A Sad Loss
The suicide and subsequent news of death of our beloved Bollywood actor and star Sushant Singh Rajput, on 14th June 2020 was shocking and at the same time, disheartening. One can never comprehend the amount of pain the family would be going through, in fact they were probably as spell bounded at the news as anyone in this country. A young artist, a very talented actor, a charismatic performer and good human being is suddenly gone from the world, it is a hole that can never be filled. It is a loss that this country will always remember with pain. The death also gives rise to conspiracy theory of foul play due to the fact that, on 9th June 2020, his previous manager committed suicide by jumping from 14th floor of her apartment. It’s tragic to see such young talent go away, so soon, leaving our hearts void.
The Media Coverage
The national media didn’t leave any stone unturned to cover the news. From the moment the news broke, every single national media house was after it with all its power. The media even went to his home in Patna. They went inside his home, filmed his family, interviewed them, and this went on for quite some time. This is a stressful time for any family who just lost their own child, media should be a bit more respectful in this context. The whole day, every media house was all about this story, various aspects to the story. Psychologists were called in the panel of discussions, talks about depression as a disease, how one should take care of him/herself, how family and friends should be vigilant about it and what not -multiple discussions for the whole day was on air, different channels had their different style of presenting the story. And I’m pretty sure most of us were glued to the television set as well, to get every bit of information possible about this sad incident.
On the same Day
On the same day i.e. 14th June 2020, in the very morning a news broke out about an army personnel who was killed and three others were injured in a cease fire violation by Pakistan forces along the LOC. Every other day, one or more of our jawans die due to Pakistan forces violating the cease fire. I have been hearing such news since a long time now. Literally every other day someone from the army loses their lives. Media shows or prints the news, we read the news and most of us forget about it. We go back to our normal lives. These killings have now, in a way become a part of our routine. Nothing can explain the lack of empathy we show towards these jawans. We live a peaceful life because there’s someone who is awake along the lines of the LOC irrespective of the weather or fear of death. Because there’s a man who stays away from his family most of the times in gruesome environments. Because there’s a family who is sacrificing their happiness day in and day out. But, for us it seems, such news is normal, such deaths are not worth full day coverage, such lives are futile compared to others, the pain of such families are meagre compared to others.
The media doesn’t cover it much, people do not bother much, intellectuals don’t talk about it much, hashtags are not generated, RIP messages are not spread across – but WHY?
Such degradation of the human intellect is saddening, every life matter and that of a defence personnel matters the most, because it is only because of these people we have a life. It is only because of these people that we’ve our independence. The outrage, the empathy, the sadness should be hundred or thousand times more, when our jawans are killed along the LOC or during a combat against terrorist forces.
The Introspection
We need to prioritise our minds, clear our thoughts, understand our responsibilities, be aggressively vocal where needed. I’m not saying the death of Sushant Singh Rajput should not be condoled, of course not. It is a very sad day for us and his family. Everyone in this country and outside should be saddened by this news and rightly so. But we should also be equally saddened by the killing of Sepoy Lungambui Abonmei – seriously, how many of us even know his name or will remember it? We should be equally covering his family and their pains. We should pay our respect to him and his family as well, hashtags should be generated, RIP messages should be spread, media should cover it in detail.
Here’s the catch though, if we the people don’t care about the deaths of our jawans, then media has no business showing or covering it in length. TRP matters to them and it should, because that is how revenue is generated and the organization operates. But if we want to watch and learn more about Sepoy Lungambui Abonmei, then the media will be bound to cover that story, they will be bound to pay respect and cover these atrocities too. We need to set our priorities right and ask the media to show what matters to us. Life, however small or large, at the end of the day is a human life, and it matters.
For me personally, the death of a sepoy is far more disheartening than anything else and, I say this without meaning any disrespect, but that is how my priorities are set. Someone who is keeping me safe matters more to me than anyone else. His life, his family’s life and their well-being matters to me more than anything else. I would like to see his story too; I would like to know more about him. I would want to ensure his family is well taken care of. I would, I should, and I hope you do too.
JAI HIND
