Rugged contours
Today morning news came of a stunt driver’s pillion rider
being shot at mistakenly or otherwise by the cops who tried to rein in a group
of errant and purposefully unruly youth.
The capital city of New Delhi has
been waking up to similar news far too often now. One is forced to hazard a
guess as to the indiscipline prevailing in our young ones. Some say it is lack
of restrictions and basic discipline at home that help these young ones to
progress on this rebellious journey. Others say boys are boys and this is the
stage in life when the itch to challenge set norms and rules takes over. Boys turn rebellious and seek to live a
divergent life, one that is not the normal prescription which is followed by
the majority.
Coming back to the news item – it
is reported that a group of bikers with their new and modified machines came
out in batches of two to show their rebellious spirit and perform stunts on
bikes for which there are no takers or spectators, because they normally dwell
in these acts of supposedly bravery well past midnight when the city sleeps and
there is no traffic on the streets. I can understand showing off, but for this
you need spectators. So what eggs them on, even when they know no one is
watching and there will be no thunderous applause at the end of it? Is it plain
venting of anger, frustration or is it a new fad with the younger generation?
But again why choose to challenge the law?
The police as is their duty tried
to stop them but the errant group were insistent and dogged the cops almost
teasing them with the now famous Mohammed Ali line “catch me if you can”. The harassed cops when they failed to bring
these rouges under control simply did what they do as the last resort and fired
at the wheels obviously missing and killing one of them. How the pillion rider
died or what actually happened will probably not be known, but what is known is
that the youth who died paid with his life for a foolish act of bravery or
being party to one.
A rebellious streak can be
understood but being rebellious to the extent of defying the laws of the
country and ‘cocking a snook’ at enforcers of the law smells of arrogance too.
The thought that they can get away with anything and comparing contravention of
laws as simple as contravening home rules enforced by parents. These kids are
more often from broken or troubled families, where the adage “A family that
prays together stays together “does not hold. These are probably families where
members do not see eye to eye where parents are mostly separated or live
separate lives without bothering about the values being inculcated in their
young ones. These are families where
parental guidance is not deemed as necessary but treated as a non-requisite .These
are probably families where child rearing is not a joint responsibility.
It is the upbringing in a family
that teaches a young one the right behavioral pattern and imbibes the right
character. If done rightly they will certainly know where to draw the line though
they may have a rebellious streak about them, thus saving themselves and their parent’s
unwarranted troubles. We as parents are therefore partly responsible for the
shape of character of our children and will have to take the flak for the poor
decisions they take or pay the price for their indiscretions. Choose to ignore
early warnings at your own peril and at the cost of lost reputation and peace
of mind.
Robin Varghese
30th
July 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment