A New Trend of Suicides in India
British writer W. Somerset Maugham is said to have joked near the end of his life, “Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.” Many would be quick to agree and would gladly accept his advice if only it were that easy. More than two thousand years earlier, the Greek philosopher Epicurus suggested, “It is possible to provide security against other things, but as far as death is concerned, we all live in a city without walls.”
The certainty of death is clear. What we don’t know is how, when and under what circumstances. We derive considerable comfort if we learn that our loved one died peacefully while sleeping. We still grieve for the loss of those who are special to us, but we find some solace if they didn’t suffer or from the manner they died. If the death is by suicide, it will have a devastating and unsettling effect on the family of the deceased, and leave scars of shame and pain on its conscience.
We have been hearing of farmers’ suicide deaths in India due to failure of crops and the resultant debt burden. These circumstances have forced many to take the extreme step of committing suicide by consuming pesticide or
