Shocking and Unbelievable - indian women on hunger strike for 10 years w/o food and water

A women in India was nominated for noble peace prize, because she has been protesting against a draconian law in 1 of the most neglected states of India. High profile people from queen Elizabeth to tony Blair have written letters to her.

I cannot imagine how someone can survive without food and water for 10 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irom_Chanu_Sharmila

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2…

What are your views about it? She started a hunger strike at 28 years old and now she is 38 years old. She says the pain is unbearable and have requested mercy death or to revoke the draconian law by Indian Govt. where in one state (the most neglected state in India) the army personnel can shoot anybody just on the suspicion of being a Maoists/separatists/terrorist. Also every year she goes to jail for 4 months , since past 10 years, because such a long hunger strike is like a suicide attempt and there is a punishment for that. Doctors have forced some liquid through her nose but still no food no water for 10 years. My heart feels sorry for her.

Doctors say that even after forcefully feeding some fluids through her nose but nothing has gone down her throat since past 10 years. She cannot survive much longer , according to her doctor.

10 years ago her family was shot by Indian army due to suspicion of being separatists, but later it was found that her family was just poor helpless souls, who have never violated any law.

We should all take inspiration from her about self control, resiliency and persistence. Any thing is possible, if we are ready to make sacrifices.

 
GreenwichForLife:
Isn't it biologically impossible to survive without water for more than 10 days or so?

No there have been many fasts for around 15 days.

But 10 years , doctors forcing some liquid through nose . Even doctors say it is beyond science , it is the power of determination. Just Google her name. Queen Elizabeth regularly writes letters to her explaining how sorry she feels for her and how helpless she feels because she is not able to help the cause.

This is the power of determination which can probably beat science.

 
financialmanagement786:
blackrainn:
Sounds like she is being forcibly fed....

That's pretty incredible, puts things in perspective.

Some kind of pipe has been shoved in her nose which provides some kind of liquid. But nothing has gone down her throat since past 10 years.

was pretty confused when I read the title, but this clears things up.

Damn that's pretty incredible. Imagine how much we can accomplish if we had determination like her. God damn I'm so lazy...

 

Reminds me of Bateman: "You can always be thinner, more beautiful."

Good willpower though. Longest I've gone without eating food was 3 years. Very impressive.

“...all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” - Schopenhauer
 

I'm not sure what to think here. I mean I am incredibly impressed that someone is so driven by their principles and beliefs to go to such extremes, but at the same time I feel its... (well, not sure what word I want to use here... foolhardy? naive?) to challenge a regime that doesn't give a flying f'k about its people and their world keeps turning whether you're alive, or die from malnutrition.

I think if there aren't people like her in the world to challenge the status quo and take on self-sacrifice for the better good, we wouldn't have advanced in our social practices or way of thinking the way we have. But perhaps there are other ways without inflicting personal harm. Humans aren't built to survive years without food AND water, let alone 10. I think her dedication in another form while being alive would be more fruitful than if she died prematurely because of this...

 

I agree with you.

But her voice has been heard all around the world and even the Indian PM has said that they are working on it and may soon change the law, but it is not in his hands. The majority of the parliament still does not give a shit.

Also she is uneducated, never been to school - she does not know what else to do.

She says she is the follower of Gandhi and practices non-violent peaceful civil disobedience protests.

I live at 2 hr flying distance from her and may just pay her a visit. Want to see gain more insight about such a level of determination and hopefully talk to her.

 

Gandhi was an idiot. The only reason he got away with the shit he did was because of the weakness of the Brits in their enforcement.

He never would have mattered in a society where things are TRULY fucked up, like Nazi germany or Iran or N. Korea.

And is it just me, or are there way too many Gandhi impersonators out there? Plus, this woman CLEARLY hasn't been on a hunger strike for ten years. I heard about a guy who fasted to death. His name was Thileepan. Died in 11 days.

“...all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” - Schopenhauer
 
seabird:
Gandhi was an idiot. The only reason he got away with the shit he did was because of the weakness of the Brits in their enforcement.

He never would have mattered in a society where things are TRULY fucked up, like Nazi germany or Iran or N. Korea.

And is it just me, or are there way too many Gandhi impersonators out there? Plus, this woman CLEARLY hasn't been on a hunger strike for ten years. I heard about a guy who fasted to death. His name was Thileepan. Died in 11 days.

Some one who had led and inspired 100s of millions of people into freedom has definitely some leadership which you and me don't have. Calling Gandhi an idiot is just your ignorance. What works at one place may not work at another place but does change anything. He studied law and politics from UCL receiving 1 st class degree on 100% scholarship at the 17. Nelson Mandela says that he is a follower of Gandhi and his leadership style is copied from Gandhi.

About the legitimacy of the ten year long hunger strike check out the articles by BBC, CNN and Wikipedia as under. Do you think all of these organizations and many more are just lying? And everyday all news channels on India TV are just lying too ? And Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair are lying too? Also a documentary by BBC has been released called "The silent War" is that also lying? Definitely watch that documentary by BBC, I am sending the link.

wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irom_Chanu_Sharmila

bbc http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2011/03/110301_doc_the_…

cnn http://ibnlive.in.com/news/irom-sharmilas-silent-resilience-ignored/158…

Queen Elizabeth http://kanglaonline.com/2010/11/irom-chanu-sharmilafacts-and-fate/

You are probably a conspiracy theory believer who does NOT believe BBC ,CNN , Wiki and other authentic news channels.

 

It is physically impossible to consume no calories and live for 10 years.

With that being said, how this woman cannot win a peace prize, but Obama gets one is beyond me. Just shows how worthless the Prize has become.

 
ANT:
It is physically impossible to consume no calories and live for 10 years.

With that being said, how this woman cannot win a peace prize, but Obama gets one is beyond me. Just shows how worthless the Prize has become.

Yeah I agree Obama has done nothing yet to win the noble peace prize.

Also the Indian Govt. by the fear of mass uprising if she dies, have made doctors shove a pipe in her nose forcefully which feeds her some kind of medicinal calories which keeps her alive. But she has NOt swallowed anything in past 10 years.

 
Best Response
financialmanagement786:
ANT:
It is physically impossible to consume no calories and live for 10 years.

With that being said, how this woman cannot win a peace prize, but Obama gets one is beyond me. Just shows how worthless the Prize has become.

Yeah I agree Obama has done nothing yet to win the noble peace prize.

Also the Indian Govt. by the fear of mass uprising if she dies, have made doctors shove a pipe in her nose forcefully which feeds her some kind of medicinal calories which keeps her alive. But she has NOt swallowed anything in past 10 years.

What the fuck is with these nasty nasal tube pictures...I'm trying to eat my lunch!!!!

Haha, j/k. What she is doing is admirable, but I don't think I can say it's smart or efficient nor, thus far, effective.

At any rate, this is a peculiar case because while she is technically on a hunger strike...she is being feed...so saying she hasn't eaten in 10 years is a bit deceiving. If we were going by the amount of time not having swallowed anything...I think the winner is clear...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Esposito

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

Ghandi was powerful because the British tolerated it. hitler would of shot him and moved on. I think that's the point being made above. The British empire was declining anyway and a pull back made sense.

 
ANT:
Ghandi was powerful because the British tolerated it. hitler would of shot him and moved on. I think that's the point being made above. The British empire was declining anyway and a pull back made sense.

I agree with here, every situation demands a different set of tactics, there is NO single solution for all situations.but you cannot discount the amount of work Gandhi has done by saying that. Maybe if Gandhi were born in Hitler regime, he would have done things differently. He was a highly educated scholar he studied the system for years before devising a plan.

I am NOT a Gandhi follower, but I certainly respect him for his leadership skills and certainly dont thing that he was just another idiot. He is the father of Indian Nation of 1.2 Billion people after all, he would have had some skills. Not saying that he was superman or batman but neither I think that he was a complete idiot.

I will try to explain that with a parallel example

We cannot say that Warren Buffet is an idiot, because if he had done the same thing in a Socialistic economy it would NOT have worked.

Also why was British Empire declining? Because of Gandhi of thousands of individual movement Gandhi led India people strategically to weaken the govenment.

 

FM: This is where we can get in to tricky territory, I think. Ghandi and Buffett, to the best of my knowledge, have solely said that they favor certain strategies. They may have been lying, but if we assume that they were telling the truth, then they would potentially hold those strategies to be true in every circumstance. Is that not your understanding?

I don't know what pushes the Indians buttons. Is it a woman that claims to not eat for ten years? Maybe, millions of baby girls over there have been aborted based off of astrological phenomenon. So they are definitely a superstitious society prone to putting their symbolic beliefs to the real world.

And we gotta assume this chick isn't the only one who feels the way she does, so shes probably hitting a nerve in a lot of indians. However, we have not heard these people SAY they would act differently under different circumstances.

What I keep thinking back to is someone on this forum who said, referencing trading strategies, that people shouldn't admire people like Buffett for their specific strategies - they should be admired for the returns they get.

Also, the reason for the decline of the British empire was not Indians protesting peacefully. Whered you get that idea?

“...all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” - Schopenhauer
 
seabird:
FM: This is where we can get in to tricky territory, I think. Ghandi and Buffett, to the best of my knowledge, have solely said that they favor certain strategies. They may have been lying, but if we assume that they were telling the truth, then they would potentially hold those strategies to be true in every circumstance. Is that not your understanding?

I don't know what pushes the Indians buttons. Is it a woman that claims to not eat for ten years? Maybe, millions of baby girls over there have been aborted based off of astrological phenomenon. So they are definitely a superstitious society prone to putting their symbolic beliefs to the real world.

And we gotta assume this chick isn't the only one who feels the way she does, so shes probably hitting a nerve in a lot of indians. However, we have not heard these people SAY they would act differently under different circumstances.

What I keep thinking back to is someone on this forum who said, referencing trading strategies, that people shouldn't admire people like Buffett for their specific strategies - they should be admired for the returns they get.

Also, the reason for the decline of the British empire was not Indians protesting peacefully. Whered you get that idea?

IMHO and I truly believe that "success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"

I am NOT praising their inspiration(tactics, vision, style), what I am praising is their perspiration (effort, hard work, determination and discipline) which matters much more than inspiration.

 

To the people questioning her 10 year hunger strike, I have absolutely no knowledge of this lady. What I can say is that there are product that deliver protein, lipids, aminco acids, etc... through liquid. I am sure she is not just receiving water through her nose, there is a very real science behind this. When you hear of people being in coma's for months or years, these are typically the products keeping them alive. It very easy for a doctor to feed a patient X calories per day with A% lipid, B% proteint and C% Amino acids.

This doesn't mean the lady isn't going through hell (I'm sure she is), just that the story could be possible.

In all honesty, I've wondered if I could improve my diet by only supplementing myself through these liquids one day a week instead of eating all this delicious, fatty food I eat.

twitter: @CorpFin_Guy
 

Out of curiousity, what do you think of the saying, work smarter not harder?

“...all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” - Schopenhauer
 
seabird:
Out of curiousity, what do you think of the saying, work smarter not harder?

I think these kind of people can definitely do well for themselves but less likely to be a pioneer in their chosen field or less likely to make a significant impact on the quality of lives of masses or solve world problems like Mother Teresa, Gandhi or Buffet (philanthropic)

I think the ideal combination would be to" work hard and work smart". Also if one truly enjoys what one does he will more likely worker harder automatically.

But just my 2 cents and I am no genius.

 
financialmanagement786:
seabird:
Out of curiousity, what do you think of the saying, work smarter not harder?

I think these kind of people can definitely do well for themselves but less likely to be a pioneer in their chosen field or less likely to make a significant impact on the quality of lives of masses or solve world problems like Mother Teresa, Gandhi or Buffet (philanthropic)

I think the ideal combination would be to" work hard and work smart". Also if one truly enjoys what one does he will more likely worker harder automatically.

But just my 2 cents and I am no genius.

I see your point but completely disagree. A TON of the people who have been pioneers in various industries were so successful precisely BECAUSE they worked smarter, developed more efficient ways of doing things than the status quo etc. Sure, they busted their balls on top of that but smarter over harder was the genesis.
If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

For those that are interested, the tube in her nose is called a nasogastric intubation tube or NG tube for short. It basically forces a VERY high calorie liquid into her stomach (Imagine an Ensure shake) so, while she's not eating, she's probably rollin with a relatively high caloric intake.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

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