Suicidal Transformation

Sep 03

            I hope that the other events of the day do not get over shadowed by the momentous occasion where the hard work put in by Group Captain GJ Rao  in bringing out the blueprint for the prevention of suicide in the state of Telangana. He worked assiduously and sincerely on this document. I remember his telling me that nothing is more reprehensible than a person driven to this extreme measure of taking his life as a recourse to solving his problems. " In this world with so many people in all walks of life, it is indeed very sad that the cry of a desperate person who is at the most looking for sympathy and understanding if not help reflects very poorly on the populace in general and us educated persons in particular "." I feel that if it is within my power to help ameliorate the condition of such people , I will be  very fortunate". I and many of us I am sure reflect these feelings of GJ Rao - the only difference is that he went ahead and did something about it . Since the time we first met in June, he has been at it day and night . In the process he met many people , read many documents , pored over books and finally came up with this document which I am sure that if adopted by the state government will go a long way in preserving valuable human life - for has it not been said “Suicide doesn’t end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of it ever getting any better.” – Unknown 

Group Captain GJ Rao presenting the Suicide Note to CM KC Rao

'Bangaru Telangana 'Exhibited By All

The CM acknowledging The Work Put In By Group Captain GJ Rao

            We are all proud of you GJ Rao You came with a purpose on this course and achieved it in style. It is our sincere wish that this model of yours gets adopted in other states also. We hope that you will be instrumental either directly or indirectly in saving many lives. 

            The day started as usual with our classes beginning at 0900H in the morning. After a long hiatus and dealing with obdurate doctors in the hospital Perumal rejoined us for the classes. When he started asking doubts we realised what was missing from the class - the lively giving and taking between the instructors and Perumal which was just for our information. 

            Our apparel group of Sivaram, Prasad and myself were deep into the deciphering the provisioning , stocking and placing of various branded clothes and other items in the shops and why they were placed there for retailing. It never occurred  to us to beard the lion in its den - ask the shop manager the reason for this placement. In the process we spent the entire morning preparing the presentation, prior to lunch.

            We quickly completed the lunch - a quite lunch - there was no untoward noise of people shouting. The process - we were told was on hold till Monday, on humanitarian grounds.

We were looking forward to the class in the afternoon by Prof Swarnalata. For us the switch from the regulated life of the uniform to the different one in civvies was becoming more and more inevitable and real as the days pass by...In fact there is a joke amongst us that whosoever celebrates his birthday, will retire at the end of that month.We had to be ready for this eventuality..

            Prof Swarnalata was precisely there for that purpose - to prepare us for our transition . "It is a dog's world out there "she said - "in fact dogs have it better, there is lot of uncertainty and you have to look out for yourself ; If you are not prepared then you are in for a rude shock". Her shocking us into reality was good and she made an excellent job of it . Relating from real life incidents , movies and all other sources at her disposal she is slowly but surely working on us in preparing for life after uniform - and again who better than Prof Swarnalata who herself has successfully made this transformation? We enjoy her classes and look forward to more 'Gyan' in the near future ....