The Root Cause

The flurry of activities in past two weeks, especially the DPS episode made me to pause and ponder. It is not the morality or obscenity which bothers me as much for what this boy(and girl) did, pales in comparison to what some fathers do to their daughters these days.

Rather, what bothers me is the listless, sorry manner in which children are brought up today. It might appear as a case of sour grapes, but I can not imagine myself in possession of a mobile, with multimedia or no with multimedia, during my school or college days, not just because they were non-existent at that time.

I vividly remember that we had to earn every penny we demanded from our parents. Even that Laiyya or Bhel at the Thela, after the school, was a luxury which could be enjoyed only once or twice a week. There was no easy money on platter. Parents earned it with hard work, and so were we made to. We complained, of course, but value of the money was always emphasized.

No amount of Sari pulling at the market place would melt their hearts. I had to pool whole year even for my birthday. Double of the collected amount was contributed by them. All these habits helped us a lot in college days, and even today.

Unfortunately, economy is open these days. Rat race for money is on. Parents don't have time for their kids, especially the rich ones. Money is only an ATM away. DVDs, computers, internet - every latest gizmo is available to kids, without proper control. Nothing less than a branded item will do. Flaunting them is a status symbol.

These two kids did it for fun; many of their age do it for money. Not that they need it. But they have a lifestyle to maintain. Not many have the guts to earn it honestly. How can it be explained that same DPS boy, or that IIT-KGP guy sold that MMS to many, when both of them belonged to affluent families ?

The debate will go on. People will talk of banning such handsets, and other crap. These are only the symptoms. No one will see the larger issue. The root one. The parenting one.