Lets Talk!

After much thinking about the horrific incident which took place on Friday, April 1, 2016, I think it's my responsibility as much as every other women out there to speak up. On Friday, April 1, 2016, a life way too young was taken away. Taken away by her own will. A well known Indian television actress took her life away. She was young, beautiful, successful, and a brand herself to every Indian household. According to her closest friends, she was very content in her professional and social life, but discontent in her personal life. Her personal life was shaky due to her abusive relationship with her live-in boyfriend whom she had plans to marry this month. So lets get this straight, a beautiful, young, and accomplished girl took her own life because of a relationship that never deserved her beautiful life in the first place.
Many of us are quick to judge calling her weak, unstable, depressed, and or putting her down for the decision she made. BUT not many of us have been in her shoes. Only those who have been in her shoes or are in her shoes will understand how much pain she must have been in to take that step. How alone she must have felt in that moment. It takes a lot of guts to kill yourself. It takes a lot of courage to be able to commit suicide especially when you have everything going for you. It takes a lot of pain to be able to end your life. Let's not be so insensitive, rather try to be more empathetic, compassionate, and understanding of one another.
Some people would say that it's ridiculous that she gave up her life for a guy who treated her so wrong. Let me be the first to say that true love is such a state which can either make you or break you. Unfortunately, true love is rare these days and those who happen to fall in love truly are prisoners to its nature. Nature of being selfless and endlessly motivated to want to save what we have. So I understand that this beautiful soul wanted her relationship to work out so bad that she relentlessly made efforts without seeing any progress until one day she just gave up. Hold on though, but what if she had spoken up? What if she received the help she needed at the right time? What if more girls were taught to be be outspoken and were encouraged to discuss their issues without the fear of being judged, embarrassed, or pressured to put up a false act of perfection for the outside world? What if she knew that she deserved much better and didn't have to settle for less? What if she just confided in someone and got the help she needed to get out of the abusive relationship? Most of us fear revealing our darkest phases of life to the ones closest to us for numerous of reasons, but what if we invested in life coaches or therapists? Why do we shy away from investing in ourselves to get the help we need? We need to learn to speak up. We need to learn to be able to talk to someone without shame. Only through conversations, we can come up with real solutions. So lets talk.
RIP- Pratyusha Banerjee.