suicide , the irrevocable fall

It’s very heartening to know that somebody died committing suicide. Moreover, the profile of the people ending their lives and the increase in the number of cases of late makes me feel sad, at the same time a bit cautious. What if, one day, anybody I know ends up in that position – the very idea is very disturbing and unpleasant .I wonder, why do people end their lives? Isn’t the extreme step is due to an instant outburst of the feeling of not loving one’s own life no more or is it the outcome of a prolonged and sustained depression for some reason or other and the emotional upheavals one is going through either noticed or unnoticed for sometime .Every cause might have its own share and the people might have their own reasons .

But why do only humans commit suicide. There is no animal in the existence seems to have been resorted to this extreme step, though there are certain theories and experiments proving the suicidal tendencies in animals exist, not yet proved with reasonable amount of authenticity. So , why do the homo sapiens sapiens ,calling itself  the wisest of the wise creature in the all life forms existing on earth tries to kill itself where as the other mean living things around it seems to be surviving in spite of many odds.

What is more damaging is that people with less to eat, no space to keep their family, not much literate , no great education , in spite of living at the subsistence levels and less standard of living are not the major chunk  resorting to this step but it is the affluent , high achievers ,celebrities , the so called educated youth – people who have achieved tremendous amount of success are ending their precious lives. Great courage is essential to achieve success in life, many qualities make one achieve consistent results. Then, why those qualities which have helped them in making what they are, have not helped them to cope up with the realities of life. Isn’t people must be more courageous and brave enough to take out the thread or saree to tie it to their fan hanger, to swallow poison, to eat the sleeping pills; isn’t the boy/girl cutting their arm wrists to protest against their parents not accepting their proposals have no courage, a school girl failed 10^th class jumping into a well after SMS’ing all her friends expressing her grief does not know the value of relationships ??

In India, the NCRB data says as many as 1,35,445 people committed suicide in the country last year. Statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that excluding West Bengal, 79,773 men and 40,715 women had taken the extreme step. The rate of suicide last year stands at 11.2 per one lakh population. As per rounded off figures provided by the NCRB, on an average, 15 suicides an hour or 371 suicides a day had taken place. The relatively developed  states like Tamil Nadu tops the list with 16,927 suicides, followed by Maharashtra with 16,112 suicides, West Bengal 3rd and Andhra Pradesh following it with 14,328 suicides. The rate of suicide at the administrative division of Puducherry ,the developed one among  all UT’s was the highest in the country, 36.8 for every 1 lakh persons. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu plus Maharashtra have together accounted for 50.6% of the suicides reported in the country. And the suicide rates on the rise from 1990’s , the time liberalization started in our country. These are very disturbing statistics. Isn’t it..??

Educated youth, housewives make the major chunk. They are not laymen – there are doctors , engineers , IT professionals , army officers , film stars , writers , celebrities etc ,- people who could have contributed so much to the nation are finally ending up as corpses in the hands of their beloved parents , shedding permanent gloom and perpetual sorrow to their near and dear.

All this above discussion makes Suicide a matter worth examining. What motivates one to push towards the edge of life must be explored to stop this national menace. I do not simply buy the argument that people who commit suicide are not brave enough, ultrasensitive, do not take their life seriously, etc kind of reasons. Studies say that 7 out of 10 people resorted to suicide only after they tried every possible way to live. Only after they felt that they are no longer recognized, wanted or accepted by their family and their loved one’s committed suicide, therefore people die not because of their failures (though failure has the potential to cause the mental havoc and diminishing trust on one’s own ability which might have a spillover effect), it is their perceived or actual resistance by the people close to them and their ignorance of the victims social needs that play an important role.

It is not the absence of courage that kills them but the lack of people to pat on their back to give necessary emotional support ,declining means to vent out their grievances , absence of people to lift off the lid over their increasingly pressurizing brains due to the incessant negative thought patterns resulting in more number of ‘neural firings ‘ which will subsequently reduce the number of mirror neurons or empathy neurons which play an important role in keeping the comparisons among the people with similar emotional upheavals alive that makes the victim comfortable as the thought that his/her is not the only one suffering in this world but there are innumerable people out there  facing many tougher and gruesome situations daily but are living in spite of them is very comforting. Proper counseling, visiting a psychiatrist or a psychologist are needed for some who are in deep states of depression, but, that is not the permanent solution. If somebody is kept alive through medication or suggestion it means the target is on the symptoms not on the deep rooted causes that underlie.

I think, majority of the human beings are not living, they merely exist. They breathe, walk, talk, eat, laugh, act most of the time unconsciously without paying adequate attention to the beauty of this life, vitality of the body, exuberance of existence, and the feel of free flowing energy within and without. It does not require great “Sadhana “but a silent sitting for at least 10 min a day in introspection and feel for life around us – from the small house fly to the African elephant , listening to the inner voice , feeling the very presence of our life energies evokes a sense of greatness and gratitude towards the mother  nature and so  will it happen one day when one no longer sees himself as an isolated entity but finds him all over, a way of existing in an all inclusive way. Spending quality time with the family, listening to them – simply listening actively without being judgmental, visiting a place of comfort - that could be a religious center, amusement park , temple ,church, library , a new exotic place , developing healthy habits ,reading good  , inspiring , motivating books , nurturing a balanced attitude towards success and failure etc are all ways to keep oneself energized and engaged in a positive way and everybody should find his/her own way to reduce the stress and anxiety in an otherwise rat race we are in. as someone said “nobody gives us stress except ourselves “ , we should find hammers to break the stress to lead a happy life.

Individuality is ok, it is physical separation, no denying that .But ,individualism is a disease according to me. A man who is not social is either a beast or an angel. our mythology has ample examples of people who faced tougher challenges like harischandra , rama ,bali , pandavas ,bhishma ,ahalya ,etc , despite being in the most difficult situations , facing betrayals ,insults . problems . false propagandas , never once any of the above or the scriptures talked about them put in the choice of committing suicide , and in fact , taking one’s own life was regarded as the greatest of sins by many religions.

This life we possess is going to be with us for a short span .whatever we want to achieve we will and we can but remember “living “itself is the sole purpose of life, there are no original purposes other than that , all remaining are our manifestations. But the quality of life and the feel for it can only be enhanced with increasing consciousness, presence and awareness.

I strongly feel , the threats posed by globalization like  increasing individuality ,declining traditional authority of the families , high achievement motivation , diminishing importance to older people ,their advice and life experiences , love for instant gratification etc are leading to reduced social control , increasing stress levels , fear of failure ,inability to cope up with the problems; nuclear living and instable relationships are adding salt to the injury. The only way to counter act these dilemmas is to increase our perception of life , heightened awareness and understanding the limited nature of human mind , not yielding it beyond its limits..peeping deep into ourselves ,respect for life and love for self not only solves this menacing problem of increasing suicide rates in a country which has taught the world how to live but also makes us good and responsible citizens contributing to the development of this great nation and its society.