SIMI and Kashfia, two very bright and vibrant young women have chosen the

same fate for their own life. They have committed suicide. Simi left a suicide note, very clear and specific. It is rather a protest note or note of remonstration, very strong and convincing. Simi did a great job for this manifestly sleeping nation through her death, which she could not do, with her utmost effort, when she was alive. She apparently failed to stir up the social conscience against injustice done by perverted and often disregarded societal behaviour like eve-teasing and discriminative attitude towards woman ingrained in our everyday miseries since antiquity. Newspaper sources with their very formidable effort tried to portray the days of Simi with both factual information and emotional essence. A talented and natural creative artist Simi left this arduous job for media people and they complied. Information sources detailed it quite clearly and vividly how often-ignored social behaviour, demonstrated by local delinquent youths, social leadership and law enforcement people, deduce to such a dreadful conclusion. Simi's decision for this deliberate self-harm does not seem to be an impulsive behaviour or hesitant aggression towards self, rather it was a kind of learned helplessness where the family, friends and the society could help her very little.

Kashfia, a promising youngster with multiple talents left many subtle messages for us. We often disregard and close the eyes to the needs of a generation. Previous

generation, let it be an individual, family or society, very frequently behave almost identically. May be, Kashfia wanted to say something we did not have time to listen. May be, Kashfia had chock-full of emotional distress that she could never ventilate or was not allowed ventilating. But the bottom line is Kashfia's death, another sad and heartbreaking deliberate self-harm, is an irreplaceable loss, for such outstanding talents are not very many

among our population.

I did never know these two young women; neither did I know their families. Incidentally, Kashfia was a friend and class fellow of one of my nieces. I found her so much distressed and heart-broken after the loss of her friend that I could not ask my niece many questions about the incident. Only thing I came to know that she was a lively youngster with bubbling youth and many creative endowments. She was a natural poet and prolific writer. Years back, when Shazneen, another teen-ager of enviable personal profile and with loads of dreams and aspirations, fell prey to a wildly vengeance and was brutally murdered, I looked at our pre-teen daughter and somehow found Shazneen's murder as a personal loss. Similarly, coming back home after two weeks of staying abroad when I heard the incidents, for reasons I cannot

explain at this moment, I felt again the deaths to be a personal loss. In i this brief communication, instead of critically looking at the cause and i effect relationship of social attitudes i and these two deaths, I would rather like to take the opportunity of using f my professional wisdom to focus, in short, upon suicide as a phenomenon from our social perspective. l

People of different disciplines i

define suicide differently. Health scientists call it a 'major public (

health problem', psychologists explains it as a 'conscious act of annihilation of individual's multidimensional malaise', and social scientists as a 'manifestation of poor social interactions or socioeconomic adversity'. Whatever may be the definition, the conventional understanding about the purpose of the act is 'seeking a solution'. Conscious urge to escape to a state of unconsciousness to avert unendurable and frustrating psychological stress may lead an individual in need to this fatal deliberate selfharm. There is always a state of learned helplessness, and combined with ambivalence and hesitancy, one's realm of thought is narrowed down to a singular decision making. The act of suicide is an exit phenomenon where, in majority of cases, the intention is communicated overtly or may be perspica-ciously.

Cumulative statistics shows that nearly 1,000 people commit suicide a day worldwide. Here in Bangladesh we do not have any scientific information about its incidence. But anecdotal information available from certain parts of the country about suicide cannot be ignored, although, in general, suicide rate is lower in less affluent countries. In Western world, suicide is identified as one of the 10 most prevalent causes of death. Still, very little is

done to prevent or minimize its incidents while rest of the conditions, understandably, got their priority in logistic investment for research and intervention. Why it happens like that? Is it because suicide does not cause an epidemic, it does not have any visible impact on socio-economic condition of a community, or is it considered as an individual and personal behaviour that is forever stigmatized and socially undesirable?

Sociologists tried to establish a relationship between lack of meaningful social and family ties and suicide. Social isolation, social mobility and disorganized family and social events have significant relationship with suicide. Many of the suicide incidents are related to disease and disability. Depression, psychosis, chronic pain and life threatening diseases may lead to suicidal deaths that can be inter-

vened if adequate attention is paid to the sufferers and their sufferings. However, many other deaths are nothing but consequences of social injustice, ignorance, social inequality, lower status of women and at times disordered social attitude and behaviour.

Since olden days, suicide is always considered an act of cowardice, despair and despondency. It has always been treated as a stigmatized behaviour and the

victim has at all times been dealt with indignity and disgrace. If the suicide is not complete and the victim survives, he or she may have to face legal proceedings and is often penalized. Perspective of the victim is almost always disregarded, as if the victim should have found some other alternative whatever might be his or her intensity or degree of emotional turmoil.

Deaths like those of Simi and Kashfia clearly call our attention to address the issue of suicide, a preventable cause of premature death, from a multidimensional perspective. An individual to become suicidal or to attempt such a deliberate self-harm is not a one-factor consequence; rather it is a multifactoral corollary. Research findings revealed that the factors lie within the length and breadth of personality and upbringing of an individual, his community and social

milieu, his workplace and economic environment, his health and well being, his stresses and miseries, his grieves and bereavements, and finally, the way the very suicidal act itself is looked at by contemporary social value system. Therefore, any measure or effort to assist the victims, minimize its proneness and reduce its incident would require a comprehensive planning and support service that would address all the above issues. It needs many changes to accomplish the tasks, changes within ourselves, our beliefs and understanding, our social norms and conventions, and finally, our community attitude and behaviour. It is really a gigantic responsibility that needs overhauling of whole social structure. It may seem a long way to go and an unachievable task ahead, but there should always be a beginning, the beginning of an end.

Dear Simi and Kashfia, as parents and conscious social beings we owe you many apologies. We could not give you guarantee for a full-blown life and a natural death, we could not provide you opportunities to grow up, develop and flourish. Most important of all, we could not protect you, neither could we promise your safeguard. May be, we thought it was against your spirit and determination, or may be we did not want to make you too small. For, you were really outstanding and magnificent, and you still are!

Dr. Syed Kamaluddin Ahmed is a mental health professional.