From the heart of a 16-year-old

Life is about coming's and going's, but the beauty of it all are the memories. For me, all memories are good, even the one's that pain, because if they weren't as good, they wouldn't be my memories, would they? Friend's, our little angels on earth, are some of the most treasured people we're gifted.

Exactly a month ago, a little girl sat next to me at work. I wished her a good morning and after the initial introductions and small talk, got on with "emails for the day". Little did I know that during the course of the month, the rest of the team and I would be close to an adorable little 16-year-old girl whose morning chatter about life in general would be the beginning of all our days. Of course, lunch was a picnic with a mix of food, but what all of us will miss the most is a look at life through a 16-year-old's eyes, a view and belief that we must try and recapture. Here's what her going away email said to us all:

• Sara :) you're just the cutest. I love how romantic and adorable you are, and how sweet and helpful. The sweet things you say, the lovely things you wear and the most wonderful optimistic strongest outlook to love - you're gorgeous, don't forget it :* 
• Ela :) you're also such a sweetheart, you're lively and engaging and interesting, and Ela is just the nicest name. :* you spoke to me the first, and i wrote/ helped you with some of your articles- such an experience. :D 
• Leena :) you're too considerate and you have the funniest stories to tell. talking to you makes me smile :) 
• Roshni :) you called me 'the new girl' the first time you saw me. love your humour, sarcasm and sense of freedom and fun. Blackberry Love Forever :* 
• Sharmishta :) you're so quiet and cute and dedicated to what you do- you're too nice. :) 

Love you'll. thanks for being so much and making a month WORKING instead of watching an 11am movie, full of laughter and fun. i've made new friends and heard new stories and met new people and i love you'll for that :* gonna miss you guys, tons. keep in touch.

Love forever,Avanti

I shall read and reread this note often, because this shows me life through the eyes of innocence... an innocence that I hope shall live on forever.

Sweet little Avanti,All of us miss you tremendously too, and there are but a few words that truly do justice to the joy and happiness you've brought to our lives.

Lots of love and blessings forever,

All of us

xxxxx 

Viveka Babajee's true friends won't talk...

... because they are the ones who're too numb with pain and too traumatised with grief over the passing of their dearest friend. They're the ones who knew what Viveka was going through, they're the ones who wiped her tears and wished they could do more to take her pain away and banish her disillusionment with life.

Life and death have a way of separating true friends from the 'I-Knew-Her/Him' people. She made one last call for help, she reached out one last time to a man she believed would stand by her and then she ended it. Speculating the why's and how's are futile because she's passed through this physical world into the spiritual one.

It saddens me to read snippets from her 'so-called' friends telling the media and in-effect the world-at-large, 'how they wished she'd spoken to them', or 'how she seemed so normal'. Well, if they were indeed her real friends she'd have turned to them, they would have had some inclination of the depth of her pain and suffering. Regarding her 'seeming normal', while a suicidal person may think of ways to kill herself, something just snaps in that one moment and that's probably when Viveka decided to take the step she did.

My point of contention is this: who are we to discuss her life and reasons for her death in public? She's gone, left this cruel world behind, why then does the media feel the need to delve into parts of her personal life that should stay personal? It's easy for the world-at-large to judge her based on the things she did or did not do; but has anyone bothered to try and understand that action is usually a response to something deeper, something more disturbing, probably something buried... something that should stay personal. Her closest friends would have known of course and there's no doubt they will respect her memory and her privacy... devoid of judgments.

Is this what we now call news? Or is this some kind of perverse intrusion into parts of someone's personal life? News needs to be left at reporting her death, how she died and whether someone is directly or indirectly responsible... nothing more. This is reporting, anything beyond is mere speculation and that's where we disrespect her memory.

Her true friends won't quote in the media simply because they'd be too upset, they respect her memory and of course their grief is personal. They'd want to remember her for her laughs and her tears... no reasons, no questions, no judgments, no discussions. While her true friends mourn their loss, they'd also believe that her troubled spirit is now at peace and she'd always be with them spiritually. True friends wouldn't speculate, look for reason or discuss justifications; that's left to the people that claim to be her 'friends'.

Viveka's gone to a better place and her friends will mourn their loss and celebrate her memory... behind closed doors. It's time the media left it at that and leave her spirit in peace... give her the one thing that she left this life for... please give her the peace she so desired.