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“A small price to pay for Salvation… Little One, it’s a simple Calculus. This universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction. I’m the only one who knows that. At least, I’m the only one with the will to act on it.” The idea of removing out a certain section of population was spurred by The Avengers antagonist Thanos, whose sole objective was to wipe out half of the universe’s population, based on the belief that our world was broken and needed corrections for cosmos. However, Thanos is not the first ‘Eugenicist’ for that matter.

Did Someone Say Eugenicist? Yes, With Avengers Endgame sprawling across as the highest blockbuster it promulgated back to the question of Eugenics and ethnic cleansing to a certain extent. The demarcations that are mostly talked about are through the lines of class consciousness and economic parameters but the racial superficiality that has been deep rooted into our minds, what about that?

Generally, referred to the Platonic idea of a modification of natural serving through selective breeding, eugenics aims at the improvement of humankind. Through the application of principles of selection to humans, this practice developed in 4th Century BCE in ancient Greek for the production of ‘Guardian Class’, those adjudged as unworthy by the Council of Gerousia were obliged to end their lives by drowning or other means. Modern Eugenics lends it’s foundations to Darwinian Theory of Evolution that was perceived accordingly by Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton who coined the term ‘eugenics’ in it’s first place. Early disciplinary discussions were more oriented with genetic determinism ‘the evolution of Eugenics’is controversial in itself.

1907 marks the establishment of The British Eugenics Education Society & it’s American Counterpart in 1921, but these education societies allegedly received support from the clergy and religious authorities. But as my political science professor says, ‘The Americans are foolish people’ and someone also puts rightly ‘even the god can’t trust the English in the dark’, the American administrator Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and their pro-eugenics stance seems deplorable. Hitler’s Germany post the second World War took inspiration from the American Eugenics to devise what we today know as Nazi Eugenics.

Nazi Eugenics was certainly one of it’s kind and depicts the practice in its worst form with Gas Chambers, Concentration Camps, Clinics like that of Hadamar, Genetic Health Courts and Nuremberg Laws, Hitler’s regime and adulation for Eugenics is substantial enough to testify why eugenics shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

The Eugenics that was adopted promulgated an elimination of people who were feeble-minded, epileptic, schizophrenic, manic-depressive, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, deaf, blind, homosexual, idle, insane, and the weak, for elimination from the chain of heredity. More than 400,000 people were sterilized against their will in Germany alone. The practice isn’t something different from genocide and disavows the very existence of these people, ridiculing the idea of Global Multiculturalism that stresses for acknowledging equal rights and opportunities for all the groups that exists is bizarre altogether.

The modern vibrance and multilinearity that encompasses in the present context is as essential as the connectivity that these strands engender together. Demarcation of any community, group, race or ethnicity is as heretic as murder of any kind. With current detest for specific communities reiterating, chances of recrudesce are at an all time high and must be checked for in these authoritarian regimes.

Faizan Salik

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Feature Image Credits: Wall Street Journal

 

I ran my first race at the tender age of five. I was in upper kindergarten (UKG) and my school was celebrating its Annual Sports Day. It was a ‘Banana Race’: one had to eat a banana at the initial line and then run 50m to the finish line.  Technically, I never even ran the race because the tubby little me, cared only for the free banana. So after eating the banana, satisfied and content, I just stood at the initial line.

That was ‘then’. Fourteen years later, fast forward to the present year, ‘now’. I participated in the Vizag Marathon and came first in the ‘Open Women’s Category’. I won a certificate, a gold medal and a cheque of Rs.10,000. Who could have ever thought that the ‘Banana Girl’ would grow up to become a ‘Champion Marathoner’?

Marathon1

The journey wasn’t easy, of course. And the transformation took it’s time. But I honestly feel that ‘running’ is a sport that can be embraced by anybody and everybody.  It comes naturally to human beings- it does not need to be taught, because it is innate and self- evident. Unlike golf, tennis and swimming, it does not require a special environment (course, court and pool, respectively). It also does not need expensive equipment- just shoes, comfortable clothing and a steely will.

If you’ve ever felt like breaking the pattern of your sedentary lifestyle, doing something healthy and becoming active, then I urge you to take up running. You can start small- maybe walk, then take it up a level and jog and then go on to full-fledged running.  But, you must find that determination and START!

Once you start, you can follow these steps and soon, you’ll be running long distances like a pro. You can then challenge yourself and participate in marathons. And who knows, maybe even win them!

STEP 1: START AND REMAIN MOTIVATED
‘Running’, like all other sports, requires commitment.  Once you start training yourself, you need to muster up all your perseverance and keep at it. You’re not going to turn into a runner in a day, week or month. Accept that and don’t give up. Monitor your progress and stick to your regime. You’ll get your results over time. But when you do, you’ll look back and realise it was all worth the wait and persistent effort.

STEP 2: EAT HEALTHY
You can fasten your journey by embracing healthy eating habits. The deadly cocktail of diet and fitness guarantee long-term benefits.  When you eat nutritious food, your internal health improves.  This gives a boost to your stamina and energy levels, enhancing your performance. So, chuck the fries and soda. Grab an apple and watch your overall fitness levels skyrocket to unimaginable heights!

STEP 3: CHALLENGE YOURSELF
When you feel you’ve achieved your goal of running 500m without panting, crank it up a notch and try doing the same for 1 km. And then 2,3 and 4kms. Don’t follow stagnated  goals. It is very important to keep moving forward. So you need to review your goals, increase speed, increase distance and then ensure that you’re meeting these goals within the given time frame. Remember, the key is to keep moving!


STEP 4: CHANGE THE SCENE
Your journey of transformation asks for your ‘patience’. Keep yourself going by changing your environment every now and then. If you’ve been running on your college tracks for over 6 months, try going to a park and practicing there. Or try a treadmill at the gym. Update your running playlist. Run with a friend. Jazz up the scene and make running fun! If you succeed in doing so, you’ll never have to come up with excuses to bunk training. 

STEP 5: GET REST AND SLEEP WELL
Over-training can derail all your sincere efforts.  Over-training can lead to muscle break-down, aches and serious fatigue. So if you over-train for a week and then need a week to recuperate from the damage, you’ve done yourself a huge disservice. It’s advisable to train only 5-6 days a week and keep at least 1 day of rest, when you let your body replenish prepare itself for next week’s training. Don’t let ambition blind you to the fact that you’re working with a human body, not a machine.

Now is the perfect time to add ‘running’ to your Resolution List. So get ready to get fit in 2016! Here’s to a ‘Healthy’ 2016! Hip, hip, HURRAY!

Image Credits: Kriti Sharma

Kriti Sharma
[email protected]