Intro
Watch these movie scenes. These scenes are from Irrfan Khan’s movie, The Lunchbox.
In the movie, the two characters have different lives, But they are going through loneliness. Irrfan Khan’s character is a widower who is about to retire, Who has lost connection and his purpose in life. Whereas Nimrit Kaur’s character is married and has a family, Yet she feels lonely. These two characters show us that loneliness can be of different kinds. Why am I telling you this? Because an article in the Hindustan Times in 2021 said that loneliness Is the biggest mental health challenge after stress. Loneliness. But some of you may say, this isn’t India’s problem. This is the problem of a Western country like America. There are millions of people in India. You’ll see crowds on the streets from schools to the streets. So how can Indians be lonely? But loneliness doesn’t mean you don’t have people around you. It means you don’t have meaningful social connections with your People. And this can happen in the crowds of millions of people.
A global survey in 2021 showed that 43% of Indians feel lonely. India was ranked third after Brazil and Turkey. But don’t think that this is only the case with the elderly. Around 25% of children aged 13-15 feel lonely. 25-year-old Adil said in an interview, “I don’t share my feelings with my parents because I know they… Won’t understand me.” “Sometimes, even my friends don’t understand me.” “That’s why I feel more lonely.” His mother can’t understand him. Adil says his mother calls him ‘moody’. So the question is, why do Indians feel so lonely? And the most important thing is, how can we solve this problem? This is important because either you or someone you know is facing This problem. So do read this blog.
India is facing a loneliness epidemic, which can also be called hikikomori. It’s a Japanese word for ‘extreme form of loneliness’. Before understanding why many of us feel so lonely, It’s important to understand what loneliness is. According to a paper in Indian Psychology, Loneliness is a bad experience when a person’s social relationships Are deficient, Either in terms of quantity or quality. If you read this definition, you’ll understand that loneliness Has three aspects. The first is unpleasant feelings i.e. when you don’t feel good. Loneliness makes people sad, which makes it difficult for them To do daily things in life. This leads to negative emotions in your mind. The second is the perception of being alone. So, it doesn’t matter whether you’re surrounded by a number of people. Even if you have 15 people in your house, you can still feel lonely Because you can’t connect with people around you. The third is the deficiency in desired relationships. What does this mean? It means that you want your relationships to be a certain way, But the reality is different. You might want to have 4 friends, but you only have 1 friend. Or you might want to have 1 friend, but the quality of the connection Is not good. Dr. Vivek Murthy, a surgeon general in the US, Who wrote a book on loneliness, said that loneliness is like The feeling of being hungry or thirsty. If we don’t eat enough, our body gives us signals that we Should eat more. Similarly, loneliness is a signal from our body that we should Establish better relationships. So the question is, why are Indians feeling more lonely?
