Bollywood’s super hit star Akshay Kumar steps forward on Twitter to urge the India’s youth who succumb to society’s pressure and think suicide is the only way out. He expresses that to every problem there are solutions but suicide is just not it.
Akshay Kumar uploads a video to show his grief at the disturbing rates of suicides that have occurred amongst the Indian students. He shared a 4-minute video on his Twitter page in which he expresses his sadness on teen suicides due to academic pressures. He questions, whether an exam mark sheet is more valuable than one’s life. The actor also shares his childhood events where he failed in exams. But his supportive father helped him to focus and allowed him to pursue his dreams enabling him to always be hopeful.
Akshay shares that when he had got the news of his failure, he was worried of getting whipped at home. But that day the actor’s father asked him what he wanted to pursue in life and to which Akshay responded by saying, ‘mai khel kood karna chaahta hoon, khiladi ban na chaahta hoon’ His father agreed and told him to concentrate on it. His father gave him his full support.
The disturbing increase in the rates of Indian teen suicides has alarmed all. Just the last month, the world was utterly shocked when a 23-year-old management student jumped from a 19th-floor hotel room in Mumbai. He was allegedly on Facebook live streaming the incident. His story made it to the headlines but there are numerous such deaths occurring which do not.
In the competitive India, youth suffer through pressure to get higher grades and acquire high paying jobs. Most of the suicides occur during the board exam results. The pressure from parents and from the society to top and succeed has become unbearable for the teens in India.
India ranks 3rd on WHO statistics and studies, which covers the global patterns of youth suicide. The research by Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing discovered that suicide was the primary cause of death among the youngsters who fall in the age group of 10-24 in India. Researchers reported that the number of young people committing suicides is around 1 Lakh in a year excluding those who attempt suicide.
Akshay had uploaded the video on the day he was awarded a prestigious National Film Award for his performance in Rustom, with the intention of his success to inspire others and youngsters. He ends up with an advice that everyone should share their problems to not let it pile up in their minds and hearts.
(Photo Credit: India Today, News 18, Times of India)
