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“Veronika was almost certain that everything ended with death. That is why she had chosen suicide: freedom at last. Eternal ovlivion.
She was not killing herself because she was a sad, embitted woman, constantly depressed.
She believed herself to be completely normal. Two very simple reasons lay behind her decision to die, and she was sure that, were she to leave a note explaining, many people would agree with her.
The first reason: everything in her life was the same and once her youth was gone, it would be downhill all the way... The second reason was more philosophical... She was aware of what was going on in the world. Everything was wrong, and she had no way of putting things right- that gave her a sense of complete powerlessness.“
- Paulo Coehlo, Veronika Decides To Die
And so a 24 year old woman, who had everything in life, decided to die.
What she did not understand was when you forget to live, you die. Even if it's not a physical death, its a death of one's soul. It's not a decision you make, its the complacency you accept. The fear of living your life on your terms and acceptance by the others.
To see beauty in leaves which dance as zephyr passes through them. To be captivated by an innocent smile of a child or simply enjoy the sights and sounds of everyday life. To live with the understanding that a healthy mix of idealism and practicality is important. The desire to take on anything and have faith. And to understand that life is precious. That’s what it is all about.
I could go on and on. But the reason for writing this post was not just to analyze a brilliant piece of writing by Coelho but also understand its relevance in our society, our lives.
What alarms me is the number of suicides going up steadily in Urban India. WHO says :
With a rate of 11 per 1,00,000 suicides per year, an increase from 6 per 1,00,000 during the 1980s, India occupies the second highest rate of suicides in South East Asia. When corrected for underreporting, these rates are likely to be much higher.
While 89,000 persons committed suicide in 1995, the number increased to 96,000 in 1997 and to 1,04,000 in 1998, an increase of 25% compared to the previous year. During 1988-1998, suicides increased by a staggering 33.7%.
Among the cities, Bangalore (17%), Mumbai (14%), Chennai (11%) and Delhi (7.5%) accounted for nearly 50% of the total suicides in the country.
Though in the novel Veronika's suicide attempt wasn't successful, that is not always the case in real life.
Update 1 on 11th Oct '06: Just realized that today I have completed one year of blogging :O
I didn't think this obsession would last this long!!!!
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Update 2: Wishing everyone a Shubh Deepawali and Eid Mubarak
Originally posted on Saturday, October 07, 2006 7:31 PM
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