I am considerably disturbed today after learning about another instance of suicide in my alma mater. Considered a premier science-and-technology institute in India, this college is losing at least one precious life to this scourge every semester, for the last few years. Every time this happens, there is much righteous outrage from the public, that is understandably quick to build a discourse of brilliant young people being subject to unfair pressures to perform in an insensitive, uber competitive environment. The administration lives in total denial of this, and sometimes goes to ludicrous extents to justify these incidents with something other than academic pressure ( a dean had suggested excessive usage of cellphones, and internet, leading to different kinds of frustrations, to cite one example).
Every time this happens, it leaves me confused and rekindles painful memories in me - I remember questioning the causes and influences every time a colleague had been led to take this extreme step, and being left with no meaningful answer, much less a coherent strategy to confront the situation. It is also a problem I can relate to at an intimately personal level. I spent the greater part of my college career being miserable and probably also depressed - mainly because the academic system, and my own performance there in, were not up to my expectations (the details of which would require a whole new rant). Luckily enough I had a loving family and some good friends to support me through this period, and I never lost sight of the broader issues in life (perhaps existentialist fiction which I obsessed over in this phase of my life also helped?) So I survived. But were the people who did not, really that different from me? Couldn't a small gesture here or a little thing that happened differently there, have made the ultimate difference - between life and death? It's all very easy and college student like to blame the administration and the "system", but that excuse begins to sound hollow with age. At some level we all need to accept a sort of collective responsibility.
Many identifiable problems exist within the setup, the IIT system and Indian society at large, that could be addressed, and people have analysed them to death. I see no reason to repeat them in this blog - none but one - one that cannot be over-emphasized. There is no point in blaming the "victim" or glorifying him as a martyr. We need to recognize that this is part of human behavior, that people do commit suicide, despite good sense dictating against it. We need to accept depression and other forms of psychiatric ailments as diseases, that can be prevented and cured, that could happen to any body, you, me, your friends and family. We should be encouraged to talk about it and seek help. Coming out of this state of denial is a good first step. And the least we can do.
Many identifiable problems exist within the setup, the IIT system and Indian society at large, that could be addressed, and people have analysed them to death. I see no reason to repeat them in this blog - none but one - one that cannot be over-emphasized. There is no point in blaming the "victim" or glorifying him as a martyr. We need to recognize that this is part of human behavior, that people do commit suicide, despite good sense dictating against it. We need to accept depression and other forms of psychiatric ailments as diseases, that can be prevented and cured, that could happen to any body, you, me, your friends and family. We should be encouraged to talk about it and seek help. Coming out of this state of denial is a good first step. And the least we can do.
Posts
2 comments:
From what I've heard of campus life in India, a lot of it seems so unnecessarily daunting, especially to the younger students. While some claims of 'ragging sets the ball rolling and people eventually become friends' may have anecdotal evidence to support it, the whole idea of rubbing the power structure in the face of 'freshers' rather than giving them friendly and helpful welcomes is insensitive at best. It's a system that perpetuates itself to a certain extent (we went through it last year, now its our turn to show them who's boss, we've earned the right) and I'm not sure how successful the "ragging is a crime" campaign as seen in newspaper adverts might be.
Ok, I got a bit sidetracked from depression to ragging. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that perhaps student life (and the 'programming' that the Office of Student Life tends to do) in the US might be something college administrators in India should maybe take a look at. As far as undergrads are concerned, freshmen often come to campus about a week earlier, to give them a chance to get used to the campus. The only upperclassmen there are those who have volunteered to 'mentor' groups of freshmen- they may or may not become friends, but they are certainly friendly. The Office of Student Life has full-time staff working on community development. Its true that the system leads to a lot more mollycoddling than in India, but I think a lot more thought goes into creating a campus where, even if people aren't necessarily all helping everyone else out, its not socially accepted to bully people either. Obviously academics is a huge part of college, but so is the social life.
While all those might be very good suggestions, I am afraid "ragging" has very little to do with the string of suicides I am talking about. While extreme cases of ragging are not unheard of in Indian colleges (apparently medical colleges in North India have a bad reputation in this respect), the one I went to did not have this problem. We too had designated senior students to mentor us through the settling in period like you describe.
When I think about it now, ragging seems like a brief and minor irritant compared to the other problems I/we faced. Most of my peers thought of "ragging" as a positive social icebreaking ritual like you describe and think that without it, people would just keep to themselves, not participate in extracurriculars, not learn from the seniors, etc. I am not sure I agree, and personally I found it an annoyance, albeit a minor one. I felt more "ragged" by the system and some of the professors than by senior students.
ps : None, but one, of these suicide incidents were by first years/freshmen.
Post a Comment