Until very recently, if you attempted to commit suicide in India and survived, like I did, you would be met with the news that you could spend up to a year in prison for your failed attempt at taking your own life.

I had overdosed on sleeping pills, fully intending to die. I imagined I’d drift off to sleep forever, and it would be a blessed escape from the reality of my life. “Most of all”, I wrote in my suicide note to my mother, “I am now going to be free of pain.” But I wasn’t. I was found in time, and rushed to the hospital. I shall never forget that wild ride through the empty streets, the blare of the ambulance siren in the background. I was saved from a ghastly end, with very little choice in the matter.

Read the rest here.