TALES OF TRAVESTY
DR. JITENDRA SINGH
There was a time….not many years ago…when a suicide made a big news. And a suicide took place more often than not for a definite reason…atleast apparently. Hence Adolf Hitler killed himself to escape the humiliation of being taken captive and disgraced by the Allied Forces. Marilyn Monroe took an overdose of sleeping pills to escape the ignominy of an erstwhile beauty devastated by ravages of age. Guru Dutt opted for an intoxicant demise before meeting the possible decline of his creative genius. And, our own ”Veeru” alias Dharamendra of “Sholay” fame threatened to emulate the “Angrezi” suicide if ”Basanti” was not to be his bride. But see…what happens today? Leave aside the case of defeated warriors, devastated beauty queens, exhausted creative artists or unrequited lovers. Now, even the Principal of an educational institution thinks of himself as a fit case for suicide and amid the mounting concerns of rising suicide incidence in young students, one comes across the shocking report of a Principal of a school in Jammu himself committing a suicide instead of coming to the rescue of his pupils harbouring suicidal tendencies.
While the unbecoming reason for an unbecoming suicide in the above case was stated to be socalled “psychological” pressure, the disturbing question is, who is expected to off-load the ”pressure” on students if the teacher himself succumbs to the pressure. This is perhaps a grave pointer to the emerging social scenario in 21st century India including in the relatively moderate-pace sub-metros like Jammu.
Even as over the last few years, the nation has been grappling with rising cases of suicide among the youth and student community, as India steps into the second decade of the new century, the trend seems to be becoming all pervasive irrespective of age, sex, class, region, religion or profession. So much so, that young cops from Army, Air Force and paramilitary forces, normally expected to be less vulnerable to self-destruction, are also resorting to suicide bids with such regular frequency that it has ceased to make news.
Different analysts attribute different reasons for this phenomenon. Challenges of changing life style? Growing expection? Mounting ambition? Shrinking vocational or employment opportunity? Economic strain? Interpersonal domestic discord? Neo-rich competitiveness? Lack of social security? And, may be, dwindling level of patience? But, more than anything else, is this not lack of conviction about the value of human life! For a generation groomed in gun culture, to sniff out another person’s life may sometimes become as easy as sniffing out one’s own life!
For a society aping the alien trends without being actually ready for the fall-out of rapid “globalisation” in every sphere of life, nothing could be more alarming than the sight of a teacher himself deciding to end his life instead of teaching his students the value of life. A terrible breakdown of social support system is what the common man is faced with today as Umapathy cites the poetic lament “…Main Bach Bhi Jaon To Tanhai Maar Daalegi…….”
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