice of whether they feel medicine is necessary for their treatment. The doctors make that decision for each patient based on their opinions and “expertise”. Many of these opinions are based on the ideals of absolutism, where the doctors determine what is either absolutely right or wrong in the patient’s behavior, and when it is wrong, what medical treatments are necessary for them.
When the patient’s do something that is considered wrong, it is defined as deviance. The patient’s deviance is determined by whether or not their action, idea, or attribute is offensive, immoral, or strange to society. For example, McMurphy was originally sentenced to a work camp, the crime he committed was statutory rape, which is considered immoral to society.

The expectations of these patients are to behave, think, and interact in accordance with society’s ideals. Because the patients stray from these expectations, their actions are considered violations. The reaction to these violations is first, the admittance to the institution, and after that, medicalization of the deviants once they have entered the institution.

Groupthink

Groupthink is present in the society of the patients, because at one instance, McMurphy pressures the others into voting with him for a decision that is made by the entire ward. This creates a unanimous vote among the primary group, and causes a patient outside of the group to vote by his own rationalizations. Groupthink is defined as just that- the process where pressures to achieve a unanimous decision influence and overwhelm other ability to decide for themselves.

Society Structure

This institution has the structure of a bureaucracy. Although this is not a place of employment for the patients, there are a set of rules and expectations that the patients are expected to follow, and the doctors and staff rule the institution. There is also a division of labor present among the staff, for certain employees have specific guidelines and defined duties for them to complete and work by. And there is also a hierarchy of authority in the institution, for certain professionals are deemed more important and therefore have more power and authority over the other employees. For example, the head nurse has more authority than the orderlies do, and the doctors have more authority than the head nurse does.

Social reconstruction

The patients, against some of the regulations of the institution, take collective action. The patients begin to violate the rules, and also voice their frustrations involving the policies they feel are wrong or unnecessary. At group meetings, which are supervised and instructed by Nurse Ratchet, the patients not only ask for change to fulfill their wants and needs, but they demand them as well. The patients also show their demand for change by violating the rules one evening, and having a large party after McMurphy bribes a security guard. The ideology of the patients is that of the want for mental freedom and also more changes they feel are necessary.

After the patients take their collective action against the authority of Nurse Ratchet and the institution’s policies and regulations, there is a collapse in the order of the ward.

In order for the staff of the hospital to regain control after the party the patients held, strict sanctions are administered to some of the patients, and McMurphy receives a frontal lobotomy as a “treatment” for his unwillingness to cooperate and abide by the rules and norms.

a video on Lobotomy:

Conclusion

After analyzing this movie, I now have a deeper understanding of many sociological concepts, and also of mental institutions and the lives and mentalities of the patients in them. I am very pleased that I chose this film, for it provided me with a lot to think about, and it gave me a chance to see a more in depth look about “insanity” and the way it is perceived by society. Although this movie was originally made for entertainment purposes, I think that it is a key factor in the learning and understanding of sociology and also psychology. I also think that it would provide a better understanding to all of us that remain on the “sane” side of the wall.

Here is the Novel eBook by Ken Kissey.