Two suicides in a society caught in the throes of consumerism.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: It may seem straight out from the script of a wrenching Bollywood film, but the changing attitudes and conflict of youth in modern India which is trying to come to terms with growing affluence and consumerism is the core reason for two separate suicides by teenagers, which have left families heartbroken.
In a story from Ramasamypuram village in Virudhunagar district in Tamil Nadu, a 17-year-old unidentified teenager, who was a 11th class student, took his life on August 22nd by setting himself ablaze after he got upset by his father scolding and berating him for not paying the monthly dues of a private chit fund, which had been entrusted to him, reported The Times of India.
The teenager, instead of depositing the money in the chit fund, however, squandered it on his friends and himself. The matter came to light when the father went to collect the chit fund amount but was told by the organizers that they couldn’t pay him as the money was never deposited.
After the teenager got scolded by his enraged father at home, he set himself on fire. Though he was rushed to a hospital in Madurai, he couldn’t be saved, and succumbed to his burn injuries.
Last month, in yet another shocking suicide, a 19-year-old teenager, Sirin Sabu, who was engaged to be married earlier this month, hanged herself to death at her house in Bangalore, after she got upset for not being taken shopping by her family, reported the Times.
The deceased, who was the daughter of a painting contract businessman, Syed Abdul, committed suicide when she was alone at home in Ramaswamy Palya, Banaswadi.
When her mother came home, she found Sirin hanging from the ceiling. No suicide note was found. Police said Sirin wanted to shop for her marriage. But her father reportedly told her they will go after two days and bought her some reportedly ‘poor-quality’ clothes for Eid festival.
Upset over the situation, the teenager committed suicide, police said.