2/25/2016

Headline Feb 26, 2016/ ''' WHY STUDENTS COMMIT SUICIDE '''


''' WHY STUDENTS COMMIT SUICIDE '''




STUDENT SAQIBA HAKEEM'S SUICIDE   -weighs terribly heavy on my mind. She was just angelic, 17,  innocently in blossom and bloom.

Fate's merciless shears just clipped her. Up for a song. Who actually failed her? Her physiology? Her culture? Her family? Her friends? Her teachers? 

Her world?  Her enemies? Her province? Her country? Her leadership?   *OR  -!WOW!  -THE WORLD STUDENTS SOCIETY and its Ecosystem 2011*?.

Was she a member of !WOW!?  Did she know about !WOW!? Did she know how much !WOW!,  Meriam, Rabo, Haleema, Saima, Aqsa, Paras, Sorat, Malala, could help her through those very dark moments?

To my utter reminisces in  sadness, long, long ago, I observed and discovered the Pakistani society to be terribly fearful, insecure and so full of itself. Totally self-absorbed. *Even to the point of self-destruction*.

''STUDENTS/people who commit suicide do it because they have no future, nothing to yearn for.'' writes this good and great man, Chetan Bhagat, from India. And then, and now,  hear his unique and  first hand story:

*But wait, isn't IIT, the one place where a bright and shinning future is a forgone conclusion? It just doesn't add up, does it?

Why would a young, hardworking, bright student, who has the world ahead of him, do something like this? The answer is this    -in our constant reverence for the great institution [ and I do believe IIT's are great]. we forget its dark side.

And the dark side is that the IITs are afflicted by the quintessential Indian phenomenon of academic pressure, probably the highest in the world.

I can rant about the educational system and how it requires fixing, or I can address the immediate problem  -try my best to prevent such suicides. I have chosen the latter, and do so with a personal story.

News of a suicide always brings back one particular childhood memory. I was fourteen years old when I first seriously contemplated suicide. 

I had done badly in chemistry in class X half-yearly exam. I was an ITT aspirant, and 68% was nowhere near what an ITT candidate should be getting.

I don't know what had made me screw up the exam, but I did know this: 

I was going to kill myself. the only debate was about the method. Ironically, chemistry offered a way out. I had read about copper sulphate, that it was both cheap and poisonous. Copper sulphate was available available at the local kirana store. I had it all worked out.

My rationale for killing myself was simple  -nobody loved me, my chemistry score was awful, I had no future and what difference would it make to the world if I was not there? 

I bought the copper sulphate for two rupees - probably the cheapest exit strategy in the world.

I didn't do it for two reasons : One, I had a casual chat with the aunty next door about copper sulphate, and my knowledgeable aunty ,  knew about a woman who had died that way. 

She said it was the most painful death possible  -all your veins burst and you suffer for hours.

This tale made my insides shudder. Second, on the day I was to do it,  I noticed a street dog outside my house being teased by the neighbourhood kids as he hunted for scraps of food. 

Nobody loved him. It would make no difference to the world if the dog wasn't there. And I was pretty sure that its chemistry score would be awful.

Yet the dog wasn't  trotting off to the Kirana store. He was only figuring out his strategy for his next meal.  And when he was full, he merely curled up in the corner with an open eye, clearly content and not giving a damn about the world.

If he wasn't planning to die any time soon, what the hell was I ranting about?  I threw the copper sulphate in the bin. It was the  best two bucks I ever wasted.

So, why did I tell you this story? Because sometimes the pressure gets too much; as happened with the students who took their lives. And when they took that dreadful decision, all the lives that were linked to were shattered and India lost wonderful bright children.

And as the silly copper sulphate story tells you, it could happen to any one us or those around us.

So, please be on the lookout. If you see a distressed young student, lend a supportive, non-judgmental ear. When I look back, I thank that aunty and that dog for unwittingly saving my life.

If Almighty God wanted us to take our own life, he would have provided a power-off button. 

He didn't, so have faith and let his plan for you unfold. Because no matter how tough life gets and how much it hurts, if street dogs don't give up, there is no reason why we, the smart species, should.

Makes sense, right?* 

With respectful dedication to the Parents, Students, Professors and teachers of the World. See Ya all  on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and the Ecosystem 2011.


''' Found In Translation '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

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