As I sat down to read the newspaper in the morning, gory details of a local scuffle in Navi Mumbai dominated the headlines. Also was prominent the case of a young prodigal scion of a illustrious family having sullied the name by having sexually assaulted and violated a 52 year old woman. And I put the paper down. Please, are we so denigrate a species that we have no other things to put on the first pages of our dailies?
Maybe we are, and as such deserve to be tortured so everyday of our pitiful lives, being reminded so. But surely the future holds promise? Maybe it does, but it all depends on how you define 'the future'? If we are to include the likes of the class 10 students who drugged their female classmate, took her to her own house, and taking advantage of the absence of her parents, violated her, then I fear the future's bleak. I don't want to sound moralistic. But, somewhere down the line, I find this to be most scary. A society wherein in a moment, minds can turn to such demonic pursuits, and that too with no fear of the consequences, is somehow doomed to become the scrounging ground of wastrels. In this particular case, the students may be minors in the eyes of law, but if one asks oneself, these kids, and I use the term with great trepidation, have the maturity far surpassing the ordinary adult. I have no doubt that they were aware that what they were planning to do was not right, neither in law nor in the eyes of social norms, as also of the consequences of their actions. And yet, it did not inspire any horror in them of the act.
The young of a nation are the Hope, the light that will dispel the Horror of the past, of those who had the opportunity to change the course of history but didn't, or couldn't for lack of courage. Somehow these youth inspire no such goodwill. They aren't the Hope, they are the Horror. If this is the road the future has chosen, then stop boasting about the prowess of India in the world, of how its statesmen are welcome at the high tables of power, of how men of fortune are lining up to put their monies in the Indian markets. All this will be in vain when we lose a generation to such perversions. All the industry of the ages will crumble if the society it aims to support no longer respects the law, nor fears its blow. Till then, cease this empty boast of being a glorious civilization. We have abdicated that throne long ago; it's only the vestiges that we enjoy now, as shameless lepers on a public dinner.
Maybe we are, and as such deserve to be tortured so everyday of our pitiful lives, being reminded so. But surely the future holds promise? Maybe it does, but it all depends on how you define 'the future'? If we are to include the likes of the class 10 students who drugged their female classmate, took her to her own house, and taking advantage of the absence of her parents, violated her, then I fear the future's bleak. I don't want to sound moralistic. But, somewhere down the line, I find this to be most scary. A society wherein in a moment, minds can turn to such demonic pursuits, and that too with no fear of the consequences, is somehow doomed to become the scrounging ground of wastrels. In this particular case, the students may be minors in the eyes of law, but if one asks oneself, these kids, and I use the term with great trepidation, have the maturity far surpassing the ordinary adult. I have no doubt that they were aware that what they were planning to do was not right, neither in law nor in the eyes of social norms, as also of the consequences of their actions. And yet, it did not inspire any horror in them of the act.
The young of a nation are the Hope, the light that will dispel the Horror of the past, of those who had the opportunity to change the course of history but didn't, or couldn't for lack of courage. Somehow these youth inspire no such goodwill. They aren't the Hope, they are the Horror. If this is the road the future has chosen, then stop boasting about the prowess of India in the world, of how its statesmen are welcome at the high tables of power, of how men of fortune are lining up to put their monies in the Indian markets. All this will be in vain when we lose a generation to such perversions. All the industry of the ages will crumble if the society it aims to support no longer respects the law, nor fears its blow. Till then, cease this empty boast of being a glorious civilization. We have abdicated that throne long ago; it's only the vestiges that we enjoy now, as shameless lepers on a public dinner.
2 comments:
yea.. The news is pretty shocking. But i mean its better not to generalise based on a few observations. Its not like a majority of the individuals commit these immoral acts.
I dont think that these are the individuals who will shape the future of this nation. These are just a few minor setbacks...
I hope and pray that thisn't the rule, and is merely the exception to the norm. However each and every day, reading new cases of rape, paedophilia, and sexual harassment, somewhere my prayers are being dashed day in and day out. I don't wish to generalise, but if the frequency and quanta of such news increases, one cannot remain blind to this phenomena.
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