Dear Ma-Pa................sorry................. I Quit.

Mahatma Gandhi had quoted, “If I had no sense of humour, I would long ago have committed suicide.” He had a more positive approach towards what he said. Even after being agonized and denigrated in South Africa as well as in colonial India, he had his wit and grit with him for good. He was a noble man after all out of his action and thought. However, the father of the nation did not at all influence the young blood, it seems. The young blood is getting squandered in the most despairing way. I am talking about nation’s grave situation due to the increasing suicidal attempts being made in our country’s youth. Shocking, Painful, yet true.

Wikipedia states that the suicide rate in India has been varying as in 2010 studies showed 187,000 suicidal cases while official data constituted of 134,000 of the same. The variation is of some thousands but that’s the mocking truth. World Health Organisation stated that India contributes on an average about 15% of suicidal cases in the world. Thousands of suicidal cases, which by the way include both: attempt to commit suicide as well as accomplished once, go unaccounted. Before getting into ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ let me put forth the usual meaning of a suicide know by all of us superficially. A Suicide means intentionally killing oneself. We are here not to discuss the meaning of suicide as I defined above, but rather a meaning that is latent in nature. Also another question arises on this note that, though from a petite burglary or theft to cases like rape, murder, increased heinous crimes, doping, female foeticide….India has it all, the whole package! Then why such a subject of suicide shall we point on?

“In India, attempted suicide is an offense punishable under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 309 reads thus:

Attempt to commit suicide.—whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both.”

So basically, I get convicted for the case of chain-pulling of a train similarly as I will be condemned for the case of attempting suicide!!.. That’s Incredible India, Isn’t it? It is much beyond scornfulness.

Two decades prior the main concentration of reasons of committing suicides swirled around subjects like: bipolar disorder, psychiatric illness, and financial problems, drifting off romantic relationships or a state of shock. However, recent cases of suicides mostly include young kids ending their lives due to accelerated competition, peer pressure, disinteresting job or study content and most prominently hopeless perversity. Being ambitious in life is great but ambition goes hand in hand with grit and courage.

Somehow I feel that a suicide is an easy way, like a short-cut to end. The dimensions of succeeding and failing have changed drastically. When struggle speeds up, rather than trying harder, one believes to quit. However, quitting means giving explanations and reasons of doing the same not to one’s own self but to the whole society and so the formula of quitting simply becomes:

Quitting = Suicide

It’s interesting to know that India isn’t leading in this particular area (as quite many others) however the rate at which it has amplified is notable. Studies also showed that mostly the youth that fall in the line of students are tormented ones by their seniors or peers in colleges and schools. They fight for their rights, they fail to command their peers and finally succumb to death by killing themselves. It is disheartening to look at such cases which we come across in the news channels at the rate of 2 cases in a day on an average.

The people who commit suicide are not totally hopeless people but they have given up their fight to survive. Some cases threw light upon different reasons of committing a suicide. It was surprising to know that most of the cases didn’t include anything extraordinary. It was about the small things that mattered. From anything like a sleazy comment or making a laughing stock of a person to a broken relationship or even bad grades in high school were, a matter of fact, actual reasons for the perverse surrender to death.

Shall I call it sheer foolishness? Does it matter to me at all? They all were never related to me though, why should I be bothered. That is precisely what people think about such cases. After reading it once from the newspapers and getting it out of our system by cursing their misfortune, we try to change this topic by sipping a cup of tea with fashion, business, and political magazines. But what if it did matter? Are we ready to handle a critically grave situation decently, without killing ourselves?

The question still remains the same. We are not throwing light on the root cause of the mammoth problem. We are either criticizing the situations or else moaning for the losses of others. Either of the ways we are not helping our society for any kind of betterment. The basic thing to understand about suicidal people is their mental state which is mistook as mental illness. People between the ages of 16 to 45 are the most suicidal to be found in our country. So this phenomena starts at a tender age which winds up a person into a cob-web of psychotic thoughts and later leads to destruction of self.

A person becomes suicidal not because he is belittled by others, but rather when that person disparages his own self. Our society is a scornful critic which gives the whole idea of suicide a magnificent blow. It is the responsibility of each person to think of themselves as being equal to others in all aspects. Unless a person doesn’t treat fair and well to one’s own self, nothing and no one in that person’s life can uplift him.

Concluding on this note, I would say that its quite easy to summarise a state of action but it is not only difficult but also delicate to summarise a state of mind or thought. I wish the current youth is elevated by their own ideas, are self-motivated and do not get bothered of the rat-race around them. Lastly everyone should remember a great saying from the very noble Aristotle,

“To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.” So be brave and stay with a healthy and happy state of mind for good. India will definitely blossom with its exultant citizens then!

- Ashi