The
NIT suicide case is an incident that reminds us of the dragon hidden in the invisible poison of stress. Stress due to any wanted or unwanted activity can result in consequences, either positive or negative. Ragging is an unwanted harmful activity that can be fatal to the mental makeup of an individual. In such circumstances the individual subject to it may take extreme measures as in Satyendra’s case. Environmental factors cannot be avoided. Stress is just like a road accident. Most of the times, you might not be at fault but still you have to bear the consequences. To avoid them, you adopt safer driving. The same is the case with stress. Asking yourself the question “how big is the problem, how insignificant is it as compared to me, my life” can be the major difference between overcoming stress and being overpowered by it.
I recently did a project with my team on “Health Hazards of stress and its effect on productivity”. Based on our questionnaire, survey and analysis we came up with two things. Our research was in corporate context and may not hold a direct relevance to this case, but it can be modified to tackle stresses associated with ragging.
- Those facing high levels of stress try to manage stress by taking more sleep.
- Those with lower stress levels discuss problems with coworkers and supervisors [1]
The former is an indicator of tackling stress in isolation and the latter is an example of discussing problems. While facing problems such as ragging, discussing problems with others and seniors could be a major factor between a happy and a stressful life-state.
[1] : Based on the findings of the project “Health Hazards of stress and its impact on productivity” by Rahul Pandhi, Sridevi Nune, Souvick Paul, Shadab Sayani, Sushant Kumar.
