India and Selfie-Related Deaths

 

In a recent research (According to Washington Post), it was discovered that more than half of the 27 related 'selfie' deaths in 2015 occurred in the second most populous country in Asia, India. What a very sad news. India as a country is one that I have always compared greatly with my dear country, Nigeria. One, because of the large population of both countries; being the 2nd and and 7th most populous counties in the world respectively (According to infoplease.com). And 2, because, Indians and Nigerians like to take what is trending in the world, and turn it up another notch. This is evident in the fact that India, when Hollywood became a household name in the 70s and 80s, quickly went and named their own movie industry, Bollywood (a play on the name, Hollywood). Nigeria did the same when they named their own movie industry Nollywood.

In this article, I am not going to be talking about Nigeria and its similarities with India, but on how India's nature of copying popular trends around the world has taken a negative turn for some of its citizens. In case you are reading this and don't know the meaning of the word selfie, it is the art of taking pictures of yourself with your phone, in different place (sometimes dangerous places), and sharing them online for the amusement of your social media friends and the whole world wide web. That is my own simple explanation of it. People take selfies on cliffs, in the middle of the road, on top of skyscrapers, and other risky positions. This has led to the death of many young people, worldwide, with India having the highest number of 'selfie' related deaths in 2015.  Right now, the Indian police are working on marking specific places in India's major cities as 'no-selfie zones.' I think this is a great idea.

Just last week, three girls fell off rocks into the Arabian sea in Mumbai's coastal line, in Bandra Bandstand while trying to take a selfie. The sad part was that an innocent passerby dived in to save the girls. He managed to bring out two of the girls, but didn't make it back when he went for the third one. He was washed into the deep blue sea with the girl he attempted to save. What a sad event that could have been avoided. And this is just one of the many selfie-related accidents that  have happened in India in the last twelve months. We just pray Indian teenagers back-pedal on this selfie craze. And average of 10 deaths a year might not mean a lot statistically when looking at the population of about 1.2 billion people (India's current population), but when considering the fact that the deaths occur due to the careless nature of young teenagers, it saddens the heart.