"If I can stop one Heart from Breaking,
I shall not live in Vain;
If I can Ease one Life the Aching;
I shall not live in Vain."
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
The student, who was in her first semester, was discovered hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room. She allegedly left a brief suicide note.
INDIAUpdated: Sep 13, 2018 18:05 Ist
Sadiq Naqvi
Hindustan Times, Guwahati
The student had joined IIT Guwahati’s mechanical engineering course barely one-and-a-half months ago.
An 18-year-old student of IIT Guwahati allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday as she was unhappy about having to study engineering, police said.
The first-year mechanical engineering student, who belonged to Karnataka, was found hanging from the ceiling fan of her hostel room at the IIT campus on the outskirts of Guwahati.
The police said a brief suicide note written in English was found in the room.
“Engineering sucks,” the student wrote in the suicide note, said Sanjib Saikia, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kamrup, adding, “She seemed to be depressed that she had to pursue engineering. She also wrote about how she could not fulfill the expectations of her parents.”
An IIT spokesperson said, “Her roommate had gone to attend classes. When she returned she found the room locked. She made phone calls which went unanswered. She then informed security.”
IIT security officials got in touch with the local police who broke open the door of the room and found the first semester student hanging from the ceiling fan.
“It has been barely one-and-a-half months since she joined the course,” the IIT spokesperson said adding that she had undergone mandatory counselling session for first-year students recently.
“Nothing abnormal was noticed in the interaction,” the spokesperson claimed.
IIT Guwahati has four counsellors for around 6,000 students, according to the spokesperson.
Leaves note saying she wanted to be teacher, not engineer
A first year student from Karnataka, pursuing B.Tech course in Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself for a ceiling fan on Wednesday morning.
Police said the student, 18-year-old Nagashree S.C. from Hosanagara near Shivamogga, left a note behind saying she wanted to be a teacher, not an engineer.
“She wrote that it was better to die than fail to live up to the expectation of her parents and family members,” Rana Bhuyan, in-charge of Amingaon police outpost, told The Hindu.
The police from the outpost broke open the door of Nagashree's hostel room about 10:30 am after IIT-G security guards spotted her, from outside the windows, hanging from a ceiling fan. A doctor of the institute declared her dead.
“She told her roommate she was not feeling well and would skip class. Her roommate left but returned after the first class and found the door locked from inside. She informed the security guards, who informed the police at Amingaon,” an IIT-G spokesperson said.
IIT-G is located at Amingaon, about 20 km from the heart of Guwahati across the Brahmaputra.
“We have informed the girl's family, but we are not sure if they would be able to arrive today,” the spokesperson said.
Police said Nagashree's body has been sent for post mortem.
IIT-Guwahati helpline for students in collaboration with Saathi: 8486814024
Following an episode of sexual harassment at school by a senior, a sobbing Vikas Aggarwal, then a boy of 14, expressed his anguish to his parents, only to be thrashed by his father.
Unable to cope with the trauma, he decided to put an end to his misery by jumping into a nearby lake.
“Their son getting assaulted seemed like a matter of shame to my parents. They asked me to forget the incident and move on. When I had no one to talk to, ending my life seemed like the only option,” Vikas told PTI on the eve of World Suicide Prevention Day.
Although he was saved in the nick of time, his assault was never raised with the school authorities. Instead, his parents decided to hush up the matter, and he was moved to a new school.
According to Johnson Thomas, director of Aasra — a Mumbai-based mental health NGO, Indian men grow up in households that teach them to present a “macho” image, that often entails hiding away their vulnerabilities.
“Indian men have been conditioned to hide away their emotions and build up a macho image lest they be considered wimpy and unmanly,” Thomas said.
According to NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data, a total of 1,33,623 incidents of suicide were reported in 2015, out of which 68 per cent (91,528) were men.
Vyom Sharma, had decided to end his life in 2010, over a failed relationship.
Then a 3rd year engineering student, he sat on the edge of his hostel terrace, ready to jump off, hoping the fall would bring an end to all the “pain”.
“I felt helpless. I did have my friends, but I felt nobody could understand what I was going through, and suicide seemed like the only solution,” Vyom, who was saved by a friend, said.
Factors inducing suicidal thoughts remain almost the same for men and women—stress, distress, and prolonged depression, said Delhi-based psychologist Nimesh Desai.
The director of the Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences (IHBAS) added that while more number of women attempted to take their own lives, it was the men’s choice of suicidal methods that resulted in higher incidents of male deaths.
The number (of suicide deaths) is higher for men because of their modes of attempt. The means women choose—consuming medicines, slashing wrists—are not immediately likely to succeed, and the chances of being rescued are much more,” Desai said.
Men, he said, resorted to methods like guns, or jumping on railway tracks, which were most likely to be fatal.
Empathising with the victims, supporting them emotionally and psychologically, and most importantly, encouraging a “gender neutral emotional expression”, was the way forward, both Thomas and Desai agreed.
“Young boys and girls must be trained to not hesitate and have false pride in expressing distress. And whenever you see someone disturbed, never make fun and never challenge. Instead, offer help in a supportive manner,” Desai said.
Eight years on, Vyom is now pursuing his dream of “understanding and teaching about language” as a PhD student of linguistics at IIT Delhi.
Although, he had recurring suicidal thoughts in the years that followed the attempt, but conscious efforts to get over the problems and a circle of supportive family and friends helped him cope with his bouts of depression. —PTI
A day after the decomposed body of an M-Tech student who studied IIT Bombay was found in a hotel room he had booked online, the Amboli police have learned that as many as 27 empty strips of tablets suspected to be antidepressants were retrieved from the room where Jaideep Swain checked in on August 31.
Senior Police Inspector of Amboli Police station, Bharat Gaikwad, said, “The body of the deceased was on Tuesday handed over to his family members.”
The police said the family was unaware about him being suicidal, and he used to speak to them almost each day.
He had shifted to Mumbai about a month ago and was living in a hostel on the IIT-B campus.
Jaideep had a couple of friends in IIT, and two of them had even visited the hotel on Monday after learning about his death. They told police they were unaware of any problems he was facing.
The police suspect Jaideep overdosed on the tablets, which could have led to his death, since the body had turned blue and bloated. “The final postmortem reports are still awaited,” a police officer said.
Officials are now probing into the incident to ascertain the reason.
Mumbai: The decomposed body of an IIT-Mumbai student (23) — who allegedly committed suicide in a hotel room at Amboli over unknown reasons – was found on Monday.
The police said that the deceased was suffering from depression as they have found related medication from the hotel room. The student hails from Chattisgarh and used to stay alone in Mumbai.
The deceased, identified as Jaideep Swain, stayed at the IIT-Mumbai hostel in Powai. His body was found in a decomposed state on Monday after the hotel staff experienced a foul smell emanating from his room and sensed something was amiss.
When the room was opened, Swain was found hanging inside it. The Amboli police was informed which reached the spot and the body was sent to a public hospital for conducting an autopsy.
“We have not found any suicide note in the deceased’s possession. When his room was checked, medicine prescribed for depression was found. There is no clarity on the motive for his extreme step. He had checked into the hotel on Friday,” said Bharat Gaikwad, senior inspector of Amboli police station. Citing the condition of Swain’s body, the police suspect that he ended his life the same day he checked into the room. Preliminary probe has revealed that his family is based in Chattisgarh and they have been informed about the tragic incident.
Officials are now probing into the incident to ascertain the reason. The investigators will record the statements of Swain’s friends and family to get clarity on the incident.
A case of accidental death has been registered by the Amboli police station and further investigation is underway. The deceased, a first-year student was doing his Masters in Technology at IIT-Bombay.
According to N.S. Dabholkar, chief manager hospitality and PRO, IIT-Bombay, he stayed at Hostel no. 1 of the campus, did not leave any note or evidence of his death at his room.
The 22-year-old is originally from Chattisgarh and moved to Mumbai in July
Police found depression near the dead body
No suicide note was found
Jagdish Sawain was studying mechanical engineering in IIT Bombay.
On Monday, the dead body of a 22-year-old IIT Bombay student was found from a hotel in Jogeshwari, Mumbai.
Jagdish Sawain was a mechanical engineering student in IIT Bombay. He was originally from Chattisgarh and had come to Mumbai in July.
The police did not recover any suicide note from the scene and are waiting for the post-mortem report. According to police officials, on August 31, Jagdish checked in to Treebo hotel in Jogeshwari West area. On Saturday morning, he ordered breakfast; this was the last room service he ordered.
On Monday, the hotel staff complained of a foul smell coming out from Jagdish's room. The hotel staff opened the room with the help of a duplicate key and found Jagdish lying dead. The hotel staff instantly informed the Amboli police station. Depression tablets and bottle were found lying near Jagdish's body in the hotel room. The dead body was sent for post-mortem.
A police officer said, "We are awaiting for family members of Jagdish to come. We suspect it to be a case of suicide due to unknown reasons. No suicide note was found. But we found depression medicines. We will take statements of his friends and people known in Mumbai. Further investigations are on in the matter."
Kota’s fame as India’s ‘coaching capital’ is also the reason for its notoriety as a ‘suicide city’ and the measures taken to bring down the stress and competition have been inadequate.
Published: 02nd September 2018 09:31 AM | Last Updated: 02nd September 2018 09:31 AM
Kota’s fame as India’s ‘coaching capital’ is also the reason for its notoriety as a ‘suicide city’ and the measures taken by administration and institutes to bring down the insane stress of competition, which proves too much to handle for many teenaged students, have been inadequate, finds Rajesh Asnani
On August 5, 15-year-old Devesh Kumar from Nalanda, Bihar, hanged himself in his hostel room in Kota. A suicide note found in the room read, “Before coming to Kota, I did not know that preparing for IIT-JEE would be so tough.” The JEE aspirant had scored only 20-40 per cent marks in the internal tests at his coaching institute, which drove him to end his life. On August 7, 16-year-old Sakshi Maratha from Buldhana in Maharashtra hanged herself from the ceiling fan in her room. She left no suicide note. But she was the 13th student this year to commit suicide in Kota.
The rise in the number of student suicides in Kota this year after a dip in 2017—which saw seven cases—has rattled India’s coaching capital once again. Since 2013, 77 students have committed suicide in the city in Rajasthan, as per the data compiled by the district administration. A spike in the number of suicides in 2015 and 2016 had forced the district administration to introduce remedial measures and last year saw lesser suicides. But the measures have obviously failed to have a lasting impact for lack of sincere implementation.
The administration had taken steps which included issuing guidelines to the institutes to give weekly off to students, fees refunds, facilitating recreational activities etc. Former district collector Ravi Kumar Surpur had taken a personal interest in the issue and made sure that screening of students is done prior to admissions.
But these are just guidelines and there is no regular monitoring to ensure strict compliance. “We have appointed counsellors and mentors, set up indoor games and started yoga classes on alternate days, as per the guidelines. But it’s not mandatory and we can’t force the students to attend,” concedes Pramod Mewara of Allen Institute, the leading coaching institute in Kota. Thousands of students come to Kota every year with a dream to gain entrance to the prestigious IITs and medical colleges. But for many, the pressure of intense studies is overwhelming. Teenagers who have hardly been away from home before this have to live on their own, cramming 14-16 hours a day in the hope of a secure future. The grueling daily schedule, the rigorous cycle of internal tests at the institutes, the intense competition and the “insane” pressure to succeed proves too much for many youngsters to handle — especially in the absence of continuous emotional support from parents.
Unfortunately, neither the parents nor the coaching institutes are sensitive to the emotional cost of chasing the medical or engineering dream. Kota once used to be an industrial town. But in the early nineties, the industries started shutting down. V K Bansal, who was an employee with the JK Industries then, started teaching mathematics to IIT aspirants in 1987-88. IIT-Delhi graduate Pramod Maheshwari started teaching physics. The two men, with their innovative style of teaching, made 49 students from Kota clear IIT entrance in 1995. That put the city on the map as a top choice for IIT and medical coaching.
And within a few years, ‘coaching’ became the biggest industry here. Today, there are about 40 big and small institutes in the city catering to nearly 1.5 lakh engineering and medical aspirants.
With over 10 lakh students from all over the country appearing for JEE Mains to secure about 11,000 seats in 23 IITs, the competition is fierce. The deep-rooted bias in India for engineering and medical professions makes ambitious parents bring their children here so that they can make it to the IITs or medical colleges.
The coaching institutes are taking full advantage of this mad race to make a killing. Maheshwari, the owner of Career Point, says this was not the case initially. “Both of us (he and Bansal) started teaching and our students were common; we used to have a healthy atmosphere. That was a different Kota... at that time, the focus was on education, students and ethics,” he says.
The competition among the coaching centres is as intense as among the students, with each of them vying to attract the best and brightest students and to ensure that maximum students of their students qualify for IIT-JEE and NEET with top scores. In their bid to outdo each other, they offer up to 100 per cent scholarships to the top scorers in their screening tests — which means, their coaching is free of cost. The main aim of every institute is to admit maximum students as it means more profits. But at the same time, there is a thrust on churning out toppers and therefore, the institutes focus on only those students who are already bright and have the aptitude for engineering or medical studies.
From the rest of the students, they charge hefty tuition fees — `1,00,000 per year, on an average. There is also a competition to hire the best faculty and the institutes pay anything between `20 lakh and `1 crore per year to the teachers, many of them IITians. Poaching of bright students from other institutes is common because “for aspirants and their parents, the main criterion for taking admission is the number of toppers selected from an institute” says Nidhi Gupta, who is doing her PhD on Kota suicides.
The coaching centres’ obsessive focus on potential toppers, as also their strategy to segregate the students in batches according to their capability, has a damaging impact on rest of the students, who start feeling they are incapable. Less marks in internal tests lower their self-esteem. Many students come to Kota because of parental pressure. Apart from the stress of studies, the students also face the pressure of ‘return on investment’. Parents spend Rs 2.5-3 lakh per year on their tuition fees, stay, food etc. and a feeling of being unable to pay expected returns drives many teens to despair.
Psychologist Dr M L Agarwal, who was instrumental in starting a helpline service for students, blames parents. “Forcing them to prepare for IIT or NEET against their desire will only push the children to the edge,” he says. Dr B S Shekhawat, a psychiatrist at Government Medical College, says the counsellors hired by the institutes are often untrained. “They are giving so much money to the faculty. Why can’t they appoint professional counsellors and psychiatrist who can screen students at the time of admission and keep a tab on the emotionally vulnerable ones?” he asks.
Kriti Tripathi from Ghaziabad, who committed suicide last year despite scoring well in internal tests, advised her younger sister, in her suicide note, “Only what you love brings happiness and that is the only thing you can excel in.” It’s time parents and the coaching industry realised this.
Reasons for suicides
As they find themselves all alone in a city without any emotional or moral support from parents, students — many of whom have moved away from home for the first time — find it difficult to cope with the stress of studies and competition.
According to experts, when students arrive in Kota for coaching, they suddenly find themselves amid unknown people. With each one of them competing with lakhs of others, it’s difficult for the students to strike a close bond of friendship.
The coaching institutes organise periodic tests, generally once every three weeks. The results are communicated to parents via messages and letters. A lot of student can’t face the embarrassment of bad results. Students who got high percentages in school start scoring poor marks in review tests. They don’t know how to explain this to parents.
Test performance decides the batch a student is assigned. When the rank of a student slips, he or she is put to ‘lower’ batches, which hurts his or her self-esteem.
Parental expectations are often responsible for driving children to end their lives.
Sometimes, issues like love affair, alcohol/drug addiction etc. are also responsible.
Hemalatha Thiagarajan
Will blame only the parents. The kids are influenced by peers and parents in joining these institutes. The high scores in a board exam does not mean the students can put up with the stress of the preparation as till that time they have done only questions which will find a place in boards. Thus their thought process is not well developed. Hence these suicides. The parents are solely responsible. 11 days agoreply
Dr Bharat Singh Shekhawat, Senior Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, Government Medical College and Hospital in Kota, says suicidal thoughts are due to biological reasons and counselling doesn't help.
Published: 02nd September 2018 10:01 AM | Last Updated: 02nd September 2018 10:01 AM
Dr Bharat Singh Shekhawat, Senior Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, Government Medical College and Hospital in Kota, says suicidal thoughts are due to biological reasons and just counselling the students does not help.
How do you look at the steps taken by district administrations and coaching institutes to stop student suicides?
Whenever they feel a student is stressed, they try and divert their attention —they write to the parents, call spiritual leaders or organize yoga events to calm the minds of the students. But I don’t think these things work. Suicide is not a sudden impulse; it’s the last straw when a student gives up. It’s an illness.
What measures do you think should be taken?
We have run programmes to train the staff of these institutes who deal with students. But there should be a multi-directional approach. You need to have qualified and experienced professionals to deal with students; you have to have a specialist. Just as the institutes recruit the best faculty to get the best results in competitive exams, the equal focus should also be given to the mental well-being of the students.
What should be the line of action?
In psychiatry, there are various screening tools available in the form of a questionnaire that gives a preliminary indication of all kinds of mental disorders. Students should be screened (for mental strength) at the time of admission and a vulnerable student should be identified at that level itself. But nothing is being done at the core level.
To make money, the institutes give admission to every aspirant without assessing their mental stamina…
It’s not right to admit every student. Everyone is not cut out for IIT. Parents and institutes must realise this. But the institutes don’t tell the truth to the parents or the students and instead sell big dreams to them at the time of admission. After admissions, they prepare only the students with the best potential in specialised batches. The focus is on success and money.
Why does a student commit suicide? Do you think employing counsellors by the institutes will help?
Children come here at an adolescent age and are immature. Their parents force them to come here. They feel trapped in the system and try to find an escape route. They are not able to cope with stress, distress and depression. Counselling is effective for minor problems, not to overcome suicidal thoughts. Suicide has a biological reason. Suicidal thoughts occur when there are neurochemical disturbances in the brain. Medical help is a must, mere counselling will not work.
A 26-year-old professional working in a multinational company reportedly committed suicide in an upscale residential society in Gurugram on Tuesday. Police on Wednesday said the victim was identified as Mehul Priyadarshi, a graduate from IIT Roorkee who also had done his MBA from IIM Lucknow. The reason for his suicide is yet to be determined as the victim did not leave a suicide note. Sources, however, said that he may have been depressed over his professional life. Read This - Noida Police busts gang duping people on pretext of bank loan, jobs; 9 held Cops said that Priyadarshi belonged to Ranchi, Jharkhand, and had been living in Gurugram for the last three months where he was sharing a flat with two roommates. They further said that just before Priyadarshi committed suicide, his roommates had gone to their respectivehometowns to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. On Tuesday, the victim's roommates returned to the apartment, only to find the door to his room to be locked from the inside. Read This - Delhi Police officer's son charged in rape-assault cases, detained Despite repeated knocking, there was no response, and the two ultimately broke the door open and found Mehul's body hanging from the ceiling fan. Meanwhile, police have registered a case under appropriate sections of the Indian Penal Code and initiated an investigation. Cops have also taken possession of the victim's smartphone and two laptops, and are talking to his family members to ascertain if he had any problems in his personal life. "We are interacting with Priyadarshi's roommates, and have also seized his laptop and mobile phone for clues. The parents might also share some details which would give some clarity regarding the suicide," Vikas Kaushik, inspector, Sector 53 police station said. Cops have also informed Priyadarshi's family living in Ranchi, as well as his elder brother who works in a bank in Aligarh. The victim's body has been sent for post-mortem examination and law enforcement officials are waiting for the report for further clarification.
Directed by Richa Bajaj, Survivors of Suicide is a documentary web series that brings forth real-life stories of people who braved the prejudices that plague our society when it comes to mental illnesses and suicide.
Written by Mansi Dua | Updated: August 23, 2018 6:17:05 pm
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Every 40 seconds someone in the world ends their lives and in India alone there are at least 56 million people suffer from depression. (Illustration: Vishu Ram)
“I slashed myself multiple times, and each time it pained physically, it felt better. Like I could breathe again, like I was coming back from some state of coma. It was not really an attempt to end my life, it was an attempt to get myself out of the numbness.” This quote by someone who has slashed her wrists twice – first at the age of 15 and then again when she was 30 – sums up how depression and suicide are interlinked.
According to World Health Organization, every 40 seconds someone in the world ends their lives. Not surprising when in India alone there are at least 56 million people who suffer from depression.
“Mental illness is so common that most of us go through it at some point of time, yet we are so ashamed to talk about it,” says Richa Bajaj, the director of a documentary web series Survivors of Suicide. The series brings forth real-life stories of people who braved the prejudices that plague our society when it comes to mental illnesses.
‘There was nothing to look forward to’ Narrating the horrific incident, the survivor, who faced sexual abuse as a teenager, explains why she could not tell this to anyone: “In our household, we don’t call a penis, a penis. How can a 13-year-old go to her mom and communicate that she has been sexually abused? You do not even give her that vocabulary.”
Sexual abuse is one of the recurrent causes of mental illness, Richa learnt during the project. “So many girls message us and say they have gone through some sort of abuse that has affected them mentally,” she says.
“Your ability as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as a professional, everything is questioned, because you attempted suicide. Nothing like this happens when you get typhoid. And because of this, it gets so difficult to reach out and talk to someone,” says the survivor.
Richa Bajaj, director of Survivors of Suicide. (Source: One Digital Entertainment)
Dr Akanksha Pandey, Consultant clinical psychologist at Fortis hospital, says this ‘public stigma’ stops people from opening up. “It is believed that mental illness is caused by supernatural forces and because of this people face discrimination from the family and community.”
Survivors of Suicide is Richa’s attempt to break this stigma. “There’s a feeling of shame attached to admitting to one’s inability to handle life, which we need to change.”
‘I just felt alone’ Whenever 24-year-old Aakash goes out of his house, his mother fears he will commit suicide. Having faced bullying and physical abuse in his childhood, Aakash was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2013.
Dr Sandeep Vohra, Senior Consultant, Psychiatry at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, says, “bipolar disorder is a mental illness in which a person has extreme emotions. One day they might feel happy and enthusiastic, while on the next they can feel low and depressed.”
Aakash describes his struggle to take control of his life but remembers how it kept slipping away that made him think of suicide.
One day, while coming back from college, I was thinking of jumping from the train, when one of my friends called and told me ‘you’re not alone’. That changed everything for me.
Aakash also narrates how people judged him, isolated him and said he is doing all this for attention. “If I am scared of talking about suicide, I may just without telling you anything go and kill myself one day.”
Dr Pandey says, “it is important to understand that people who suffer have unusual experiences they find difficult to communicate. The only means of extending help is by providing a conducive atmosphere with a non-judgmental attitude.”
Aakash found solace in dancing, it was like therapy for him. He now talks to people and helps them deal with their troubles. “I did not choose to be bipolar, and if I did not have a choice, I shouldn’t be judged for it,” he says.
‘I feel I shouldn’t step out of my house’ Born to a schizophrenic mother and an abusive father, Kavita had a rough childhood. She spent most of her life with her father and caretaker. When she was young, Kavita remembers her caretaker sharing graphic details of how her father used to rape her.
“I know of him as a person who has raped and abused people, not as a father.” Being scared of her father all her life, her fear lingered even after she moved out of his house. “My body couldn’t understand that I could be happy now.”
In February 2014, Kavita was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and she speaks of the day she attempted suicide. “That day instead of one tablet, I took 13 and went to sleep. For two days I was waking up only to puke. I have no memory of it.”
Dr Sandeep Vohra says, “PTSD is seen in people who have experienced traumatic events in their lives.”
To the people who do not accept that something’s wrong, Dr Vohra says, “they don’t realise the earlier it is diagnosed, higher are the chances of recovery.”
Kavita has now cut all ties with her father and is positive that she will work it out by herself.
‘Cutting myself became a habit’ After being sexually violated and ridiculed by school authorities, this survivor attempted suicide when she was in class 10. Being rejected from a normal life of education and growth, she found herself seeking love from her boyfriend, who decimated her as a person. She struggled and craved for love, but when she saw no light, she tried to kill herself again.
“It became a habit. I used to find a razor, break it, and cut myself with its blade. Watching the blood oozing out of me gave me a sense of relief,” she says.
Dr Pandey suggests “a person who is struggling with only needs to be heard at times. Listening without interfering or preaching is the best cure.”
The survivor found solace in her pet dog and she says she is going on only for her. “I feel she has rescued me.”
‘There are certain things that stay with you and affect you in a way you don’t really understand.’ (Illustration: Vishu Ram)
‘Just seek help’ There are many other stories that have been shared anonymously on the Facebook page of Survivors of Suicide. The next story Richa is shooting is of a Delhi girl, who attempted suicide while she was preparing for IIT in Kota.
“There are certain things that stay with you and affect you in a way you don’t really understand. I remember when I was young, I stumbled upon some audio cassettes in which a female relative of mine was talking about her attempted suicide.
Although I did not talk to anyone about it, I remember feeling ashamed,” Richa remembering what made her start this project.
Talking about her project, Richa says, “although the project saw positive responses, making people open up always remained a problem. Especially with men because they were dealing with the ‘double stigma’, the stigma of mental illness and ‘failed masculinity’.”
Dr Vohra is happy to see more people talking about mental health and opening up about their problems. The only thing he says, “never shy away from seeking help. It is high time and mental health need to be taken seriously.”
