Aftershocks

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My school had large open spaces with huge trees that provided the ideal environs for the adventurous batch of bubbling enthusiastic students to play and explore but lurking in these lung spaces were distressing evil phenomenon, happenings and occurrences that blew the daylights out of the innocent and naive children. Every other day, we were rudely exposed to men, women and sometimes children hanging from the trees and this spectre remains as a disfigurement in the minds’ imagery making some of us traumatized. These gory sights can never be forgotten and had a profound impact on life and its vagaries and like Gautama in search of enlightenment, we did some soul searching on these incidents. Having spent the growing up years in the suicide capital of India, which is Kerala, the daily depressing acts of terminating lives due to incapacities, addictions, under performances, over expectations, reprimands and punishments have always aroused our emotional reactions and responses to situations. Most of us emerged stronger as a result of the introspections into life while a few were bogged down, affected and depressed probably because of the glitches in the wiring system of our central processing unit.

A repercussion of this could be felt like aftershocks when we lost one of our classmates afflicted by the dreadful depression syndrome. A proficient dancer who was enriched with external and internal beauty and intellect, she became a darling to her friends in the school, the cynosure of the teachers and the apple of the eye of her parents who would dote on her and spent ample time with her to pursue her soaring dancing career.

We all parted ways after school days, each one of us badgering our dream careers and passions and my friend sought tutelage under the great danseuse Smt. Sudharani Raghupati and persisted devotedly and with dedication in her attempts to strive higher and farther. But somewhere along this hot pursuit, her life hit a crisis point, her moods wavered, her social interactions got reduced, her eating was negligible and she went into two extremities of manic and depressive episodes while her family had no clue as to the predisposition.

The alienation with lack of collaboration and connection eventually resulted in the inevitable....she took her own life.

And the sad realities are that these are not one –off incidents, but the harsh realities of our society, although the decision may be entirely individualistic, the impact of the environment, culture and societal is immense. The evolving society has made lives more complex and people who are adamant and lethargic to change and adapt have found themselves left behind. The alarming and distressing statistics of the rates of suicide across the spectrum ranging from a reprimanded child in school to a traumatized college student aided and abetted by ragging, or a wayward youth struggling from addiction to alcohol or substance abuse to the overzealous person trying to achieve what looks seemingly impossible or the happily married wife’s tale going sour owing to the hypocrisy of the partner to the terminally ill patients who see no meaning in the word “live”.

A torrent of patronizing advices follow each time an incident happens, if only he or she had confided, taken expert opinion, been prescribed anti depressants, or been told how much she or he was loved or adored. These prescription words hardly have any positivity and are not even two cents worth, on the contrary it urges the person to despair more that something dreadful is happening and the wiring gets more complicated. There is a feeling of guilt of being psychotic and turbulence of the mind takes control of the body and soul.

When I talk of connections and wiring that are woefully gone wrong in certain individuals, it also implies that the safety net is also missing and this net becomes imperative to push or pull you away from extremities. Therefore, the bonds that form the safety net have to re introduced in these cases. Distraction from their present state of affairs, taking them away from the geographical location that has deprived them of laughter and cohesiveness, seeking things out without their realization apart from medical help could well be the Bodhi tree!

‘The story of a suicide’ 

Image source -Indiblogger

written very boldly and in true absorbent style by the author Sriram Ayer touches the chord of every individual living in an urbanized pluralistic society that has taken cognizance of the third gender whether wholeheartedly or with inhibitions is undoubtedly a matter of one’s own perception and judgement. The trials and tribulations of people in a society with varying culture, diversities, traditions, beliefs, faiths have been very beautifully and seamlessly interwoven in the story.

The entire book is fragmented into chapters with titles that are distinct to the characters and the episode relating to them. The description of the protagonists in the sensitive, tear jerking story along with their attitudes, expectations and exposures to technology are relevant and most appropriate. The narrative is lucid and the readers can correlate to the characters so very well and personally the central pivotal figure triggering the chain of events, “SAM” vibes with my Tambrahm image, upbringing and culture.

Tackling the unpleasant and destructive tendency such as suicide on gender inadequacies and overt relationships has been sharply and graphically described highlighting the shortcomings of individuals (the cross wirings).How they tend to become inadequate and misfits in their domain and in the society is also intricately brought out here.

The illustrations are remarkable and blend well with the theme effortlessly.

The only flaws that seemed obvious to the readers are the superfluous hashtags’ conversation and the distasteful tones in the communicative language among the youth, though both of the above mentioned are the order of the day!

 On the whole, this story is remarkable and unputdownable for the sheer alacrity of the story line and the characters and subtlety of the subject matter.

http://www.storyofasuicide.com/

You can watch the trailer of the book here..

https://youtu.be/E5GZWTvihio