I have a Solution that will reduce pressure on IIT aspirants but do not know how to get this across to HRD Minister of India. Suggestions are welcome. - Ram Krishnaswamy

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Thursday, June 16, 2011

112 - 12th May 2011 - LET’S STOP GLORIFYING IIT SUICIDES! - Indian Fusion

EVERY TIME A PEDESTRIAN IS RUN OVER BY A CAR. IT’S NOT ALWAYS THE DRIVER’S FAULT!
 
IIT B Student had short Attendance in 3 courses.. CGP : 4ish out of 10. He commits Suicide. Prof’s and System are Blamed.

IIT Kanpur Post Grad Student can’t get a Job in campus placements. He Commits Suicide.

Recently an IIT M Student gets BTP Extension. Spirals into Depression. Commits Suicide. Prof. is under Scanner.
 
Let’s ask a few questions before we begin to get Sentimental about yet another Suicide ?
Should Ganguly have committed Suicide when he was given an Indefinite extension after being dropped in 92 ?
Would you have blamed the BCCI for crushing the ambitions of a 22 year Old? But Ganguly didn’t commit Suicide. He Waited!
 
Couldn’t the Gentlemen in IIT M have waited too ? ( And with all due respect to IITans, Pressure on Cricketers is infinitely higher.)
So, How is some one’s act of Impulse the System’s Fault ?
 
Moving On…
In 2005, one of the very early cases of Student Suicides an IIT Bombay Student Vijay Nakula committed suicide, for getting XX grade (which means you would have to repeat the course because of attendance shortage) in 3 courses among other reasons.
Tomorrow Let’s say a Professor commits suicide for lack of attendance of Students in HIS class. Let’s say, he got depressed for that reason.. Let’s say, he is giving his best, still no one is attending the class. Would you blame the Student fraternity in the colleges for not being serious about Studies…
Would you be willing to blame the System ( Markets in this Case) ?
 
Would the Student Fraternity be willing to go for all the Lectures to prevent any more Prof’s from going into Depression and any subsequent suicides?
Take your guess.
My guess is No.
My Guess is an Emphatic, NO!!!!!
Professor writes a mail mentioning the list of people to be awarded Fail Grade. Student commits Suicide after finding his name in it.
Argument. The E Mail was Harsh!!
If tomorrow a Critic trashes a movie, Can the lead Actor commit suicide citing a harsh review in his defense.. Would you buy that ?
Why are we glorifying Suicides in IIT’s ? Why are we projecting them as Victims of the System?
For somebody who takes HIS own life for a BTP Extension. I am sorry to say is a Victim of his own Choices ! ( Whatever may have been the Circumstances)
So let’s stop projecting these Students as Martyrs. For it creates a False Precedent. A sort of Suicidal Peer Pressure (Pardon the Phrase, but true) among the Students to come.
I call it the Induction effect of committing suicides.
 
SUPPOSED CAUSES OF SUICIDES.
People Blame Academic Pressure for these Suicides.
Oh It’s too Stressful.
I ask, WHY SHOULD IIT BE EASY?
You feel you can take it, fine. Else Quit.
Everyone is fine with the Goods which IIT tag has to offer..
The Campus Placements for Majority, and the other Fringe Benefits of being an IITan. A Default Respect in the Society among other things.
So why shouldn’t you be made to earn every cent of it ?
You find the Pressure Enormous…Quit IIT!!
Do something else. Why Quit your Life?
If you choose to stay in IIT ! Play by the Rules.
THE PARADOX BEHIND VARIOUS POPULAR REASONS FOR STRESS
Some Students blame the number of tests and quizzes in IIT.
Which is ironic because when the same Students were preparing for IIT JEE, most of them would opt for Multiple Test Series. FIITJEE, Bansal, Resonance…That time you couldn’t have enough of them!
So why have the tests suddenly become a Problem ?
You Graduated out of the same system..
People say, Oh the moment you come into IIT, there is a sense of loss of Identity. Toppers in their respective Batches are now no longer toppers.
Well the same happens when you start JEE preparation. Toppers from Various Schools, Join a Coaching Institute, where most of them no longer remain toppers…
So why are the same constants suddenly a problem.. ?

THE WORLD DOESN’T OWE YOU A LIVING! IT WAS HERE FIRST
An IIT K Student doesn’t get a Campus Placement. He commits Suicide.
The Argument given to his friend before ending his life was, Itni Mehnat kari, Itne number laaye.. Phir bhi Job nahin lagi!
Can a Hockey Player commit Suicide for the same Reason.. “ Yaar Itni Mehnat kari, Itne goal kiye, phir bhi Advertisement nahin mile! ”
Job Nahin Mili, Suicide kar li?
What bothers me is the mindset of some of the Students that IIT somehow owes them a LIVING!
No it doesn’t. Nor does the World!!
You didn’t create that Brand. Your Predecessors did. So how does IIT owe you anything?
IIT is an Educational Institute. Not a Life Insurance!
SO CALLED FRIENDS!!!
The friends of the person who committed suicide are the first to criticize the system.
I say, If you were such a good friend, why didn’t you make sure he attended the lectures, when his attendance was getting short. why didn’t you drag him to classes ?
If he hates the classes, why didn’t you help him find what he loved doing?
He got extension because his project got delayed, Why didn’t you make his project report. If you think the system pressure can often lead to suicide.. Didn’t you see your friend’s suicide coming when he was failing in courses and missing deadlines?
In one sentence you blame the System and the Pressure, when you did nothing to help your friend though it ?
And the worst part is, none of the friends had an inkling of what was about to come!
So much for being a Friend.
 

WHICH SYSTEM IS AT FAULT?
Which system is at Fault ?
If you choose to highlight these 3 Suicides, I can show you 20 people in the same batch who have done exceedingly well..
Some may be under the same Prof, who is under the Scanner.
3 out of 5000. In Science that’s not called a System Error. That’s called Standard Deviation.
Darwin would have dismissed the same, with his “Survival of the Fittest” Argument.
You could call me Cold, or Apathetic, or Ignorant or anything you want to, but if you are really serious about ending these Suicides.
My Humble Request is Stop Glorifying Every Suicide.
For Every time a Pedestrian gets run over, it’s not always the Cars Fault. Assuming that’s it’s always a Drivers Fault is a matter of convenience. Not Fact!
May be it was error of Judgment on the Student’s Part.
Who Knows?
May be all those Students who committed suicide are regretting it now in Heaven.
May be the recent IITM guy is thinking, ” I could have waited!”
May be that Kanpur guy who jumped thought in Mid Air, “What the F*** did I do? I should have fought this?”
That Girl who hung herself, while wincing in pain on the rope, ” God I don’t want to die! Give me one more chance!”
Who is to know ? May be they are hating themselves in Heaven.
I mean, “I just couldn’t live with myself knowing I had just killed myself.”
In that Scenario would the present Arguments against system and Professors still be Valid?
HUMAN SOLUTIONS.
People have suggested all sort of Solutions.
Ban the LAN. ( Internet)
Reduce Work Load/ Academic Stress
Counseling Sessions.
Now that we have failed with the seemingly Necessary Logical Solutions. Let’s try a Human Solution!
Suicide is an Impulse Decision…
So, I don’t think we need to Subtract or Reduce anything. We need to add something to the system.
Girls. Women. ( Don’t succumb to you Impulse Judgment. Read Along)
May be all Students need ( keeping all things constant) are some Women, or Emotional Stabilizers as I call them.
Most Married Men would testify the importance of their Partner in testing times.
May be that’s why they say, Behind Every Successful Man there is a Women.
There are things men tell their girlfriends, they would never tell their best of friends.
A 2 Month old Girl Friend knows more about you than the best of your Friends.
The Truth is, People are not comfortable sharing their Secrets with even the best of their Male Friends..
1 Because you are constantly seeking their approval, Especially the ones who are closest to you.. So your best friend is often the last person you would confess your problem to.
2. Sometimes you might look upon your friends as competitors.
3. May be you don’t have a Real Friend…
So you can’t confess your problem to your Best Friend.
You won’t tell a person who don’t think is Close enough.
You can’t talk to your Parents. Very Few of us share our problems with our Parents.. For you don’t want to make them tense or let them down (Sounds almost Ironic after the eventuality though)
Who is Left ?
No Wonder None of those friends or the family Saw any of those suicides coming!!
My Guess is a Feminine Shoulder might have helped.
MAY BE..
May be Women are the answer, for IIT’s given their skewed Sex Ratio are Social Concentration Camps, Especially in that Age! For boys as well as Girls. (It’s actually worse for girls than for guys!)
So May be the answer lies in doing something about that Social Imbalance*** (Conditions Apply)
May be it’s just that some of the torch bearers of the Intellectual Elite might happen to be Emotionally Challenged…
May be Minds good at Numbers are not too good in analyzing situations, where No Numbers are involved.
May be the whole problem is that the people in question didn’t have a Confidante..Because the problems in most cases looked pretty manageable in hindsight.
May be the underline problem is Loneliness!!!
The Silent Killer!
May be that’s why so many Silently passed away, without even their closest Friends knowing..
May Be….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
*** : Having Said that, I am well aware that Women might not be a Necessary or a Sufficient Constant for Emotional Well Being for Some People and Vice Versa… So, I don’t mean to say this is THE SOLUTION. But it might be a part of THE SOLUTION, we all are looking for..The whole point is, Student Suicide is like the Multi-variable Problem in Mathematics. There are as many Variables as the Number of Individuals….. So No One Solution would Fit all…Some Solutions might even sound trivial in the context of the whole problem.. Like the small evolutionary steps which eventually led to Evolution of Species. Seemingly Unimportant small changes/additions, but when Integrated over time, led to LIFE!!
To Integrate my Partially differentiated thoughts:
The Solution to this Problem might not be in (big radical changes in system)/REVOLUTION. It might lie in simple EVOLUTION!
It’s Evolution that gave LIFE to our Planet. It could do the same to our Educational Institutes!
So, Women Idea is my seemingly Unimportant small addition, but may be when Integrated over time, might lead to a SAVED LIFE!!

Nitin Gupta
The author Nitin Gupta is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Bombay famous for creating a Cult Play ‘Love In December’.
Fresh out of Campus, he got an offer to perform on Laughter Challenge, the opportunity which he later turned down! The reason is a simple mission .He founded Entertainment Engineers , to make Stand Up Comedy respectable in India and to create a humor Renaissance in this country. Humor he says, ought to have an emotionality to it. We not only want people to laugh and think, we want them to LAUGH, THINK and FEEL at the same time. T.V. was not the medium to do that. So Nitin took to the Stage, College Festivals, Corporate Shows. And in a short span he has already enthralled the Audiences in some of the Biggest College Festivals in India, IITs, NITs, IIMs their Alumini Meets and various FORTUNE 500 Companies.
A Guest Speaker at various E- Cell Platforms and Marketing Conclaves. A TED Favorite. He is widely considered as the most Original Orators and Stand Up Comic of Present times.
This post is from his published notes and all due credit is paid to the Author