In India, entering an IIT campus as a student is like entering MIT campus in America. However, in IIT a lot can happen – good, bad, and ugly.

An admission to IIT to study technology is a passport to a bright future. Sky is the limit. However, dreams crash if the ecosystem is defective; a spate of suicides have shown it to be thus. And there seems to be no attempt to improve the ecosystem, to make it more comfortable for a tender 18-year old who steps into IIT after years of hard work.

Admission to IIT is not by fluke or by luck. It is by intelligence coupled with hard work.

As mentioned by me in an earlier blog, the act of a child going to school or college to study is no less than an adult going to workplace to do a job (work). The child is engaged in the act of ‘occupation of studying’ now for an ‘occupation for wages’ in future.  

Children going to school or college to study can be considered to be engaged in a unique occupation as their workplace (school/college) is not bound by any legal healthcare requirements, as of now. And this is sad. It could also be a reason for the suicides we read about.

It is ironic that while we in India are shouting at the top of our voice about mental health, nothing is being done. And nothing is being done, because most of those ‘driving’ the mental health agenda themselves don’t know how to implement or establish such a program.  

Employees in an office or students in an educational institution behave like a pack of wolves while dealing with someone with mental illness. Instead of showing compassion and empathy to the sufferer, they are usually mocked upon, further aggravating their mental sickness. The pack of wolves moves on leaving the sick member to die. In case of a death, it is a serious issue for a day or two. Soon, everything is forgotten, not realising that mental health issues are just waiting to knock on anyone’s door anytime.

There has to be a strategy, a collective one, where everyone helps everyone in case distress is identified in a fellow being. He/she may not be your friend, but any abnormal behavior noted should be highlighted to the dean/warden for quick yet subtle and effective action to prevent any casualty.