Two Hundred Centuries of Breath-takers

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10

I was given a small body and a heart too big,
Too full of rough edges to place inside.
So I took to shaving bits off it.
I cut off the corners,
Smoothed out every scar.
But once I’d started, I couldn’t stop,
And then I realised
I had only created too much of empty space.

So I despaired over this accidental creation
Of silent rooms and dark corridors.
And something told me “Live, just live.”
And so each day,
I borrowed a part of this Universe
And placed it in those spaces.

You see, there have been two hundred centuries of humans,
Of music and art, great cities destroyed and built
Of beauty and darkness and celebrations
And a million inhales and exhales for every moment

And all of this moves and flows to converge to that second in time
That you reside in.
All of this is waiting
For you.

Inhale.
This is not the end. There is no vacuum.
There maybe whisky; There will be blood.
There is extraordinary hurt.
But there is extraordinary love.
Exhale.

Morbid Statistics : The Despair

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8

“20 students killed themselves every day in 2010″

Data says, suicide death rates in India are among the highest in the world. The suicide rate per 1,00,000 is more than 10. Our rapidly developing country seems to also have a rapidly developing suicide rate over the years. And our minds instantly go towards the numerous farmer suicide cases that we hear and read about day after day. What not many people realise is that the statistics say something different and very, very disturbing.

“95-100 people commit suicide in India every day. And of these a whopping 40% are in the adolescent age group” [Source: CNN-IBN Report, Jan 13 2010]

“Student suicides have increased 26% from 2006 to 2010″

An article in The Lancet published in June 2012 says  suicide rates are highest in the 15-29 age group. Among men, 40 per cent of suicides were among people age 15-29. For women, it was nearly 60 per cent.

These numbers say that the likelihood of committing suicide is comparable to that of being in, say, traffic accidents. As a statistics major I know that while the latter is a result of random variables, the former…not so much.

And you don’t need to be a statistics major to see how disturbingly ridiculous this is. And these are just the official records…

Mental health is not a priority in our country. Seeking psychiatric help is considered to be the number one reason to shun a person. Our country has a stupid and dangerous obsession with academic brilliance. It doesn’t matter whether you like physics or chemistry, you have to score a 95%! What use are you of if you didn’t get into the IITs or IIMs or AIIMS?

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What these numbers won’t tell you is the magnitude of despair. The despair felt by that boy or girl when they suddenly feel that there is nothing left to do. The despair driving them to kill themselves.

And a number of  people will come to me and tell me how so many of them do it for the ‘publicity’, for their shallow self-interests. Really? 20 students per day? And a rate that does nothing but increase?

When my friend killed himself a year ago, he became part of that statistic. But to me he was not just “one of those is 7379″, he was not merely a number that failed to interpret his despair.

To me he was a set of dreams and passions, imagination and innovation, kind deeds and a large, warm heart, which was lost to the world.