‘FLY’ with Manish Goel

Two years ago, Manish Goel initiated a movement, FLY (Future Lies In Our Youth), which aimed to create awareness on the increasing number of suicides by students. Though the actor hasn’t been able to bring down the number of suicides, he’s taken huge strides in creating awareness. Says Manish, “I started this movement two years ago but I have to admit that it only gained momentum once Priya Dutt (Congress MP) got associated with it. Astonishingly, suicides have gone up by 15,000. On our part, we are glad to be able to reach out to many schools and college across Mumbai “ Adding further, he says, “I’ve personally delivered lectures in various colleges/schools urging students to refrain from taking such drastic steps. We’ve asked every school/colleges to hire psychologists to help out those students who are stressed.” Often academic failures forces youngsters into taking such step but that’s not the case every time. Manish narrates a chilling tale, “A girl scored 97 % while her colleague edged her by 0.5 per cent. This girl was pleased with her performance and was keen on celebrating her success .However, her parents turned down her request saying that because the neighbour’s child had score 0.5 per cent more , she didn’t deserve to go out. That night, she killed herself. In another shocker of a case, a mother forced her daughter to wear a skirt but the child wasn’t comfortable in it. At the party, where the family visited, the girl went to the loo, replaced her skirt with jeans, and then jumped from the 14th floor. On her back, she wrote- “I don’t like wearing skirts.” When celebs take up social issues, it is often dubbed as a publicity stunt. Manish too had to face this criticism but he’s no longer perturbed by it. The actor chides, “When I first started, some one wrote that I was doing it only for publicity. There after, I made a conscious effort to do my work by remaining in the background. I’ve held discussions with various students and have met with positive results. I cannot claim to have reduced juvenile suicides, but I feel a sense of achievement when students tell me that they wouldn’t commit such a step.” Well, we can conclude that FLY is certainly buzzing with life.