Laakhon Mein Ek - 2

As from my blog Laakhon Mein Ek, We read that Chandu, the nerdiest and the most annoying member of Section A class, belonging to an unspecified lower caste was discriminated against and is humiliated by his classmates for his caste. Well, I guess that he is not the only one. Yes, I am speaking about Mukund Mishra. His story was suggested by my friend Shriya. He not only left me but everybody aghast. 

A fictional character uncovered many truths of real society. We can see that a boy from small village has come to Mumbai, to pursue an engineering degree. His father's pressure made him join the engineering college but during this he lost a valuable possession, his dreams to become a cricketer. I find this ironic because he went to Mumbai, The city of dreams to join engineering college while leaving his dreams behind! Moreover, we could see that he is in 2nd year of college fighting depression and anxiety. In his story, there are two elements which brought him to this phase.

1. Parental Pressure
2. Society

As I had mentioned earlier that his father wanted him to pursue engineering while he had different aspirations. His father, who was a teacher, wanted him to become the most educated person in his entire village and due to it his father took admission in Mumbai by putting a lot of pressure on him. Mukund goes on telling that his father never gave him permission to wander around with his friends. Infact, his father did not buy him a smartphone as well. His father thought that a smartphone as well as allowing him to wander with people would “buy his son a lot of problems”. Hence, he tells us that his father taught him almost everything but never taught him how to make friends nor how to talk to people confidently. Now we can see that he has no friends and studies day and night to make his dad’s dream come true. There is no doubt that he is very smart. 

Later he talks about his 2nd year mid term examinations. We get to hear that his classmates took notes from him and exchanged mobile numbers with social media handles. For once he started to feel important and cool as not only boys were talking to him but girls were as well. After all the classmates took his notes and the exams got over, we could see that due to the coronavirus outbreak there was a lockdown. Mukund was stuck at his PG with no phone so he started to borrow a phone from the watchman. He made a Facebook account and added all his “ Friends”. He started messaging his classmates but no one responded. Those classmates who took notes for him and were very important at that point of time started ignoring him. He started making memes to look cool and to get replies from them but the fate was not in his hands. This affected his mental health and he was taken over by anxiety and depression. 

He spoke to his father about the situation. His father instead of consoling him, he went on telling his own son that these things happen to all and even he has gone through this phase. Instead of caring for his son, he went on telling him that this is all rubbish and he should focus on his studies. Sadly, Mukund had no one next to him during his tough time. 

He said that no one is trying to understand him nor is listening to him. When he opened Facebook he could see posts saying that mental health is a serious matter but no one walked with him! 

Many people out there on social media after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death are posting fake quotes on social media just to be on people’s good books. Many people are saying that I am always here, if you need to talk! but here is my question, 

How many of you mean these things?

How many of you actually care? 

This is no joke, Depression and anxiety actually kills people. This is something which should not be faked! 

Mukund at the end did say that people had got content to post on social media and would forget it after 2 or 3 weeks. People are spreading this video as a rage but I wonder why no one is seeing the truth being said. This character of Mukund Mishra was played by Prathmesh Barge but the message here is so true. 

Moreover, I request all the parents that don’t just say that this is a “phase, even I have been through this and it happens to everybody”. Don’t ignore what your child tells you because it will only lead them to hide things from you and next time when he/she would face a problem, they will never come to you thinking that you care less. 

More importantly, please don’t get depressed in your life on the basis of what others say. Log toh kahenge! Instead take it and do some hard work then nothing would be impossible for you and then these same people would come and apologize. It’s better to have no friends then having fake ones!