Something was still tormenting him but he didn’t speak about it

By Sarbjit Singh RajoanaTv | EXPERIENCE |

This brave boy took his life yesterday. Our little brother, known as Kaka all his life because he was the youngest of all of us. Loved by everyone, genuinely one of the warmest, loving, hilarious people I have ever met.

Faced tragedy after tragedy, coming out with a smile on his face and somehow putting a smile on ours. His brother died at the age of 20 and so did his Mom at the age of 56. Still he kept a zest for life…the epitome of Chardikala – everlasting, unending high spirits in the face of unimaginable horror.

Something was still tormenting him but he didn’t speak about it. Before taking his life, if he had sent a message there would have been countless people running through brick walls to get to him. Yet he quietly took his life yesterday morning.

Mental health is a massive issue in our community. It is often fueled by older generation expectations of how our lives should be led. Pressure is piled on in many ways and we then have a cultural habit of not talking. We are tough, we have no reason to complain, we don’t want to be a burden. So we don’t talk.

Our minds are really something, it can propel us to conquer the world and it can be fragile enough to make us want to leave it. If he had talked, instead of wrapping something around his neck, we would have wrapped our arms around him. He’s gone though and left a trail of devastation. There are many people who are a massive part of my life, this teddybear was part of my soul, that part died with him. He couldn’t bear to see me in intensive care via a videocall but was able to take his own life in the most harrowing way.

There is not much in this world that can’t be remedied, there is no black hole you can’t be pulled out from. Just bloody talk, even if it’s a stranger.

(This is taken from an online entry by Sarbjit Singh RajoanaTv. Sarbjit is responsible for the health and mental wellbeing of college students who have complex special educational needs and requirements)