TEENAGE SUICIDE

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 7^th 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?

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