The aim of the project is to inform the people about the prevalence and commonality of suicide and the presence of the prevention of it by the helpline.

There has been 1,33,623 number of suicides in India in 2015 in a population of 12,591.1 lakh which amounts to 10.6 suicides per lakh of people. So for every four minutes a person takes his/her own life. Suicide prevention helplines are based on the ‘telephonic counselling’ method where the patient does not have to be present in person to meet the counsellor to receive counselling along with the addition of anonymity. This method is helpful in the prevention of suicide because of the anonymity which helps in making people comfortable about their problems to someone they do not know but with the trust that it will not be judged. Also with the taboo attached with the suicidal thoughts and mental health, the telephonic counselling is a requirement.

I have worked with ‘Jeevan Aastha’ a toll free 24x7 helpline number functioning out of the DSP office in Gandhinagar. It has seven counsellors, one senior counsellor and headed by the Police inspector. I have tried to capture the everyday life of the counsellors. The counsellors in the month of Feb have addressed to 38 calls. They have narrated the incidents they have experience when trying to help others.

Along with it, I was interested in the spaces people suicide. I was intrigued by the peacefulness of these spaces, which hides the turmoil of people who choose to die.

The project was a response of a life events which had affected me. My uncle killed himself in 2013, though I was not that close with him, the fragility of life itself made me investigate more on the people who want to save other by being anonymous