The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary describes 'Suicide' as a deliberate act of killing oneself. Is there a sudden spurt in the number of people committing suicides? A farmer, a technocrat, a police officer, a student, a bureaucrat and an actor ... endless people end their lives every day around the world. No action is possible without a trigger. Here a self-destructive action, a self punishing one is not possible without a provcation. The immediate reason may be internal or external. But there is a cause to function in a certain direction.
The American researcher Durkheim talks of four types of suicides: egoistic, altruistic, anomic and fatalistic. Out of these anomic is the most common as the economic disparities are growing since the market economy's invasion. Individuals have limited control over their income levels, irrespective of their business size. The small trees are unable to withstand strong winds and the big are unable to face the big storms. The fall is common for the rich and the poor in market economy. Hence unemployment or underemployment or poor wages do play a role in the fatal decision making of individuals.
Apart from the economic troubles individuals do come across innumerable critical situations that cause them severe agony which they are unable to bear. The market economy has been constantly raising the expectations of people. The new aspiring generation are in crowded cities but feel isolated. The traditional Indian way of simplicity is abhorred and a longing for a luxurious life has become the order of the day. Time tested support systems in the form of joint families are slowly giving way to nuclear families. Experienced elderely persons are rarely found in our modern homes. Either they are left in the villages of found in old age homes. There is a rat race for success and there is an intense competition among the people who are blessed with 'Success Techniques'.
The modern indiviudals are well connected with intenet and stay disconnected with their loved ones. Almost all who live in big cities are in want of emotional security. People are unable to bear the pressure applied by their peers, family, friends, the system and the society. Apart from the social net working sites our people watch and read the stuff offered by the media. Most of them carry invaraibly all the negative news stories across the world. Watching a negative TV soap or a violent scne late night and going to bed without any further interaction win any form causes immense damage to the emotional balance systems of the brain. Even in sleep, the thoughts would continue to haunt and may result in nightmares. As the humans always try to connect with what they saw or read with their real life ones, there is every chance that more and more people become victims to the distant violence.
Altruistic suicides are for a public cause. When mass hysteria is created over an emotive issue and spread by the media, individuals who feel close to the cause take a hard decision with a hope that their decision may have a bearing on the future outcomes. History tells us that a Tamil king commits suicide as enough rains had not blessed his kingdom putting his farmers to much hardship. The same tendency is still seen in the southern part of India as we all were witness to a thousand suicides for the cause of Telengana state.
An escape from the complex web which we have woven over ourselves is not a difficult one. Every one of us must have a person on whom one can confide in. Share and care must be the mantra. The kinship doesn't matter here. How close one is to the person concerned only matters. Here too there is a chance for disappointment. But one has to prepare for such an eventuality too. A return to our traditional value system would go a long way in strengthening the bond among all the family members. Finally one who thinks fatally has to remember that 'Death' is surrender and 'Life' is victory.
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