How much stress can the glam world handle?

Bangalore: It’s quite a warped world. Behind the catwalks, fashion shoots, glossy front covers and ad campaigns lies a dark world that’s a far cry from being glamorous. The world is distorting the way a generation of young girls and women view themselves. From aiming to be the fashion capital, we’re probably heading towards being the suicide capital of India. The recent spurt in suicides is alarming, as we explore the glassy-eyed story.

From Jiah Khan’s suicide to models Nafisa Joseph and Viveka Babjee’s earlier, to the recent ones of two city-based female fashion designers, U Abhijat in Indiranagar and Thankam Vasudevan on Sarjapur Road, throws light and questions the world of fashion and its glitz and glamour. Gayatri Rao, a counsellor at Viveka, explains, “People are getting ambitious and are ready to compromise on the moral values they grew up with to get ahead in life. There’s a lot of stress for designers where they have to meet certain deadlines and aspire to achieve a lot in a small time. This if not managed in a healthy way, can be fatal. We advise people to reach out to a confidante, and if they don’t have one they must not shy away from meeting a counsellor, who can help you get a better insight.” Youngsters are thrown into a world of competition and Gayatri agrees that, “many of those who come to us have contemplated the thought of suicide.”

Fashion guru, Prasad Bidapa feels that it’s a love-infested world, where relationships are under pressure. “Every industry, not only fashion industry has a common ailment. People are fool hardy in love. When the recent Mr India 2014, Prateik Jain was asked the question, if he would insist on his bride to be a virgin, he answered in the negative and said that he would meet a woman with an open mind and not think of her having a history or a past. One shouldn’t get involved in extra-marital affairs, but at the same time, a marriage is not the end of relationships and suicide isn’t the answer for a bad romance.” He questions, “Why is a guy who sleeps around called a stud and a woman who does the same a tart? Shouldn’t it be the same word for both?”

Model Mitali Rannorey, a successful model from the city, agrees, “There’s a lot of competition and stress in every field. Maybe in the glam world, there are some who know how to cope with stress and some who don’t. I take a lot of modelling assignments as I love the money, but I also know how to handle the stress.”