Suicide at educational institutes

 A 19-year-old B.Tech student, Diksha Dubey, who hailed from Bihar, allegedly died by suicide on Thursday in the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra in the state of Haryana. Previous suicides at NIT Kurukshetra include incidents in February and March, happening too often for comfort and raising concerns about student mental health.

NITs are considered premier Technical Institutions in India, next only to the IITs (incidentally many old NITs like NIT Rourkela, Trichy, Calicut are considered better than many new IITs which mushroomed across nation). The cream of the cream of our time used to clear a fair and highly competitive exam to earn a seat in these coveted  Technical institutes. Today also I believe it's still the same.

Regardless of being from a premier institute or not, it is so sad to see men and women at such young age taking a decision to end their lives. It needs to be noted that suicides have grown up exponentially in educational institutes these days. Part of is this reason sited by professors from IIT Madras to a friend of mine who lives in the United States and regularly visits his Alma mater whenever he makes a trip to India (America is filled with folks from IITs and NITs. It is said if you blindly throw a stone chances are it will hit someone passed from IIT or NIT). As confided by professors to him, these days many mediocre students are churned out of innumerable coaching institutes manage to clear the entrance test. Once in, when left on their own they can't cope up with the aggressive curriculum and choose to end their lives unable to face the failure and an over expectant milieu, including their parents.

Every person has right to live. It hurts utmost when someone commits suicide. And it hurts more, if that person happens to be young. Like every man and woman of their age, they too have a dream, but unwisely decide to procrastinate their unfulfilled dream by killing themselves. 

When does a person decide to end his or her life ? It's not just because of the frustration with life, it's more due to their lack of care or concern for rest of the world, which includes their near and dear ones. If I ever feel suicidal for some reason, I may resist that thought for a moment, if I think of my family, if not me. Apparently they don't care about their loved ones and decide to end their life at the spurt of the moment, never ever getting any second chance to regret over it.

Suicides in college campuses aren't so uncommon. Surging teenage hormone gone wild can create havoc in heart and mind, which can be due to failure in academics, romance or bullying by others. It reminds me of the iconic movie 3 IDIOTS where a student kills himself due to his frustration at his project being pooh poohed by the Principal of the College. The student Rancho played by the actor Aamir Khan complains about the mental stress the students undergo, leading to such avoidable tragedies. As the Principal gets defensive and refuses to take the blame, Aamir Khan replies - "I am rather blaming the entire system, not you Sir".

Aamir Khan speaks some hard truth in that movie. Students carry a lot of burden and expectations from their demanding parents and a cut throat competitive society. The simple equation Ambition - Achievement = Frustration holds good. Often they snap, as the lid of the pressure cooker comes off burning the face.

The greatest tragedy is silence of the silent majority, which is conspicuously deafening who mostly turn a blind eye to competition and peer pressure which are to be blamed. Can't resist repeating my often mentioned joke. A person once went to an astrologer, who after seeing his chart said " You will go bankrupt after two years". "What will happen after that ?" asked the person who was now somewhat concerned. The astrologer responded "You will get used to it". So the silent majority has got used to the chaotic system with a CHALTA HAI (let the status quo prevail) attitude. Don't be surprised if you hear news of more such suicides more frequently.