Monday, June 28, 2010

Models and Their Suicidal Tendencies


The suicides of models, Viveka Babajee( June 25, 2010), Kuljeet Randhawa( February 8, 2006) and Nafisa Joseph (29 July 2004) in recent times have shown that models lead a solitary existence. Success hits you like an opium, lucrative modeling contracts fly at your direction, dozens of men are waiting to take you for a spin, the shutterbugs constantly click while you sashay and strut your stuff down the ramp-everything feels so good; but are people around you genuinely happy that you are doing well for yourself?

Models do not have true friends; and some of them who do, can count their blessings. There is an unmistakable odor of manipulation and back-stabbing that reek through almost every relationship that embraces the modeling world. Men flip over these damsels and treat them like queens, but when the novelty wears off, they look for another female specimen. Since a model has a limited shelf-life, she reaches out to her man as she ages. She looks for commitment and stability in her life; she knows that most of her contemporaries would love to see her fail. So she turns to someone who she thinks is not judgmental and will support her endeavors. But the man is never there, he has moved on to befriend and sweet talk another female to bed. Why do I unabashedly use the phrase ‘sweet talk another female to bed?’ Well, it is apparent that he is not befriending her to help him out with gardening.

Modeling is not easy, you have to be constantly on your toes, deal with tantrums, change makeup, hair and clothes throughout the day. One ends up doing even up to 6 shows per day. Sleep is a distant dream and many of them are lucky to catch their 40 winks at the airport. Sex turns out to be an instant gratifier to soothe the frayed nerves but a woman is not fully powered by testosterone to dismiss the Passion play as an aimless frolic on the bed. As confused waves of emotions play on her mind, she sinks deeper into the engulfing sea of booze, drugs and nicotine. Not surprisingly some of these drugs are given to them by their so-called model friends. ‘Try it out’, they say and silently enjoy watching you crumble under the intoxicated high of Crack Cocaine. Many of the models when confronted with their conscience feel that they are not a part of this world of fake smiles. You are being judged all the time, not just during the ramp. There are 50 others to romp around to walk down the ramp.

The career of modeling is such that if you are out of sight, you are out of mind. However, good you may be, your clock keeps ticking and once the physical changes catch up with you, you know you cannot be the sweet dish of top fashion brands anymore. No one really knows where a model is after her career is over, some try their hand at event management, some turn to choreography, some to designing and some to prostitution. Frankly no one is bothered until you are on the streets like Gitanajli Nagpal or passed away like the three beautiful models, mentioned in the first paragraph.

Having said, that modeling is not the only field where people kill themselves; it happens in all levels of society and all types of vocations. But one of the biggest reasons for suicide is failure in personal and/or professional life. Modeling is sadly, one field where the rate of failure in both personal and professional lives is high.

You are lucky if you have a strong support system or else you need to be grounded and not get carried away. You should be able to look through the short-term propositions, you should be able to stay away from temptations and you should know where to draw the line. You should also not lose your head over a failed relationship. If a man is not willing to commit, dump him; there are other fishes in the sea. Easier said than done, but can be done, nevertheless. By killing yourself, you are not being true to the very essence of the modeling profession that has taught you to be practical all your life.




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