I am so proud of everyone who was in the committee, everyone who participated in the protest, and even everyone who gave suggestions and provided talking points in the WhatsApp group and on reddit.
But, I cannot help but feel like we are drifting away from the original reason of the protest. In all the discussions I keep noticing people pushing their personal problems by connecting it to the incident.
It's okay if you need a reading room, I need one just as desperately too, but lets not say the "If we had a reading room the pressure on students would be lowers and would result in less depressed students."
It's okay if you want the minimum attendance to be lowered, but lets not connect it to mental health issues or the person who we lost.
All of the needs put forward were very important and I do agree they would help a lot of students.
We can ask for changes, but please respect mental health and the person we started this all for. What we desperately needed was 24/7 ambulance, doctor/paramedic and counselor/therapist on campus. We were provided that in the form of a shared arrangement with NLU.
People in the group talked about the problems with this arrangement for 5 minutes before moving the topic towards exams, and the new maximum marks.
Many people in the college didn't give a fuck about mental health, but as soon as they can push their personal problems as "depression causing" everyone loves to talk about mental health. I'm not saying people shouldn't talk about it, EVEN MORE PEOPLE SHOULD TALK ABOUT IT, but please do some research and talk to people actually struggling before acting like an depression expert.
THE OTHER ISSUES ARE IMPORTANT TOO. But keep the other issues separate from the the things that could've made this incident management more streamlined and safe. Like medical facilities, crises response unit, better staff, etc. And then we can bring up other issues like the hostel, the exams, the academic pressure after it, WITHOUT CONNECTING IT TO THE DEATH.
Also, let's stop pretending to know the reason behind his depression or his suicide. We don't know the reason and we might never know it, and we need to accept that instead of making up baseless theories, accusations, and reasons.
* People have problems other than academics, lack of friends, bullying, family problems, etc. Stop defaulting to the 5 basic options and building your opinions and thoughts around that.
* Stop talking in mess about how it could be a case of relationship problems, bullying or family problems. Those CAN be the underlying reason, but the way its been discussed is just disrespectful.
* Stop talking about mental heath if you know nothing about it, go do some research and form your original, individual opinions and then share those opinions.
Please don't get me wrong, I want all the things you all want. I think it's our right to ask for it too. I think what we did was amazing, I was in the discussions, I was in the protest, I was supporting everything the whole time. But we also need to be respectful and not ignorant.
I wrote this post after reading some well written, well meaning messages people recently posted in the IIITN WhatsApp group.
I've been depressed for years, i have a history with self harm and suicidal thoughts. Believe me I'm not against anyone's needs or wants here.
AND PLEASE STOP JOKING ABOUT SOMEONE'S DEATH STOP JOKING ABOUT SOMEONE'S DEATH STOP JOKING ABOUT SOMEONE'S DEATH STOP JOKING ABOUT SOMEONE'S DEATH STOP JOKING ABOUT SOMEONE'S DEATH STOP JOKING ABOUT SOMEONE'S DEATH