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Death of a star



Sushant Singh Rajput apparently had everything: wealth, fame, talents, intellect, and a noble heart. The ingredients for a happy and contented life were complete. What went wrong then?

We don’t know yet. Like a lot of other people, I’m left wondering why a man of Rajput’s stature should have put a wretched end to his life? He was doing well not only for himself but also for the world and there was so much more that he could contribute.

He was generous to a fault. He contributed generously when disasters struck. He helped Kerala with a contribution of no less than one crore rupees during the 2018 floods. In the same year, he donated Rs 1.25 crore to the Nagaland Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, again to help flood victims there. He went out of his way to help women-led start-ups and children’s education. In short, he wanted to create a better world. He had great dreams.

What a noble soul!

Did that nobility kill him? This is my conjecture. I don’t know why he chose to end his life this way.

Was he too good for this world? This is a question that refuses to leave me.

Life is essentially a tragedy though we make it look like comedy. Comedification is our success. We cope with the ineluctable miseries of life by pretending that they are comic. Jealousy and greed, sheer insensitivity, piggybacking on others’ successes, poaching on the one-cent land of the other when you have a thousand acres already… Add to all that the insanities perpetrated in the name of patriotism, gods, culture, and what not.

Is it comedy or tragedy?

I don’t know whether Rajput was caught between the horns of that dilemma. There are times when death lured me because I was caught in that ugly middle position. But I survived each time because I accepted the essential insanity of human existence. I accepted my own insanity too.

I didn’t pretend that life was a hilarious comedy. I wept in the darkness of my solitude when I couldn’t bear the pain of life anymore. I didn’t go out of my way to hide what I get up to in the middle of the night, in my anxious moments, when perplexity hit me hard in the solar plexus.

I wish life were kinder to Rajput. And a lot of others. It is good to see stars shining rather than blinking out prematurely.



Comments

  1. Sonia DograJune 15, 2020 at 8:50 AM

    The helplessness you feel when all around you is crumbling and you can't do a thing about it, is hard to put away. The more sensitive, the more noble you are the harder it gets. I've often tried to do little things for the ones I can but it never seems enough and you are left feeling empty despite having everything. The unfairness of the world gets on to you. Presently, anyway, the world is becoming too much to handle. So I do agree with your observation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. rupam sarmaJune 15, 2020 at 9:29 AM

    So sad _()_ Prayers

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ila VarmaJune 15, 2020 at 10:39 AM

    No one knows the reason what took him away, but a kind request to the youngsters, "Never Ever Give Up even in adversity. There is a silver lining behind dark clouds and the time will pass too. Life will be monotonous if we don't have roller coaster ride, accept the moment as it comes and don't rely on others for your goal. It is yours and you have to achieve."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amit PattnaikJune 15, 2020 at 6:46 PM

    We all have different thresholds for tolerating pain, and we all have different points of no return. So we may not probably fully understand as to why some of us choose death. May be, all they needed was a good enough reason to live; and they couldn't find one!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rajeev MoothedathJune 15, 2020 at 7:49 PM

    It was a very shocking news! Your post discusses all the aspects with sensitivity.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ira MishraJune 15, 2020 at 8:35 PM

    With the passing day... And all such news... Life has started to seem tragically a comedy... Wherein we have conditioned our minds to such wrong notions over time with the meaning of success and failure that peace has decided to take an about turn and reside just in the stars mocking from above. As a society we have failed again and this will not be the last... Again that's the tragedy and a comedy both!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anita SabatJune 17, 2020 at 1:31 AM

    Agree with your points. You have shared your personal experience and thoughts too. Glad when people choose life.

    ReplyDelete

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