To all young Suicides...

How many of you have had the feeling that you just want to kill yourself? Quite a few of you , ain't it? It is really strange how normal things can trigger such extreme reactions in our minds. 

 

Some hard facts about suicides in India:

 

1. Age group 15-24 yrs constitutes 16% of the population(Census of India 2001) & most suicides in India take place between 15-29 yrs age group according to a survey conducted for 2001-2003.

 

2. Suicide may soon become the leading cause of death in India, currently 2nd in number to Transportation accidents in men and maternal disorders in women.

3. According to Wikipedia out of half a million suicides happening in a year in the world, 20% take place from India, making it the suicide capital of the world.

The facts are just so upsetting. There is so much pressure both external and internal, that people, young and immature, are driven to take such drastic measures. Yes, competition has increased and we are just horses running behind that invisible dangling carrot, striding ahead and in the process trampling on our own dreams and wishes and aspirations blinded by society into believing that, only in this carrot lies our salvation.  Often people lose track of why their running and what their running for, finally losing their purpose to live. So they end it. A cold blooded murder of themselves is what supposedly is going to set them free from their misery. Oh! what  a terrible waste, if only people saw beyond that carrot. 

[This post is inspired by It's Kind of a Funny Story, a movie about a 16 year-old American boy who upset by his life, decides to commit suicide but is stopped by a vision of his parents. He checks into a hospital, asking to be treated, is put into a adult psychiatric ward where he meets others with similar problems. Slowly he realises there are more reasons to live and the others in the ward are suffering from much serious issues in their life. A funny, touching and inspiring tale.]

References:

Summary- Report on Causes of Death (2001-03) in India (Page no. 4)

Selected socio-economic statistics, India,2011, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOI   (Page no. 46)

Demographic Indicators, Census 2001  (Page no. 3)

Wikipedia: Suicides in India

Suicide second leading cause of death among young Indians

Young suicides major cause of deaths in India: Study

A boy and his butterfly..

I remember asking my grandfather to catch some butterflies for me, 

so that I can make them a pet and store them in a glass jar.
I remember him telling me to leave holes in the lid so that they can breathe. 

I remember running around in in my neighbors' yard,
when I was not learning to make paper boats, from him.

I finally did capture one in a jar, but it didn't survive. 

I don't remember having the courage to catch one again.

I imagined myself walking in a forest, with all these creatures peeking from the dense undergrowth. 

Then suddenly a butterfly fluttering down on my shoulder and then on my outstretched palm.

In the palm of my hand, it looks like the prettiest thing on earth! 

My mother planted a Curry leaves plant,

With it came a beautiful black-white and red butterfly. 

I was surprised, thinking, what is it doing on a boring flowerless plant like this?

Then in a few days I noticed a pair of gooey green caterpillars resting under a leaf.
Night would knock them off their slumber and make them ferociously feed.
In the day they would snugly sleep under the half eaten tattered leaves.
I watched them grow night and day until they grew as fat as my fingers!

I remember taking them in a box to school in my science class,
Girls shrieking and boys feeling their velvety sides,
The caterpillars seemed to like it, I thought then!

As I touched them, two red horns would emerge from behind their heads..
The boys would entertain themselves thus playing with their new friends!
Then our biology teacher explained that these horns are meant to scare their predators..
They are not the tails that dogs wag when their gay!
She told me to put them back on the plant as the caterpillars seemed ready to cocoon!

I hurried back home and let the little fellows on the plant again....
But I kept one for myself on my desk, with a small branch of the plant for it to feed...
hoping that I get to meet that butterfly which emerges...
hoping that it will rest on my palm just like the one in my dreams!

And cocoon it did, but the wait for the butterfly was too long,
I hurried back home everyday to find the fellow asleep in his self-made bed!
On one such day when I was at school the butterfly emerged,
My father later told me how it fluttered about my room for a while until he let it free!

I cried then a little for life being so unfair...
I still wish someday I can meet that butterfly...
The one that will rest on my shoulder and then flutter down on my palm!