12
2008
That Bangalore is India's Information Technology capital is no news to anyone, since the city is almost always referred to as India's Silicon Valley. But, of late, it's been making news for the wrong, though somewhat related, reasons.
Bangalore, with its high stress life, is now being called the suicide capital of India. The figures are alarming - 35 suicides per 100,000 people.
What's causing so many people to take their lives? It's the usual suspects - high stress jobs, no work-life balance, long hours and the like, reasons largely alien to the city, the site of an Indian Army base, before the IT boom. The increase in suicides is an ugly side of development and growth, which many urban Indians find themselves ill-equipped and ill-prepared to deal with.
Like the nation it represents in the mind of many Americans, Bangalore has grown faster than either its people, infrastructure or traffic have been able to keep up with. High paying jobs, especially in the IT and BPO - Business Process Outsourcing - industries, have come with high stress and long hours. Family members don't seem to be able to find the time for each other, as people become more and more lonely in a competition-driven city.
Other Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai are not far behind Bangalore; they have seen a significant rise in teen suicides. Exam stress is the main culprit in these cases. Parents are pushing their children to work harder to better grades, in the hope of gaining admission in the right institutions.
And competition is tough - this is a crowded nation - so even those who score 90% in their high school examinations are not guaranteed admission to the better colleges. It's a pressure that many teens are succumbing to, something most admit in the grim letters they leave behind.
The situation has led many companies and schools to set up counseling services for its employees and students. Parents, especially, are being advised not to pressure their children and to be there for them, something that many are unable to do due to long work hours and their own stresses at work. It's a vicious cycle.
India has grown fast in the past decade, but the growth and change has happened so quickly that many have not been able to keep up. What were once seen as evils of the West - little family support, fast-paced life, high-stress work - are now very much a part of the urban Indian's life. Those are the very reasons that are driving many to the ledge.