Bikash Choudhury
There was a late night mobile call which I could not attend
due to deep slumber or due to painful sleep disorder on the heat of scorching
summer which has hit many of us very badly. Next day morning there was a call
to inform that 13 year old son of a close friend committed suicide for doing
poorly in his 7th class examination. This was as shocking to me as
it would be for the readers of this esteemed news paper. I visited my friend
with family to console and to find out what went wrong and if it were possible
to save another precious and innocent teenage life? What we gathered from our
visit was that the boy Pintu (name changed) was slightly introvert for
his age and he had no real friends except his parents and he was very good at
studies apart from being a very good looking and an impressionable boy, having
a room to himself where he probably fiddle with gadgets apart from studies. He
was also very keen on digital photography. He just had shifted to a new school
with better reputation in the city and some how he could not do that well in
the exam and his score came down by 30% from his old school; which created
heart burn for the child and may be a little for the parents concerned. Within
four days of the school result Pintu took his life in his thirteenth year. This
may not have been an easy decision for the boy; but, his academic reputation in
the joint family and among the peer groups was so much so that he did not find
life worth living for. Is this a teenage decision? The information age of today
and social networking overdose has made millions of teenagers in schools half
baked adult and rub their child hood the wrong way. Further, dime a dozen
Reality Soaps in the small screens have infact made scores of teenagers the real
bread winners of the family. Some times the Parental greed and in some cases
the impact of demonstration effect has created its own mirage of instant
success story of beach side bungalows, fast cars and the liberty of globe
trotting in first class comfort; and, that have created immense pressures on
the tiny heads in our contemporary society. Some times it hits us with very
unusual incidents of teenage suicide which is rare but growing incidents could
be routine next; if it were not addressed properly. The solution remains with
Parents at homes and Teachers in schools; children are very good imitators like
a monkey and they are easily influenced by what they see in their parents and
hear from teachers in schools. I guess Parents would be little more cautious
with their kids keeping in view their Information Age rather than real age.
And, avoid thrusting upon their unfulfilled aspiration on children; as that
would eventually be counter productive for a holistic growth of a person and personality.
Teachers should henceforth held themselves responsible for a healthy harvest of
good and responsible citizens by impressing upon the students about life beyond
success and temporary failures as those are events in a long span of productive
life to learn and move on with life for greater and gross public good. Can we
prevent another teenage suicide happening in our neighborhood?
#Flat No: 105, Kalpatru
Nivas Apartment, Swarnapuri Road ,
Patia, Bhubaneswar-751024
Mob: 9853426657 E-Mail: streben.marke@gmail.com Twitter: @
ideasofhope
No comments:
Post a Comment