A girl's life

I recently read two articles, one by Ms Shobha De, criticizing Ms Hema Malini for calling Pratyusha Bannerjee a loser and her suicide senseless and the other about various Bollywood actresses and star kids speaking out about body shaming. I feel that the two articles speak about the same issue, the anxieties, the depressions, the uncertainties in a teenager or a young girl. Ms De talked about how being a mother, Ms Malini should have understood the challenges in a girl's life, how she was coping with her life, relations, career, success and failures and calling her a loser would be an injustice. I agree with her because nobody knows what challenges that young girl was facing that lead her to take such a serious step. But one thing is true, every single suicide is unfortunate, it is heartbreaking and specially difficult for the family and friends and should be a wake up call for the society to realize its mistakes. The other actresses talked about how they were criticized about their body size. Body shaming is very much a reality of today's world and the unfortunate thing is that not many people address this issue. Everybody remembers certain plus size Bollywood actresses whose entire purpose in the film was to highlight the lead actresses' beauty by contrast. Certain plus size cast members were kept just for comic relief. Unfortunately, they created problems for many young people who were plus size. While some girls face bullying because they were plus size, others because they were deemed to be too skinny. In fact, everyone who is not of a certain size faces criticism. These things are all true, faced by millions of girls around the world. And all of this is a real challenge for a young girl. Many of them are being able to cope, many succumb to the pressure and call it quits. These unfortunate issues need a greater attention. A young girl needs great attention and love from her parents, friends and colleagues. She needs guidance and she needs support. Body shaming or bullying someone for being too skinny or too fat is just unacceptable. Similarly pressures in studies, work or relationships also take a toll on a young person's life. A young person, whether male or female, is very vulnerable. He needs support of those who are close to him. For such individuals, it is important that people who are in the limelight to come forward and speak about various issues involving body image, career and relationships. Without a proper guidance it might become impossible for him to cope with the stress involved. And yes, a person is not a loser if he decides to call it quits, the society is a loser for driving him to that step.