We all are MAD here

During engineering we inherently learn to rely more on the logical side of the brain than the creative one and we learn to measure everything.

Length in meters.
Mass in kilo grams.
Heat in calories.

SI unit, Imperial units,  everything with a  definition. Everything explainable.

But there are certain things which cannot be measured,
Like Love (Cheesy), Pain, Hatred, Madness.
It is all relative.
If I ask my partner,  How much do you love me? And since having a baby, I do ask him that a lot, blaming it on hormones, but somehow in a day spent in nappies and feeding schedules, I keep needing the validation. The answer, if I get any is always the same and its always unmeasurable.  You just have to feel it. But it can be measured in grade point system-
If after my lappy goes kaput, I ask for a new one and I get it the very next day-A
If after my lappy goes kaput, I get new one without asking- A++
If I keep on asking and the answer is soon- B
If I keep asking and the counter question is, Do you really need one now? Its F.
My point is love here is measured on Demand vs Supply curve. If my demands are met, I have a wonderful partner, if not,  my partner has a demanding wife!!
That's how it works.

Lets talk about hatred, Can you really measure how much you hate someone?
And does "not loving" equalise hatred?
If I say I hate Poonam Pandey, does that even make sense? She doesn't affect me on a daily basis. So indifference should be the word. I am indifferent to her.
Hatred is such a strong emotion,  stronger than love,  and hence should be used sparingly. But it isn't measurable either. Comparatively, yes. 

Pain is relative too. What pained more, Root canal or Labour?  For me, both were spaced apart by some years hence the direct comparison scale was lost or foggy.
Root canal was followed by ice cream
Labour by my sweet Lil kid, so by that logic, relatively labour was less painful than root canal irrespective of the fact that root canal went for measurable 1.5 hours and labour was 12 hours.

Next is madness,  how do you decide how mad someone is?
The WHO has guidelines to classify mental disorders. The severity is also classified- measurable.
So anxiety,  depression,  post natal depression, OCD, phobias all are in one category.
Bipolar disorder,  schizoid , mania in another.
Schizophrenia,  ADHD in other.
And treatments are decided based on the severity.  So the psych decides if someone is able to move in society or needs medication and consultation.
But there are two sides to this classification.
In India,  psych consult for something like depression,  post natal depression  even bipolar disorder is taboo.  We have a strong family system and everyone from our aunt to cousin is a professional psychiatrist. So it is frowned upon. 

Why would one spend money on consulting when your mom is gonna tell you the same thing? 

And I defy this logic,  sometimes help is needed and at the right time. An educated,  modern , logical mind says- mental illness should be taken seriously and treated the same way as physical.

But then my Indian mind remembers my favourite character from "Alice in wonder land"; the CHESHIRE CAT. And the way it announces,  " We all are mad here".
I have a tee with that quote and I am really fighting myself to get that tattoo. How silly is that?  (Again immeasurable)

I know it sends the wrong message,  but we are all mad to certain degree,  relatively,  so why bother as long as you are in control and have a strong support system.
I also am reminded of a short story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez where in a spirited young girl takes a lift on highway from a mental institution bus which is transporting inhabitants and ends up being mistaken as one of them. Her partner comes to visit her and believes that something is indeed wrong with her.  It's perspective,  and like the cat said we all are mad here!
Irrespective of the taboo,  the fear, madness should be taken seriously. If anything makes you feel less than capable of being normal ( again immeasurable) help should be seeked. And if you feel you have a coping system, be it shopping ( what you can afford), running,  writing crappy blog posts, you are fine.
Bottom line- Life is not measurable and nothing is simple like the engineering units. everything comes with a pinch of salt. What we do know is life is finite and demands a unit system that simplifies things, that makes you get up in the morning with a smile and sleep without nightmares.  Not that you can do it everyday,  sometimes sh*t happens, but you deal with it, and measure it against the good days and as long as the balance is in the favour of good days- you're fine. 
Still don't feel fine- Remind yourself,  "we all are MAD here"

My fictional world

One of my all time favourite books, "Alice in Wonderland" and one of my favourite fictional chracters the Cheshire cat. I loved the madness and the grin. The cat is also famous for the logic and the conversations it has with Alice(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cheshire_Cat).
I personally like the "we all are mad here" quote. Its just a matter of perspective, is it not?
Another favourite character from the same author is Humpty Dumpty and his nonsensical talk with Alice in "through the looking glass". Especially when he remarks that, "When I choose to use a word, it means only what i choose it to mean, nothing more, nothing less." Kinda egotistical, but lovable.
Lewis Caroll made the two characters totally lovable and its silly but i like them better than Alice.
If i may say so, the cheshire cat is my idol and a fond remembrance to stay mad.
Whenever my sense of humor gets to the verge of exasperation I love to hear "you're mad" so that I can reply with "We all are mad here." I have a customised Tee ordered and to be delivered soon, which reads we all are mad here.
The characters are also a reminder to stay young at heart, in fact the book can cure one of any level of depression, trust me on this! I have a record of staying depressed for about 10/12.
Another era, another author, another genre. I am lately getting addicted to Nick Hornby. After watching "high fidelity" which i saw for John Cusack and "about a boy" which was for hugh grant, I finally discovered Hornby and he is one another person who makes one forget the woes of life. The words just flow like an conversation from his pen and i have finished all his fiction but i keep going back, especially to the opening paragraphs of High fidelity where the guy lists down his all time top five breakups. worth a read anytime!
Coming to the serious world, I had a serious crush on Howard Roark, he is too idealistic, but I love him for his ego and his belief in himself. and for the quotes, be it his conversation with his principal or the place where Toohey asks him what he thinks of him and  he replies with "But i dont think of you."  Then theres my favourite quote of the book, where he tells dominique to not get too attached to his work, I dont remember the exact words (and this write up is from memory so yeah am lazy and i refuse to pick the fountainhead up from the bedside even when right now am about an hand away from it) but Roark says something like" it effects me to a certain level, and then i feel nothing, and i am good till that something in me remains untouched. i cant feel too bad"(ok i ruined it). but i love the dialogue specially the something untouched part.

Next on the list has to be the "Wuthering Heights". I kinda struggled to finish it. The classics always put me to deep slumber but thats my new year resolution to finish off as many classics as i can which translates to a lot of sleep this year. Back to the heights, I loved the dark, deep, stormy connection between Catherine and Heathcliff. The quotes: When Heathcliff says that he wont have hurt Edgar though he hated him, but once Catherine's regard for Edgar ceased, he would have torn his heart and drunk his blood. grotesque!!

Blind Faith: though I hate the author (not because she is beautiful, sucessful and a published author, all the things that i aspire to be) but because she wrote blind faith which was good and she owes me 500 bucks coz i bought gin drinkers and its the most stupid book i ever read. but not blind faith. I loved it. It magnifies my fav character from Mahabharata "karna" but its not just tht, i was once compared to the main character in the book, indi, which made me read the book and i was an instant fan! she was the female Howard Roark. and definately not me.
This exhausts my list of fav fictional characters to whom i keep returning to, when reality gets too much to handle, the fictional world is the only escape.
Where are my sanity pills again??