Any untimely death evokes grief but 26-year-old Nafisa Josephs’ suicide shocked India beyond grief. Friends, family, mediapersons, fans all grappled with the ultimate question – Why – but there was no one around to answer their questions. The shock turned a bit gruesome with every media outfit coming out with their own version of the truth.
Intrusive stories like “The Ex Files” delved into her past trying to figure out which one of her ex-boyfriends caused her the maximum grief and possibly led to her suicide. For about three-weeks Nafisa’s chiselled face was splashed across newspapers and tvs and she was the topic of conversation at every gathering. For the socially-conscious, it led to the inevitable question of whether or not we have enough of a support system for the depressed. However, a few months down the line, despite the odd sympathetic shrug there is not much left to talk about. - Sunanda Kumar