- Are they forgotten so soon?
Someone died yesterday. A student of MIT; a final year student of Printing Technology branch. The notice came in the morning lecture hours, and there was a service at 10.15 am in the MIT Quadrangle. We came down to the service, most of us irritated at this disruption of our half hour break . There were muttered curses, partly at the institute, and partly at the idiot of a boy who had to choose this day to die, because of which precious time was to be wasted, time to be better spent in eating at the canteen, or chatting with friends, romance, or indulging in interesting gossip. The sprinkling of us that did arrive were busy laughing, chatting, basically waiting for the show to begin. There were a few speculations, too, regarding the cause of death.
” Suicide kiya hoga launde ne.”
” Nahin, maine toh suna hai ki love triangle tha.”
A professor of the Printing Technology Department put the whispers and hushed laughter to rest by clearing his throat. He went on to say that it was a very unfortunate demise, and that MIT had lost one of its budding engineers. He also said that the deceased was a good student. At this point, we must note that in today’s world of cut-throat competition and one-upmanship, a person, once dead, is measured more by his achievements, be it monetary or in the field of academics, than his character. In an institute of high repute like our very own MIT, academic performance takes precedence. So it was that at the service, no mention was made about how the deceased was as a person. Nobody came to speak up for him, or to enunciate the good qualities and strength of character that he surely would have had. A passing mention was made of his parents, and their grief, which none of us could understand or comprehend. Then it was decided that we observe two minutes of silence for the dead student.
The professor’s few sentences had been too long; it was already time for 10.30 am classes. After praying for the boy’s soul to rest in peace, we left the Quadrangle and went back to class, the service already forgotten and at the back of our minds, put there with practised nonchalance. The rapidly spinning Ferris wheel of MIT was back on course immediately, regardless of the fact that it had crushed another student’s life under it. A lifetime of dreams shattered, a lifetime of love from ageing parents for their beloved son wiped out, shocked and disoriented friends left to pick up the pieces of a great friendship.
I left the Quadrangle, and went up for classes. on the way, I passed a friend. ” Did you not go for the service?”, I asked.” No dude. Too boring. Why would I go? I didn’t know him anyway. Now, have you done your workshop assignment?”
I marvelled at how quickly the world forgets; I saw the truth for the first time. Thoroughly disillusioned and melancholy, I went to class.
7000 students in the institute, to cross 10k in another 2 years
college rules are formed with the aim of establishing authority over students instead of their well being
1-2 deaths per semester now
how long do you think it takes to get desensitized?
do you mourn for every death in your colony?
if not, how is MIT any different
fun stat:
Pabla+Kulwanth Singh: 1 death per year
now: 2-3 per semester
new administration says:
“What happened earlier is not my issue and I don’t want to discuss
it. Now it’s become very strict. Our aim is to make sure students pass
out of these institutions as successful and disciplined individuals. We
don’t want parents to suffer later.”
(in context of hostel rules)
add to that the frustration due to attendance regulations imposed by kumkum garg and threat of suspension for no fault of yours ( entire section suspended for a week for stealing a cable worth Rs 70) and you have a high stress environment: very conducive for suicide
Very touching post Chirag. As a Society I guess we have become too insensitive unless its someone close.
hey does anyone know where blue waters is? :-!
trust me . the student is lucky. imagine a person who has to take
all this shit from administration AND so called friends on a daily basis.the “friends” hate him becoz its the most convenient thing to do. these friend lecture him on “sharing” and “friendship” when they cant even stand up for a single truth. their idea of social service is meeting up in a AC restaurant chomping on expensive food and laughing their ass of at some completely stupid stuff, but of course they do all that to help the poor .After all how can they help them without helping themself…with a full serving of dominoes extra cheese pizza.thats when, 620 million people are waiting for their turn to have a decent meal.now i do allll of this shit. but i dont go around claiming to be a social activist. when i do,i will do what i claim to be. which wont take much time from today.
extremely well written blog…!!
but dude….” institute of high repute” …..Manipal?……..seriously???
r u fucking kidding me??
I understand that you actually feel for the deceased, This thing happened in our college as well and the management suspended the classes for that day. But none of the students stayed back in their hostels. Why would they ? What is the point ?
Nobody stayed in hostel rooms or went out to mourn for him. Do you really want to spend your time feeling sad for the person that he/she is no longer there with you or would you rather go out and celebrate for the life he/she lived ?
very well written sir, keep it up….m/
Makes me wonder if it was the death of ‘just another’ student, or its us slowly losing our humanity.
Maybe one never really pities a person who commits suicide, it seems an easy way out.
easy way out?…. try putting a noose around yourself or holding a knife against your wrist… you’ll figure out how easy it is…
fine dude it takes courage! who cares? I definitely wont mourn for some loser who doesn’t value life and gives up!
Sometimes life hands you testing circumstances and you don’t know how to handle it. People change with circumstances. Human psychology isn’t so easy to comment about and surely not people!