LIFE IS TOO PRECIOUS, ISN’T IT?

FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:







   

LIFE IS TOO PRECIOUS,  ISN’T IT?

  

According to the National Crime Branch Register, the number of suicides in the country has been on the increase year after year. In 2011, a total of 135585 took the extreme step. This constitutes a 25% increase than compared to 2001. Statistics reveal that 24.3% end their life themselves due to family problems and issues of incompatibility between spouses - 19.6 per cent due to terminal, terrifying and other dreaded diseases - and less than 1.7% due to poverty. Love related problems and love failure (3.4%), addiction to drugs/alcoholism (2.7%), dowry related (2.4%), and unbearable burden of debts (2.2%) are the other reasons for suicide. In terms of number of suicides, the following States in India suffered the most - West Bengal (16492 – 12.2%), Tamil Nādu (15963 – 11.8%), Maharashtra (15947), Andhra Pradesh (15077) and Karnataka (12622). While the number of suicides in the above 5 states in India constituted 56.2%, the remaining 23 states and 8 Union territories accounted for 43.8%. Negligible numbers are seen in Uttar Pradesh, the largest- populated state in the country, 1716 in the National Capital Delhi, and 557 in Puducherry. Generally, females are more vulnerable than males. This is thus a serious social issue.

 

Let us not go into details of specific cases but delve deep into generic cases that generally lead to the extreme step being resorted to by some persons.


A student failed in an examination or has scored lesser marks.

 

Love failure resulting in one or both lovers ending their life.

 

Parent(s) giving birth to a child with lot of birth infirmities ending their life  unable to see and nurse the child.

 

Inability to pay heavy debt.

 

Ragging or eve-teasing or extreme harassment by people with affluence and influence

 

Inability to bear insurmountable heavy pain like in the case of terminal diseases - cancer or accident-triggered traumatic experiences.

 

Inability to bear the sudden death of near and dear ones.

 

Inability to live after spouse’s death.

 

Farmers due crop failures.

 

Perennial squabbling between spouses, prompting one, in most cases, the female, taking the extreme step.

 

Wife being tortured by cruel husband.

 

Females whose modesty is outraged.


To be born as a human-being is a boon! There are myriad bounties of Nature that God has endowed us with to be happy about and enjoy. The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose. If you have none, create one and live to achieve it. Life is only to live up to its logical end. Joy and misery are like two sides of the same coin called ‘life’ coming mostly in a cyclical form, or sometimes at random. There is no permanent misery or joy.  There is always light beyond the tunnel. If one were to gain something at one point of time, he/she may have to lose something else at the same time, or sooner or later. That is the law of Nature. If you want to pluck a rose, you have to grapple with the thorns amidst which a rose shines with its unique radiance. There is a saying. ‘One who loves nature is never alone.’

 

Teen-aged people and adolescents undergoing a slew of transformations – physical and emotional – and a transitional journey from childhood to adolescence into the mundane world – are a delicate and sensitive lot. The emotional turbulence in them tends to raise many ticklish, tricky and sensitive questions and seek answers. This is the age when they need emotional support to start taking head on the unfolding stark realities of the hassles-packed mundane life.

 

But today, we see some people ending their life on some self-perceived hardships, ill-conceived helplessness, deemed aloofness, etc. This is ignorance. The best way is to consult others, or, if needed, a psychiatrist in extreme conditions.

 

In case of one-way love, the boy concerned should have realized that ‘he meant everything to her, but alas, contrarily she meant nothing to him’.  He should not have gone after someone who would never come. Again, had the guy remembered the dictum, ‘Don’t waste your love and affection towards a wrong person who is not responding’, he would not have resorted to either any kind of violence or taking to  the extreme step. The boy was perhaps too blind to see that the girl was too deaf to hear him! 

 

What all one should shed are the feelings of helplessness, vulnerability, susceptibility, and defencelessness. What one should have instead are presence/application of mind, right judgment, right logic, acumen, adaptability, sensitive thinking, tact, right insight, intelligence, wisdom, right understanding, astuteness, judiciousness, prudence, right knowledge and information, past self-experience and experiences of others – good and/or bad - and related right perceptions. Positive thinking, attitude and approach do the trick to revive even the sagging moods and negative emotions of a frustrated and distraught individual.

 

The world is too big. We can’t live like a frog in a well. If one mulls over any given issue aptly and positively, he/she can come out of the thicket of difficulties and advance forward in life without any stumbling blocks. Life is only to be lived and enjoyed. Nothing should distract you. After all, nothing is unprecedented.

 

World Suicide Prevention Day is observed on September 10. Details of helpline are indicated below:


Tamil Nadu

Sneha India foundation
+91 044-24640050 | 24 Hours | Monday to Sunday
+91 044-24640060 | 08:00 AM - 10:00 PM | Monday to Sunday
Chennai

Medical Helpline
104
24x7
Tamil Nadu

Jeevan Suicide Prevention Hotline
+91 044 2656 4444
24x7
Chennai

Also National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-TALK – www.suicidepreventionlifeline org

 

R.SAMPATH

3/3/2016

Comments

  1. Kamala Subramanian12 April 2023 at 06:23

    As always, I admire the Brilliance of your thoughts and the topics you choose to write on.

    This topic is very sensitive and not anyone would like to think about or write on it. But yes, you were brave enough to address it.

    While we have the National Suicide Prevention Week, World Suicide Prevention Day, World Mental Health Day, National Suicide Prevention Strategy and several such Days dedicated to addressing the problem, including Section 309 of the IPC which states: “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”, there are some ground realities which individuals/families/ friends/relatives/ have to understand and work on them.

    Any punitive action on the survivors of the suicide attempt will not help or improve the situation. It would only prove to be a double whammy and ‘adding insult to the injury’ and ‘applying salt to the wound.’

    Sampath ji, you have already given several valuable suggestions on such an important topic.

    Ofcourse, different people have different ways to solve their mental stress levels. It could be Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Sports, Books, Art, Gardening, Exercise, Cooking, Prayers……. Endless list. Initially it is the parents who may have to inculcate these habits which could help them later.

    Any of the above would help them to learn self-discipline, expression through sound, enhance technical motor skills, develop problem solving skills, learn how to cooperate and collaborate with others, learn how to ignite the creative and critical mind, solve sleep problems, reduce stress levels, improve physical health, help people to come to terms with emotions, express themselves better and finally not consider “Suicide” as an option for any hurdle in life.

    Winning and losing is all part of the game of Life – It is not always about winning. It is about fair play and believing in equality and justice. Losing is a part and parcel of any game and accepting defeat in a positive competitive spirit.

    With a prayer on my lip that no one should ever have to deal with this extreme step in life.

    I understand that things have changed for the better with the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 in place now to address the melancholy. To the moot question “Can a person be prosecuted for attempting to die by suicide?’, the answer is NO, an emphatic NO. While the IPC law remains a punishable offence, it has created an exception within Section 309.

    Yours is a though-provoking article. Siuper.

    Thank you Sampath ji
    Your articles do make me sit up and think
    Kamala
    11.4.23

    ReplyDelete

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