Rethink On Adolescence

We Indians are an extremely sensitive race. Right from the highest echelon to the commoner, we can trace a fire before smoke billows out of it. Problem lies not in sensing but in honest admission and quick redress of the matter. For a long time we have been shying away from the fact that our society is being increasingly infected by a festering younger generation. Every time we are shocked into realisation by incidents like the recent one concerning the sexual escapade of two schoolgoers and its commodification. Undeniably, a disproportionately large section of our youngsters feed and water their thoughts, actions and conversations with `sex.'

This obsession with sex manifests itself with the diverse escapades that are coming to the fore through police raids and media led sting operations. Mobile, computers, VCDs, thanks to consumerism, have become a source of lewd entertainment. Things are changing for worse. Earlier, a "Debonair" used to be taboo for adolescents; now it is lively colourful visuals that spread MTV culture to every drawing room — without a hitch! Earlier eve-teasing meant `teasing'; now it can also mean bestial `torturing' — both mental and physical. Earlier the strayed ones frequented brothels to their own harm but now they drag out or woo young virgins to warm their beds.

Is it not time our politicians, bureaucrats, police, compradors and every other man in society woke up to brave the fact? The politicians can indeed do much more than squabbling on non-issues. Why not put all private entertainment channels under a regulatory system that would censure anything derogatory to our society? However, politicians will find little merit in this suggestion for we need FDIs, whatsoever germ it carries along! Compradors and other intermediary money makers can hardly be expected to forgo their share of profit in the name of some illusory `social responsibility.' Why not make a stricter law for them as the one recently made for fake drug manufacturers?

Ultra-caring parents

Lastly, the biggest onus lies upon the family, precisely, the parents. In an attempt to befriend their children modern parents go to any extent. They equip the latter with money, mobile and motorbike, naively believing them to be a child's fascination. These ultra-caring parents hardly believe that their highly-groomed young ones turn out of home only to pose a serious threat to society. Why filial love has only to be adjudged against material enrichment? Paradoxically most of our adolescents find a yawning psychological chasm between them and their parents. This estrangement coupled with out-of-door enticements leads to degeneration of character. This gap needs to be bridged to wean them away from the comfort of the flesh to the joy of the mind.

Any effort at censure in our country is promptly chastised by such words as `Talibanisation,' `saffronisation,' `Sanskritisation' and so on, but not a single word of disgust is muttered at naked flesh jiggling on visual screens. We raise a hue and cry on growing violence on women, on 4.58 million Indians being infected with HIV+. But this concern rises only to die down in its due time.

There is much talk about imparting value education in schools. Can a dry perfunctory lecture on righteousness make any dent in young minds when movies, music albums, mobile clippings and internets have so much stuff to offer them? Perhaps everyone, from politicians to parents, is too much bogged down by an unconscious fear of being labelled as `undemocratic,' `non-liberal,' `conservative' and `regressive.' Will it be a sin to cast off such unfounded fear and rediscover ourselves, apolitically, for a brighter and healthier future?