Raaja Shaanti

Biography
Raaja Shakti Shaanti (June 15, 1983-November 12, 1997) is an Indian-American teenager who died from hanging himself after being suspended from school. He was bullied for having autism. He is the middle child of the Shaanti family and has four siblings: Jyoti, Vaayu, Shalini and Chaand.

History
Raaja is born on June 15, 1983 in Seattle, Washington to Sari and Navneet. When they are both homeschooled after they graduated high school, Sari first became pregnant in 1979.

When he is 4 years old, he is now diagnosed with autism.

Chaand was born in 1988 when Raaja was 5.

In 1989, he attended elementary school. In 1994, he moved to Portland, Maine.

In 1994, he attended King Middle School. When he was in 6th grade, he finally admitted that he had autism, causing the other boys to call him a "retard" and tell him to send him back to either a developmental room or a disability center. He goes to the bathroom and cry. His locker was taped with notes that read "retard", "go back to your developmental class, retard!", "retarded", and "go back to the disability center!".

In 8th grade, he was playing dodgeball in gym class, until when the dodgeball hit him in the face while trying to avoid it but he failed, his classmates laugh at him, call him a "weak ass pussy", a "retard", a "coward", a "dumbass", and a "loser".

In 1997, he attended Deering High School. The other boys from Raaja's middle school are still taunting him. One of the boys, Derek Sheer told him that he and his friends hate him and want him to leave because he is retarded and has autism. Raaja's locker is vandalized with words that read "Retarded Raaja" in black marker.

After school, he looks at his AIM messages to reveal hurtful, offensive messages such as: "You have autism? Are you retarded?", "Go back to the developmental room with your disabled friends, retard!", "Only retards like you have underdeveloped brains!", "YOU EAT SHIT YOU WEAK ASS PUSSY!", and, even worse, "Go back to the disability center". He tells it to his parents, but they tell him to block them on AIM and ignore the bullies.

Death
On November 12, 1997, a boy from science class named Alex Peterson drew a picture of Raaja with an ugly, dumb face with a unibrow, snot coming out of his nose, two teeth coming out of his mouth and a helmet. Raaja called it "offensive", so he called one of the boys an "ableist". He rips the drawing to pieces and threw them in the trash. Alex calls him out for ruining his drawing. He started to beat up Alex for drawing the picture. When they are fighting, they were both sent to the principal's office. Both Alex and Raaja were now in after-school detention.

After what he has done, he is now grounded for one week. When he is in his bedroom, he writes a suicide note that reads:

''I am not retarded. People who call me that are ableist jerks who hate autistic people like me. This is all my fault. All of the other boys hated me and want me to leave because they think they want me to be put into a developmental classroom filled with disabled teenagers like myself. I am not like the other kids. I would just end my life. Goodbye cruel world.''

After writing it, he finds a noose and he decided to hang himself. When Sari opened the door, she was shocked to find out that he was hanging himself. She lets out a horrified scream and faints. Navneet notices what's going on. On November 14, a funeral was held and on November 15, his body is now cremated and were scattered into the sea.

Appearance
He is a teenage boy with light brown skin, brown eyes and black hair styled in curtains. He wears a green-and-black striped shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. He wears round glasses a la Harry Potter. He has a small, red circle on his forehead.

As a ghost, his clothing does not only remain the same, but has a noose around his neck.

Personality
He is a shy and caring teenage boy who is often bullied, harassed and called out by the boys who hated him and wanted him to leave because he doesn't want autistic people like him to be in normal classes. Being autistic himself, he usually covers his ears when he hears loud noises.

As a ghost, he is depressed and lonely and wanted autistic friends.

Obituary
Sari and Navneet wrote and obituary about Raaja.

"1983-1997

Raaja is a special boy who is diagnosed with autism at age 4.

He once lived in Seattle and moved to Portland, Maine because he was happy to live here.

In elementary school, he was happy to make friends and he loves to paint, draw, learn about things, and making new friends.

When he went to a middle school in Portland, he was often bullied by the other kids and call him mean names and use insults to make him cry. He received horrible threats on AIM afterschool. The kids hated him and want him to leave because he's autistic.

On the last day of 8th grade, he befriended a few girls at a dance held at a high school for 8th graders.

And when he went to high school, he is now an angst-ridden outcast. he beat up a kid named Alex who drew an offensive picture of him. When he was suspended, he got grounded for fighting, so he wrote a suicide note and hanged himself with a noose.

Raaja Shakti Shaanti, our wonderful angel."

Conversations
[At Science class, Alex Peterson is drawing a picture and shows it to Raaja. It was Raaja with an ugly, dumb face with a unibrow, snot coming out of his nose, two teeth coming out of his mouth and a helmet]

Raaja: "Hey!"

[Alex laughs]

Raaja: "What the hell is this bullcrap? You call yourself an artist whereas your drawing looks like you just scavenged it into the dumpster, nobody actually likes you. Even your parents tried to abort you."

Alex: "Even my parents tried to abort me? Stay classy, Chinki."

Raaja: "Don't call me that, I'm Indian-American. And stay classy? How "original". Go make original comebacks, cracker!"

Alex: "Shut up, scumbag!"

Raaja: "Why you little douchebag..."

[Raaja rips up the drawing in pieces and throws it in the trash]

Alex: "My drawing! It's ruined! You can't ruin people's drawings like that!"

Raaja: "Guess what? I'm kicking your ass!"

Alex: "Make me, you curry muncher!"

Raaja: "You're going to resort them to insults not even a whiny 15-year-old would use?"

Alex: "Yeah, you autistic brownie! Now, I'm doing the same!"

[Alex pushes Raaja, but the latter pushes the former back as they start beating each other up]

Students: "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Mrs. Watanabe: "What's going on here?"

Raaja: "Alex drew that offensive drawing of me!"

Alex: "I don't care if it offends you! Raaja ruined my drawing!"

Mrs. Watanabe: "That's it! Go to the principal's office!"

Raaja and Alex's fight before Raaja's death

Principal Sanderson: "What's going on here?"

Alex: "Raaja ripped up my freaking goddamn drawing!"

Raaja: "Alex is the one who made that negative drawing out of me!"

Alex: "I don't care! He needs to be in a developmental classroom."

Raaja: "I haven't been into a developmental classroom since the 6th grade!"

Principal Sanderson: "Enough. Raaja and Alex, after-school detention for both of you!"

Alex and Raaja's meeting at the principal's office

Trivia

 * His name means "King Power Peace" in Hindu.
 * His favorite cartoon is Beavis and Butt-Head.
 * His favorite movie is Romeo + Juliet.
 * His favorite show is 3rd Rock from the Sun.
 * His favorite singer is Joan Osborne.
 * His favorite rapper is The Nortorious B.I.G.
 * His favorite song is "One of Us" by Joan Osborne.
 * His favorite color is green.
 * His favorite band is Green Day.