Beltangady: Emotionally Devastated, Daughter Follows Father in Death
Daijiworld Media Network – Beltangady (SP)
Beltangady, Sep 14: Time is known to heal everything, from hurt emotions, grief relating to loss of loved ones, to harsh words and sour relationships. However, this was not true in case of Rachana Jain (18), a first year BCom degree student studying in Ujire College in the taluk. Haunting memories about her dear father who left for heavenly abode about a decade back turned into an overwhelming experience for her with each passing year, culminating in her decision to follow her father in death.
Rachana, a resident of Kanyadi near Dharmasthala, chose to end her life by hanging herself at her residence on the night of Monday September 12. Her death came to light only on Tuesday morning. In a suicide note left behind, she confessed that she was unable either cope with the loss of, or wriggle out of fond memories, relating to her father.
Rachana, daughter of the late Jagannath and Sarojini couple, attended college for only one period on Monday. She went home, and invited her close friends for dinner. Thereafter, she sent SMS to close friends and relatives reading, ‘I miss you all, keep smiling’. In the suicide note, she asked people close to her, not to take her decision to heart, as she was doing nothing strange, and to keep smiling and not to face any problems because of her. In her note, she explained that she has not been able to bear the vacuum created by her father’s death, even though her elder brother and mother were taking good care of her.
Her mother, who went to see why her daughter had not got up as per her routine for studying on Tuesday morning, was shocked to see that Rachana had committed suicide. A feeling of helplessness, disbelief, shock and guilt enveloped the entire household thereafter. Rachana’s diary, which she had been regularly maintaining since the last some years, revealed what she was going through. Day in and day out, she filled the pages of her diary with a deep feeling of utter grief and inability to cope with the forlornness that permeated through her heart since her father's death. “My dear father, where have you gone? If you were alive, I could have soaked in your affection and love. I feel I am alone and insecure. Even when you reprimanded me at the low marks I secured at school, a feeling of happiness and security was felt by me within. I am lost now,” she said in short lines written over the years. The diary also reveals that the feeling got aggravated since she enrolled herself to PUC and the need to study harder increased.
Her brother, who started working to facilitate her sister to continue her studies, and her widowed mother, are shell-shocked at the misfortune that has befallen their family. The college declared a day’s holiday on Tuesday as a mark of respect for the departed student. The death of Rachana, a smiling and soft-spoken girl, has sent shock waves through the village, residents of which find it hard to believe what they have heard.