Let me say at the outset that I had nothing to do with Arshad Nadeem winning a gold medal in javelin at the Paris Olympics. To my shame, I have to say that I had nothing to do with the defeat of his rival from India, the silver medallist and Subedar Major of the Indian Army. That would evoke mixed feelings. A Pakistani beat an Indian. Yay! A civilian beat a military man. Hmmm.

After the defeat of a serving Subedar Major of the Indian Army, there must have been demands for Chopra’s demotion. Had Arshad been in the Pakistan Army, he would have been arrested as a soldier.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan, a slightly more prestigious figure has been arrested: a retired lieutenant general. If he is convicted, I would suggest that a thorough investigation be carried out into how Faiz Hameed was drafted into the army in the first place. In other words, the ISSB psychologists in question should be brought to justice. They are now retired and there is no guarantee that they are still alive, but the kind of crimes they are accused of would only be committed by people who should have been discovered through the selection process, not to mention the promotion process.

Is the selection process flawed? Or was it misconducted by some misguided psychologists? Whatever the case, one Faiz Hameed should suffice. And if the matter is not properly sorted out, we may be doomed to a repeat of the May 9 incidents. And this time, the Indian Subedar Major may win.

Speaking of Subedar Majors, Chopra is not yet 30. Unless he gets another blemish and loses to that Pakistani civilian, he should be a Captain or maybe even a Major when he retires. Otherwise, he could end up as the highest ranking Subedar Major in the Indian Army.

This is probably not what will drive him to suicide. A child in Muzaffargarh committed suicide instead of practising javelin or shot put. He had not done very well in his 9th grade final examination, the first part of the final exam. Apparently his chances of getting into the college of his choice were gone. In fact, he had failed mathematics, which is not too difficult.

As a farmer’s child, there was weed killer lying around that he drank. In the good old days, you tied a noose around a fan and then around your neck. Or you took copper sulfate. That was a pesticide, which meant it was lying around the houses, even the houses that didn’t live on farms.

One of the reasons for suicide has not yet reached us, although it is increasing in the West. It seems that with some diseases, one can be kept alive even if one is in great agony. So one commits suicide. Not only has medicine not yet reached this area, one must also remember that sometimes people have to be forcibly evicted from government housing even though they have already retired some time ago. So there are not many people who would be willing to leave this world just because of the pain.

Here suicide follows traditional patterns and failure is the main reason. And even that shows a correlation. First comes failure in exams, as in the case of our young lad from Muzaffargarh. Now one has to pass exams so that he can get a good job and thus marry the princess of his dreams. If not, then failure in love is the next reason for suicide.

And if you avoid that and settle for marrying a girl whose parents don’t mind the low-paying job you got because of your exam failure, you could succumb to economic failure. That’s why there is a wave of suicides around Eid when people find they can’t afford new clothes for their children.

Perhaps the last suicide could have been avoided if the person had approached the exams sensibly the first time he failed. And remember, failing does not mean failure. It can mean not getting enough marks. Ask Subedar Major Neeraj Chopra. It’s not that he can’t throw a javelin. It’s that he can’t throw it far enough. Ask Lt Gen (retired) FaIz Hameed. He didn’t make it any further up the ranks, did he? Although he wanted to.