Tuesday 2 August 2016

Book: The Story of a Suicide

“Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it ever getting any better.” 
An act where a person kills himself intentionally is how the dictionaries define the word 'Suicide'. But in reality this word has got a very deeper meaning which relates to that person's personal, professional of medical life. We do read a lot of things either on the newspaper or over the internet about various cases of suicide, we also do feel sad for the person who went through this act, but sometimes the reasons why someone committed a suicide are never understood by us. 

Failure in scoring good marks, end of relationship, failure to get the desired jobs, sexually abused or bullied by someone are some of the very common causes why people are committing suicides these days. And the most horrifying thing is that out of all the cases of suicides, majority of them are about youngsters. The years of a youngster's life where he or she is in the age of 13-19 years is the most crucial time where there are thousands of new thoughts which enter and exit in his or her life. Few thoughts are positive and motivating to do something great in the future but on the other hand there are also a few thoughts which are negative and leads someone to that way in their life where at some point it really becomes difficult to come back to the normal life. And at the end those paths lead to thoughts that make that person feel that there is nothing more left for him or her in this life and then the end is something really bad which gives rise to more problems rather than solving the older ones.

For a common person it is really difficult to understand what is going on in the mind of that person who is thinking of committing a suicide, even a suicide note can only help you know the reason of suicide but the reasons what made that person take this step are difficult to understand. Things would have been different if the people who were close to that person could have caught the signs of things going wrong in that person's life and would have tried to understand what is it that is making things difficult for that person in his life.

A life can be saved if we try to feel the same what is going in that person's mind and to help people understand it, here is a web novel "The story of a Suicide" by Sriram Ayer. This novel basically shares different stories about the characters Hari, Charu, Sam and Mani. Various chapters of the novels throw light on various problems that are face by the youngsters these days and what makes them take this unnatural step. The best thing that I liked about the stories in the this book is the way the thoughts and feelings are expressed about that person and how they differ from a common person's perspective. The way of looking forward in life is very different when you see from the eyes of a person who is about to commit suicide and from the eyes of people living around that person.

The best part about that novel is that the stories in that novel have got something that everyone can relate with in their life. I was reading that novel and that helped me relate to the suicides of one of my batch mates of my college. 

In 2004, I was in my First year of Graduation at the SNDT College of Mumbai. It is a girls only college and since I was from Ahmedabad, I used to stay in the hostel of that college. There was a girl in the Final year of her Graduation who was repeatedly abused and bullied by the boys of an entrance exam coaching classes that she used to attend. Like me even she was from a different town. I don't know much about her performance in studies but I had seen her many times in the college's drama group and other council activities of the college. One of my friend who knew her said that she was a very nice girl by her behavior, she was kind and helpful. She had problems with a group of boys who studied in the same coaching classes. The problems started when one of those guys threw a paper airplane on her and she complained about it to the administrative office of the coaching classes. This incident caught her in the eyes of those boys and they used to bully her, snatch her hair, throw paper balls or water drops on her whenever they saw her outside. She complained several times but since this issue happened outside the premises of the coaching classes, the head of the coaching classes told her that this was her personal matter and they cannot do anything. She was an innocent girl and she preferred ignoring things will end everything. Since it was her final year and she wanted it to pass on easily, she avoided asking the police for help. 

Days passed, she started ignoring things but still the boys did not stop. One day there was a bet between the boys about a challenge that who will get her Dupatta (a long scarf that Indian girls wear), there is a lane near the hostel covered with trees and people are rarely found there. It is said that the boys chased her there and snatched her dupatta, due to this she fell on the ground and one of the boy came to her and wrote his name with a sketch pen on her forehead. This was the end of her tolerance and she took this incident very deep in her heart. After two days she committed suicide by hanging herself on the fan of her room.

People say that the boys were taken into judicial custody and were left on bail since there was no proof found in investigation about the boys. That girl did not share about this incident with anyone and tolerated everything by herself due to which it became difficult to prove that this was the only reason she attempted to kill herself. Also there was no suicide note found on the basis of which the police could take any action. 

After knowing about here story I tried to imagine what would have I done if the same things happened to me. I once saw a movie where a girl was ragged and bullied by the seniors of her college and that made me very emotional. Just imagine the level of torture that girl faced everyday for no reasons. It is really difficult to understand what was going on in her mind but at the same time things would have been different if the coaching classes took some serious action on those boys or if she shared the same with her family. 

According to me suicide is not end of problems, in fact it is the start of several problems. I feel that she could have spoken to police or her family so that things could have been got under control. Giving away her life for those boys is meaningless, there is her family who lived for her but after her suicide they lost someone whom they loved very much. 

Such situations are make things very difficult in life, but at the same time we should also understand that such problems are being faced by several other people as well, and instead of giving up one should raise her voice to stop such things. I request every youngster to share your problems with your friends and family rather than thinking to end your life. There is always a sunrise after a very dark night. Don't give yourself up in the darkness, stay strong and fight for your problems. One day you will surely realize that suicide was the worst solution to your problem.




Last words,

I feel that the message that the author is trying to give to this society by the help of this web novel is a great way to stop people for committing suicides. It will be a great thing if we come up with similar ways that can motivate people and give them stop them from giving away their lives. 

I would appreciate if the readers share this message with everyone they know, let's take a step forward, after all we are saving lives.