Shawshank or NLS?

"These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized."

I just watched the Shawshank redemption and couldn help but draw many parallels between "life" in NLS and life in Shawshank prison as portrayed by the movie. Dont read ahead if u haven seen the movie as ul be spoiling for urself a hell of a story. Its a brilliant movie that is not only fast moving and gripping, but also appeals to ur heart. I reached the conclusion that NLS is the mental incarceration equivalent of the physical equivalent in Shawshank. Since its mental, its far worse and takes around 1/10th the time to actually operate.

Starting right from the beginning, most of us did not CHOOSE to come here. We came here by chance. We just happened to write a good paper on that fateful day. We also happened to get through the interview without laughing or jeering at the people on the other end of the table. For these two "acts", we've been sentenced to two terms back to back. BA and LLB. We are now mwntally incarcerated as we cannot leave. Either due to external forces such as parents or due to internal forces making u realise u couldn live with urself if u left.

Right at the beginning, by the harsh treatments of those inmates already here, some people had to leave. They were so badly beaten (mentally - positive interaction) that nothing could save them. The earlier inmates take bets and see how they can make the fresh ones cry. Most importantly, the entire prison has people smoking throughout and cigarettes form the vein of the barter system. Something all of us should have already seen.

Upon entering, some people are silent and take a long time to open up to the inmates. You finally meet the dark man "who can get things" or in this case, the dark man "who bought you things". U end up becoming friends with such people, a bond that grows stonger over time. In the first few months, we are under a lot of pressure and lots of people find it difficult to adjust. There will be instances of mental sodomy by various gangs of inmates that u work hard to avoid, but put up a fight if u end up getting caught. The former knowledge and the fact that u are good with numbers helps u gain friends among the inmates. We make "friends" with the SDGM and they do the vigilante work of keeping away the evil sodomisers. Fines are levied and upon permanent damage to the wallet, the brutal attacks stop. The SDGM is clearly protecting us now.

Very soon we are called to forcibly work outside as interns to help "better" law students and give them a look at the outside world. We end up backing various scams (like classes for instance - barring constitutional law of course) and covering for them. We realise that the honest people we were (at least most of us and to a certain extent) turns completely inside out here and most of us tend to take the easy way out. While succumbing to the various vices, we see that most people lose hope of ever leaving. When they finally have to leave (after their term), they have nowhere to go and quite a few people decide to stay on ("Remnants"). They do anything it takes to stay back as they have been "institutionalised". Those few who actually make it out, dont know what to do and end up missing their time in the law school. It finally culminates in some dead end desk job in a firm and thereby mentally they commit suicide as there would remain no more intellectual stimulation.

Some of the new people who enter, are helped by us to cope and to learn. When they finally are forced to leave or are removed by circumstances, we feel the truth of the entire situation and the way one lives life being mentally incarcerated. We're sent back to mental seclusion. Solitary confinement with no idea what to do. When one finally emerges from the solitary state, and tends to open up, people all around seem to think uve lost it and when u ask for a rope (or go on to the terrace), there is only one assumption made. That the breaking point has been reached.

The end is something that is yet to happen. One thing is for sure. Hope is very important. We must all remember that we will not be here FOREVER. Maybe a long time, but NOT forever. Outside lies a better world. A world where we can actually feel free and liberated. Away from the faculty and the SDGM, all the scams and seclusion. HOPE. Most of the time, its ALL we have in such a place. Sometimes i feel hope is hidden right behind the meaning of the word itself. We just need to find OUR ray of hope to escape from the seclusion and depression that permeates the air.