(Trigger Warning: Discussions of suicide. If you feel suicidal or know someone in distress, please reach out to them with kindness and call these numbers of local emergency services, helplines, and mental health NGOs.)
Growing up in Jaipur, Kota was my Diwali vacation destination and perhaps, the only outstation, which we frequently visited. The famous Dussehra mela is one of my earliest memories of the city.
Nestled within the vibrant tapestry of Rajasthan's arid landscapes, Kota has been a city of dreams for many like me.
Having seen the city turning from a humble small town to an assembly line of a dream crusher factory, the current disturbing trend of student suicides is agonising, but not surprising.
At least 29 students have lost their lives in Kota this year – the highest in at least eight years. This harrowing phenomenon and the complex interplay of factors contributing to these tragedies need to be examined objectively.
Competitive Culture Of Kota is Relentless
The competitive culture in Kota is relentless. Students are subjected to long hours of study, frequent assessments, and fierce competition with their peers.
Success is defined by securing admission into the most prestigious institutions, and failure is often met with shame and disappointment.
This relentless pursuit of excellence fosters an atmosphere where students are pushed to their limits, impacting not just their physical, but also, mental wellbeing. It’s a no-brainer that most of the students suffer from acute stress and mental health problems. There is also data to underline these observations.
According to Lokniti-CSDS survey, only 3 percent of students in Kota have visited a mental health professional. The same survey also showed the level of stress young kids undergo, with 85 percent of students spending at least 6-7 hours every day in coaching institutes.
Another survey by a wellness startup found that 4 out of 10 students in Kota are struggling with depression.
The issue of mental health hardly registers in our scheme of things, but in reality, there’s now undeniable proof that students in Kota are suffering from serious depression and deteriorating mental health.
While the toxic culture of treating young students like cattle in a barn, an environment of intense competition, gruelling study schedules, and an overwhelming sense of pressure are indeed some of the major factors, there is more to it than meets the eye.
What is even more alarming is that these suicides are taking on a new, macabre dimension – they are turning into a morbid meme.
The Memetics of Self-Harm
The word meme was first coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. Drawing parallels with the idea of Darwinian evolution and how genes replicate, he used the Greek word ‘Mimeme’ – meaning imitation to define a meme. It is to be noted that the word meme, a monosyllable, rhymes with the word gene.
Therefore, a meme can be defined as the unit of cultural imitation, wherein, cultural replication of ideas takes place akin to the process of genetic evolution.
Language, religion, a catchy tune, fashion styles or for that matter, an image macro shared on the Internet, everything is a meme.
The famous Dussehra mela I mentioned earlier is a meme, too.
Of all the ideas with an imitable quality, what I call a ‘Template Ecosystem’, these melas are one of my favourites. Visit any local mela in any city of India, they follow the same template. Same energy. Same chaos.
The memetics of self-harm operates on the same plane, it provides a useful way of understanding cultural evolution and in our case, the self harm sub-culture among students in Kota.
Since memes are the replicators of the mind and run parallel to genes, the principles governing genetic evolution – longevity, fecundity, and fidelity also applies to the idea of meme replication.
Longevity is the length of time a meme can survive and remain relevant, while fecundity refers to how acceptable it is to the masses. Copying-fidelity refers to a meme's ability to remain unchanged as it is replicated throughout cultures and subcultures.
With student suicides in Kota, we see a morbid meme template being replicated, not by choice, but through a culture which has forced these young lives into a vortex of shame and depression.
A Worrying Impact: The Werther Effect
When a student takes the extreme step of ending their life in Kota, it often gets significant attention on social media. These tragic incidents are shared, discussed, and even sensationalised.
The media's coverage of suicides is often extensive, amplifying the impact further. As a result, students who are already under immense stress and suffering from serious mental health issues are exposed to the dark reality of their peers' struggles, sometimes glamorizing the idea of suicide as a way to escape their own difficulties.
Researchers have argued that suicide rates can increase significantly in many cases were suicide stories are reported in the mainstream media.
Sociologist David P Phillips has done extensive research on this phenomena, wherein, he talked about how there is an increase in the cases of suicide after the publication of suicide news due to imitation. A phenomenon he called the Werther Effect.
When one student takes his/her life, it can create a disturbing trend where others are inspired to do the same. This effect is exacerbated by the way social media platforms amplify the tragedy, making it seem like a way to gain attention or leave a lasting mark.
We Have Left These Children to Die
The suicidal ideation among students in Kota is a direct consequence of decades-long neglect. Since it appears in a waxing and waning manner, apart from some knee-jerk, repetitive and lethargic responses, we have left our children to die.
Teenage students, who are subjected to such a fierce and high stress competitive environment, in most cases, do not sign up for this on their own.
Often, it’s the parents, who transfer the societal and peer pressure to crack IIT-JEE or NEET to their child, who perhaps wanted to be an artist or a writer. To combat this disturbing trend, educational institutions, parents, and society as a whole need to prioritise the mental health and well-being of these young students.
It is only through collective efforts that we can prevent further tragedies and ensure that Kota becomes a place where dreams are realised without the shadow of despair looming overhead.
Regular counselling sessions, stress management programs, and awareness campaigns can help students cope with the immense pressure they face.
Make no mistakes, the dreams and aspirations of our future generations are on trial here. As a society, we are collectively responsible for pushing our children towards an 'abyss of shame.' An abyss, where results of weekly tests, pressure to outscore your friends and make their parents proud is killing our children.
In The Psychology of Shame, clinical psychologist Gershen Kaufman presented the concept of shame as a societal dynamic and showed its impact on society, where he described shame as “a wound made from the inside by an unseen hand”, with the capability of completely paralysing you.
Unless we take action to save our children from the fatal shame, we have blood on those proverbial invisible hands.
(Tech policy and communication professional working with Assam Police(among other government agencies) as a consultant on the intersection of Internet technologies and public engagement. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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