The Story of Suicide: A Tale that Grips You and Makes You Think at the Same Time!

The Story Of Suicide
Author : Sriram Ayer (Founder Of 'NalandaWay Foundation')
Genre: Fiction
 
Well, to be honest, even though I acclaim myself to be an avid reader, yet I can’t hold myself too long to “online reading”. I could hardly protract myself on net even it were just articles that I need to do research for something, let alone a Book. Second, I am a very selective reader at the same time. The story needs to be absorbing me incessantly, else my mind gets easily fatigued. I had left many well-known authors’ book half read till date lying in my Book salves. It’s a confession.  

That’s what surprised me as I finished reading online the Book “The Story of Suicide” in one day along with my frenzied schedule especially with the plans for the extended weekends. Yeah!! The story pushed me even glued to my phone to read it while cooking on the hob while the chimney making that assiduous resonance to evacuate the smelly and oily air out (the sound often irritates me though). That’s the magical part of the book “The Story of Suicide”.  It would engross you till the end if you’ve started it reading…I challenge you on that.  

The theme of the story is exploring “The Challenging and not-so-easy Lives of the Young Adults – a stage that every one of us had come across in our life”. Often termed as “Adolescence, teenage or the early stage of manhood or womanhood” the hormonal changes have not only a great impact on body but also in minds. The Emotional states said to be the “Most Fragile” in this stage that would not even survive a small blow let alone handling big things. 

The Author has very meticulously weaved the characters depicting the different facets of Problems and emotional turmoil faced by Young Adulthood. It revolves around four central characters denoting different aspects that often this frail stage of life faces.

 

Hari: A character traumatized by Childhood sexual abuse by his own Uncle, grows up with a different sexual orientation – Precisely Gay- faces the world wearing a brave face while suppressing fear and emotional turmoil inside

 

Sam: Born to an affluent family, grows up techno savvy, social media savoir-faire with a “superiority complex” that lands him in the “domain of rejection, break ups and failed relationships” that drags him to a murky  path as a consequence.

 

Mani: As it happens to the majority of youngsters those who reside in the remote part of country, the academic excellence in mother tongue couldn’t help him hide his poor English. The obsession for English in his surrounding, grips him with an inferior Complex making him insecure and vulnerable.

 

Charu: A girl next door who often wears “I don’t give a Damn” tag always in her attitude struggles to cope up with her “Feminisms at Infancy” at the same time going through her natural innocent urges and preferences she makes out for them, that are common in her age.  

The story starts with a Suicide Note proceeds with wrapping and weaving of the characters interconnecting them keeping in mind their emotions, insecurities, vulnerabilities, thoughts and urges. The Author Sriram Ayer deserves a highest accolade as he dealt with many hard-hitting realities while revolving around the central subject “Suicide” in an exceptionally brilliant fictional narrative. 

The story deals with all the problems mostly faced by teenagers, like  

The impact of Childhood traumas of sexual abuse,

Their complexes and acceptance in terms sexual needs/orientations,

Their Insecurities involving falling in Love/infatuations especially for Sexual needs

Their Struggle for acceptance/identity (often they end up faking their identity) among peers

The resourcefulness, social media ability and handling the social media abuse

Their fears, insecurities and inabilities to survive a blow

Inabilities to handle Technology, their use/abuse

The unripe relationship blues, handling rejections and jealousy

The prejudices for different sexual orientations, homosexuality, LGBT

Their vulnerability to end their lives – SUICIDES

 How I feel about the above Things: Here it is… 

Childhood Sexual Abuses:

Nothing worst could ever happen to a child than violating their tender bodies by the predators in their own surroundings wearing Masks of Protectors. It’s even worse if the child doesn’t feel free to share it with Parents and elders or the guardians fail to read them in the eyes of the child. Unless the trauma addressed as it should be, the child grows up with fear, Guilt, low self esteem and often susceptible to even a tiniest bluster in life which is often inevitable. Parents, elders and guardians should be careful to provide them a safe atmosphere for their upbringing, at same time should win the confidence of the child to share with them “how UGLY the thing May be”.  

Had things would have been same with Hari, he would have handled himself in a much better way

Sexual issues:

 I’m one who supports the “Sex education” for the kids before they feel the urge for it. However given to the stigma attached with it and the way we feel conscious, I think elders need to change a bit. Addressing 3Cs of Sexual Needs,  their Concerns, Confusions and Consequences it may bring if something goes wrong, will reduce many problems related to Relationship issues like Love, Break ups, Rejections, Jealousy, Revenges and their falling into crime traps.  

Had things been addressed same way for SAM, he wouldn’t have fallen into a dark path and become a Criminal even before understanding what a Crime is.  

Taboos Involving Sexual Orientations/LGBT issues:  

This is one of the areas I feel strongly about. It is really appalling that our society and culture never accepted LGBT individuals as natural humans even though they existed since time immemorial. Fabricated with rotten beliefs, a disproportionate social structure has hardly anything to offer to transgender community. Instead it takes away from them their right of living a respectable life. This is a reality. You know it, I know it and everybody knows. But the very mention of this topic was treated as a crime and a terrible taboo to discuss among family members, leave alone accepting this if someone from us is a gay or lesbian. Taunts and ridicules are unbearable. Sometimes it feels as if their reality has been edited out from the human history to propagate a culture of narrow vision. For example, do we have a story of lesbian or gay freedom fighter? Why? Didn't they exist? Or never recorded or edited out? Why their achievements (I don't feel that there are no achievements) were never made a part of our collective memory?

 

 Well coming to the Young Adults, I think it is very important to understand their feelings on their orientations. Author Sriram Ayer has depicted the reality in this area. Hari finds he was a Gay but never shares it with Family fearing rejections and non-acceptance. In the last his apprehensions proved to be true as he was snubbed by his father.

 

My Questions to MR.Hegde in the Story of Suicide (and parents of all those LGBT people), Being a gay, did it make Hari, less a child (son) (less human) of you? Did he no longer remain a son of yours?  

SUICIDES: I Quit-Is never a human spirit!  

Often I feel children should be taught that “Life is Precious” from an early stage. Though there are various things that finally results a “whimsical state of mind to end own life” but a simple counseling system to teach kids how to deal with dips and rises in life would reduce such cases drastically. I Quit-Is never a human spirit. No problem in life is above The Life itself. we have Life that's why we have problems and not we've problem that's why we've life. Teenagers, adolescents are often most vulnerable to fall into suicidal thought traps as they over and over again find it difficult to “Make a Way Out” from a seemingly “No Way Out” situation. Suicide generally is never the result of pro-active and well-informed choice of a healthy mind. It's the symptom that mind has been already hijacked and no longer capable to make a reason with itself.

 

Author Sriram Ayer has explored this in a much realistic way. From Mani’s narrow escape from death with timely interventions to the tragic end of the story, it was really compelling to understand the ground realities. As a family and society, we have to understand the fault lines, taboos and truths/facts that “the life of the Young Adults revolves around”.


Suicide is permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Technology and Social Media:

In a Gadget filled world it is next to impossible to distance kids/children from Social Media and the related Technology. No doubt it also empowers them by keeping them informed and updated about the latest happenings around the world, but what it lacks is the “Responsibility  and Sensitivity” attached to it. It has resulted unwanted things like “Online Bullying” and “Cyber Crimes like sharing video the personal moments”. There “Dos and Don’ts” to this aspects which the teenagers often not taught with.

 While reading the story, I was also connecting to a Crime Petrol Story where a teenage Boy uploads a video of him and his Girl Friend in very personal moments post their break ups. The girl suicide while boy lands in the Jail. These are realities which we can’t ignore. Being a mother of a pre-teen boy, it was even more intriguing for me to understand the realities.

My heart was sinking while I was getting through how Charu and Sam were exploiting it. I wish Sam would have been handled properly.

The aspects like Social media and Technological use and abuse, the serious consequences that happens due to the cruelty of insensitiveness and ridicules that people often throw in terms comments while hiding themselves into animosity, The Online bullying and the murky side of teenage relationships blues like breakups, rejections, revenge and suspicions, The Story Of Suicide serves as an Eye Opener for them. It not only grounded to reality but also it makes the reader brood over them while captivatingly immersed in the flow of the story line…..

 

The Story of Suicide isn’t just about stories of characters it’s a story about “SUICIDE” itself. And the illustrations are really mesmerizing!!

 

My Rating is 4.5/5 stars.

The “Extra half Star” is for holding my nerve till the end. Very few books had that effect on me, one of them being THE ALCHEMIST!!

Adolescence is often termed as “Difficult days” because the hormones often change their bodies faster than their minds. Though, they achieve manhood/womanhood physically, yet their minds still remain immature and naive. They are often expected to behave as grownups while treated as kids. So it’s easier said than done to find balance in their thoughts. We need to understand that “Adolescence” is a state and not a “Disease”. Our approach to this temporary phase should be practical and sensible at the same time. There are shadowy things attached to this stage which needs to be illuminated by showing them care, confidence and coolness for their Confusions and qualms