Husband did not turn up to take to the theatre on the marriage anniversary day as per promised, wife committed suicide. Salty dish preparation annoyed mother in law - daughter in law committed suicide. Father did not purchase new clothes for birthday - Son commits suicide. Mother did not allow daughter to go for picnic - daughter commits suicide. Teased by road romeos - teenaged girl commits suicide. Father admitted son for medical course - Son interested in engineering commits suicide. The reasons for suicides are many some serious, some flimsy. On 25.08.2004, in one night, seven people committed suicide in Bangalore City. Suicides have almost become a common life pattern. . 10% of the India's population suffers from serious mental problems at any given point of time and another 10 to 20 percent suffer from minor mental disorders. Suicide is in other words ultimate end of life by deliberate self harm because of unbearable emotional or shocking conditions which makes a person to conclude that the next moment of life is worthless. Unfortunately India continues to be one among the few countries that still recognize attempted suicide as a cognizable offence.
SOME FACTS ON SUICIDE: More than 1.1 lakh people commit suicide in India for various reasons in a year. Average for every 5 minutes one person commits suicide in the country. There will be actually more suicide numbers than reported. For every reported suicide there will be ten unsuccessful suicide attempts before. For every suicide, there will be a dozen minds having suicidal thoughts. Majority of who commits suicide in India are young people below 30 years. Japan is the suicide capital of the world and Kerala is the suicide centre of India. Ten out of one lakh commit suicide in India where as 27 out of one lakhs commits suicide in Kerala. Most number of family suicides took place in Trissure. (14 families ended their life in 5 months in 2001). Home and surroundings were the most commonly chosen places for ending their life especially among women (92%). The number of suicides occurs between 12 noon to 6 pm. Out of 100 suicides, 58 are men. 98% of attempted suicides were from lower and middle socio economic groups.
FALSE NOTION ABOUT SUICIDE: If a young girl was raped and commits suicide to escape from stigma, the family continues to suffer with stigma. A group of boys committed dacoity later committed suicide, the rest of the group projected them as the master mind of the plan; family suffer severe jolt. A brilliant student committed suicide for not faring well in exams, where as in reality he had scored high marks. After 2 daughters, an advanced pregnant mother committed suicide. Her postmortem revealed she was bearing a male child. Some times suicides are committed in haste resulting in no gain to anyone.
REASONS FOR SUICIDES IN CASE OF CHILDREN: Not able to concentrate on studies, frequent absence from school, strict teachers, not completing home work, Project work, punishment at school, ashamed of some incident, report card tampering, failure in exams, caught stealing, Insult in the class by teachers, scolding by parents etc.
COLLEGE STUDENTS: Raging in the college, discrimination by lecturers in paper valuations, shortage of attendance in college, absconding from college, not allowed to appear for exams, caught while copying in exams, not well prepared for the exam, not done well in exams, guilt feeling of getting less marks, dispute with lecturers, quarrel with other students, insult before class students or girl friends, dispute in college games, involvement in politics, failure in exams, addiction to bad habits, involved in drug addiction, mixed hands with anti social elements, involved in crime, failure in love, love not accepted by the opposite sex, opposed by parents, triangular love, cheated in love ,differences with parents wishes etc.
LOVE AFFAIRS FAILURES: Ugly boy/girl loving beautiful girl/boy , Inter caste marriage, Inter religions love, Inter language love, lecturer- student love, age gap love, parental denial, religious group denial, Social denial, non acceptable health condition (Aids) denial, Status denial.
REASONS CAUSED BY PARENTS: Orthodox parents, very strict parents, total disciplined parents, illiterate parents, unsupportive parents, poor parents, openly criticizing parents, greedy parents, very high expectations from parents.
REASONS ARISING FOR SUICIDE AFTER MARRIAGE: Suppressed facts of caste, Income, already married, bad habits like drinking, womanizing, demand of heavy dowry, customs, language barriers, female job, wife's more income, ego with wife's status or fame, Lack of charms or complexion of wife, wife's poor knowledge of etiquettes,, issue less, extra marital relations before and after marriage, trouble with mother in law, co-sisters.
REASONS ARISING OUT OF BAD COMPANY FOR SUICIDE: Liquor addiction, drug addiction, gambling, theft, crime, road robberies, adopting easy luxury life, adopting cheating (like job offers) college seat allocation, foreign jobs offers, drug peddling, black mailing.
REASONS ARISING OUT OF SERVICE FOR SUICIDE: Over ambition, unrealistic goals, discrimination of superiors, not given enough due for achievers, taking impossible challenges, retrenchment, punishments, penalties, transfers.
YOUNGSTERS REASONS OF HEAVY EXPENDITURE AND COLLEGE GIRLS: Heavy borrowings for party's, huge petrol bills, mobile bills, Ugly complexion, eve teasing, black mailing, love letters, unanimous letters, jealous female friends, cheated by lover.
REASONS LEADING WIDOWS TO SUICIDE: Harassment by close male relatives, friends, luring offer for remarriage, age old traditions/ restrictions, black mailing, writing unanimous letters, harassment by co-sisters, neighbors.
ILLNESS LEADING TO SUICIDE: Mentally retarded, psychologically weak, inferiority complex, fearful, serious diseases like aids, cancers, heart problem, unbearable stomach ache, unbearable medical expenditure, paralytic attack, becoming blind, deaf, dumb, sexual dysfunction, stress, depression.
REASONS LEADING TO ACCIDENTS AND DEATHS: Meeting with accidents and becoming handicap, becoming blind, deaf, unable to move, become paralytic, unable to do his job, unable to do his routine daily personal activities, sudden death of mother, father, brother, sister or dear ones.
MISCELLANEOUS REASONS LEADING TO SUICIDE: Rape, destruction of house property or business/factory, displacement from family member because of natural calamities like floods, earth quake, man made calamities like war, violence, riots, terror, loss of money saved due to theft or looting, cheated by somebody, huge property case lost in court, unexpected result, purposefully involved in police case, travel documents, cash, valuables lost in foreign land, extremely sensitive, moody, alcoholism, financial crisis, heavy debts, immigration to other place or country, collapse of joint family, falling values, pit falls in parenting, poor money management, crop failure in farmers, business failure for businessmen.
REASONS LEADING TO MASS SUICIDE: If it is heavy debt or business loss the husband inspires wife to commit suicide. Some times entire family commits suicide with all children, some times even with aged parents. If it is dowry related problem or husband is an alcoholic or womanizer, wife kills kids first and commits suicide next. If it is matter of family pride, like daughter getting raped, daughter and parents together commit suicide. Even if it is a minor incident in a class for few students, the entire group may commit suicide. A religion or cult can brain wash a group of people to commit suicide as human bombs to create terror. In some countries like Japan they commit suicide in groups through death pacts. There are specialized websites.
WARNING SIGNALS OF POTENTIAL SUICIDE CANDIDATES: Apart from providing best facilities for family members, it is also the responsibility of the family elders to watch the welfare and movements of the family members. Family members help and confidential support goes in a long way in preventing many suicides. One can easily make out the mental state of the individual, who is thinking of suicide * The person becomes disinterested in family matters. *They loose interest in prized possessions. *There is loss of appetite or sleep. *He may mention suicide casually or in a joke. They clearly indicate that the person is depressed and needs help. *If a person attempted suicide and failed, that doesn't mean he will stop it for ever. *The person will like to be lonely, aloof in his room. *He will not show any interest in friends, parties, entertainments. *He may even neglect his health, medication, hygiene. *The person sinks into intense, unmitigated depression. *Dramatic change (Poor) in school/college/job performance.
AWARENESS TIPS WHICH WILL PREVENT SUICIDES: Suicides are as old as the humanity itself. Even though science has developed tremendously, but the researches on suicides and their prevention has not made appreciable progress. However, if you carefully observe the above mentioned suicidal intended person, these awareness tips will greatly help to prevent them from committing suicide and save a precious life. *Confidently discussing problems with targeted persons. *Sharing problems with targeted persons will reduce the suicide numbers drastically. *Self realizing of mother-in-law, that she was also a daughter in law once, will save many daughter in laws. * Realisation by husbands that dear spouse is very precious than dowry will save many brides. *In addition to love, parents inducing self confidence many daughters' lives will be saved. *If parents stop comparison with national achievers, realize their children capacities and keep expectations at par, many precious children lives will be saved. *If parents, teachers teach the children properly, many cases of eve teasing and college raging can be avoided.*If support and confidence is given to students that pass and fail are two sides of life coin, many precious lives are saved. If government takes long term supporting measures like crop failure insurances, supporting weaker section financially, farmers suicides can be eliminated. * Possible pre indication for identifiable suicidal person is poor mental health and depression. If family members identify in advance and get timely treatment or counseling from NGOs like SAHAI( in Bangalore helpline No. is 25497777), HELP IN HAND, CADAM BAM (their branches located in various cities across the country) will save their lives. If individual leaves greed and target practical goals disaster can be avoided. Society must realize this precious fact and change its attitude and realize the platinum rule to 'LIVE AND LET LIVE'.* Every individual at certain point of time get the idea of suicide because of frustration, for such people advice is to leave your room listen to music of your liking, watching a a comedy film/TV serial, go for a walk, do yoga, meditation, read inspiring books, meet friends and discuss. *Teach them meditation which not only proves miracle in preventing suicide once for all but also induces positive life attitudes. Life is precious to live. But not to terminate abruptly, not even yourself. Finally, a golden suggestion to those who suffer from suicidal tendencies "DARE, DETERMINE, ALERT, REALISE, EXCELL.' Realize the wonder how the world would be at your feet. Remember that Awareness is all-round asset, so repeatedly read, remember re-circulate these Awareness tips and save numerous innocent precious lives, who may prove to be great future achievers.