Grieving mother tells her heart-rending tale
DUBAI WOMAN, WHOSE SON TOOK HIS OWN LIFE, SET TO LAUNCH BOOK
As Indian expat Sheetal Mulani prepares to launch her book, Saturday When The Sun Came Down, in Dubai next week, she is swarmed by a riot of emotions.
Yet to come to terms with the loss of her son Mohit, who took his life in the city two years ago, she says, “I had to do this for our sake. I just wrote and wrote and couldn’t stop myself. I was told the venting would be cathartic, but I am not sure. My only aim is to alert other parents, to tell them that just because they cannot see the monster, it does not mean it isn’t there.”
Mulani cautions parents against what she calls “mindaltering” medications prescribed to youngsters to combat anxiety and stress. She says her son was “alive till August 26, 2016”. The 21-year-old was studying pre-medicine and economics abroad and was visiting Dubai when tragedy struck.
In a heart-rending account of what has transpired since, Mulani writes: “There is no greater grief than the loss of a child and you would not wish it upon anyone. But out there in the global wilderness, like so many ticking time bombs, are thousands of young boys and girls on the verge of implosion. Children today eat more pills and capsules and officially sanctioned uppers and downers under the protective canopy of prescription medicine than ever before. It is almost acceptable to have anxiety and depression, as if these were badges of honour and indicative of dedication to doing well in school and college and even further on.”
She adds: “No one told us Mohit was seeing a psychiatrist ... But as a parent, shouldn’t I have known what was going on in my son’s head?”
Any change in a child’s behaviour should not be taken lightly, she says. “It could be weight loss or gain, a mood swing or just fluctuating temperature. Your child could well be on a drug regimen to overcome anything from peer pressure to fear of failure. Please take it seriously.”
In the preface of her book, she says, “If I can, through this effort, bring one life back from the brink and awaken one mother or one father to say, wait a minute are we missing something, not seeing what is in front of us, then Mohit, my son, you will not have died in vain.”
The book will be released at India Club on October 24.
My only aim is to tell other parents that just because they cannot see the monster, it does not mean it isn’t there.”
Sheetal Mulani | Indian expat