My helper was in a pensive mood that day.
As was her routine, once she starts talking while she takes the mop in her hand, only when she mops the whole apartment, will she shut her mouth.
So long as she talked something interesting, I didn’t mind her rattling away. But what happened to her today? She was so silent.
“What’s wrong with you today? You have never opened your mouth? All’s quite well and nothing to gossip about?”
She looked worried now.
“Amma, my son hasn’t come home for the past two days. Two days back, I fought with him and asked him to go out of the house. He left somewhere and hasn’t returned back…”
I could see tears in her eyes.
“But what happened? Why did you scold him?”
“He wants a motorbike...”
Motorbike? But she can’t even afford to buy a cycle! She has been complaining now and then about her inability to meet the demands of this poor teenager. He had wanted a pair of jeans, a cooling glass and then a cell phone. But then, a mother is always happy in pleasing her child. So she borrowed money here and there and managed to fulfill his wishes. He was roaming all around wearing those jeans and the cooling glass.
But now, he wanted a motorbike. It may be a normal desire of a young man, but how could she explain to him that it was beyond their reach?
He had gone to school for perhaps two or three years. Since he did not attend school properly, his name was struck off from the register. She got him a job in a mechanic shop.
Whatever it may be, it is natural for a teenager to dream of a better life – a poverty-free life.
The screeching sound of the mop got me back to the real world.
“Doesn’t he have a cycle? Or does he walk to the shop?” I asked her.
“Yes, he has a cycle and has a cell phone also.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“He says he loves a girl in the neighborhood. His friends told him that only if he has a motor bike, the girl will notice him. ”
“Where does she live?”
“She is a rich girl, amma. Her dad is working in a bank and she is doing her plus two in a school nearby...”
“Does she love him?”
“She doesn’t even look at him. This boy’s mind is corrupted, amma. That’s why we had a fight two days back! I told him to stop this love nonsense and go to work….but he says he will die if he doesn’t get her. I shouted at him and he left the house in anger. Now I don’t know what’s happened to him.”
Tears threatened to come out of her eyes. I felt sorry and helpless. All I could do was to listen to her ranting.
She finished her work and left.
She came back in the evening to do the household chores and started doing her work silently.
“Has your son come back?” I asked her eagerly.
She nodded quietly as if to say yes.
This was what happened.
He had left the house that night and went and stayed in his friend’s house. Next day, he had taken a motorbike from the shop where he worked, , followed the girl and expressed his love. She immediately complained to her dad who took action and beat the boy black and blue.
He had returned back home with face swollen and with lot of bruises and injury.
What has influenced this boy to get into such kind of infatuation? I wondered.
My helper said that ten days before, he had watched a tamil movie in which a boy working in a mechanic shop loves a school-going teenage girl and elopes with her.
She was blaming the movie for her boy’s misdeed. But all said and done, it is unfair to fully blame the movies alone for this kind of influence on teenagers.
It is sad that these people live in a society where they are not able to differentiate between the virtual and the real…
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Sampath ji, ty for the comment. Yes, we are also guilty to some extent in misguiding them.
Divya, thanks for reading. Anyone of us can identify ourselves with such a situation.
Sopiz, ty for the comment. This fantasy world should not conquer us.
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very true...many of us live in a fantasy world
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Dear Priya,
You have narrated something in my house also - the reason i am mentioning this is becos, its not only one somewhere - there seem to be a whole lot of such teenage boys around who live in this fantasy world !! But I would definitely say that the cine world has a huge role to play in this - That is the only place where love comes the moment people walk into colleges or school (instead of exams and professors and classrooms), where love comes when a cousin comes over for summer vacation(instead of food and fun and frolic), when love comes by riding the same bus to work (instead of friendship!) May be sometime soon they will make movies more realistic! lets wait for them.. but may be a long wait...
Cheers
Divya
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priya,
you have captured a very importatnt social phenomena .not just at the lower end of socio economic level but at all levels of society.. excellently portrayed and presetned so effectively...
we all cater to this
we encourage our children to study hard and go abraoad
and we bemoan that they have becime foreighners
we want them to get fat salries
and we find that in the search of mammon
they have not gatheerd any alternative vakues..
we cater to all teirn external needs but do not feed their souls....
I am guilty of this also. Not directly but indirectly......
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Sorry I could not post a reply earlier :)
Red Strawberry, ty for the comment. I like this line : The brain works too, if only once would care to use it. . Haha :) BTW, No, Santosh or Sanjeev is not related to me. This is just a Sulekha handle, hiding half of my name :))
Hi Spencer, No, your comment is not negative. You have just laid the bare facts here:) But before we say we are helpless, I wish something is done :)
Indu, ty for the comment. I wont blame lack of education, but actually there is no guidance from the parents because these types have time only to earn for their living.
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I think lack of proper education and guidence frm the parents make these kids face unfortunate incidents.
Indu
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Hi Priya, this is a harsh story and a social commentary not just in India anywhere. It is a tough one because children rarely understand the magnitude of sacrifices parents make for them. I think somehow this needs to be articulated to kids at an early age... that usually does not happen.
Society has changed and is changing dramatically. The concepts that I grew up with are distorted in today's world. We can blame capitalism, movies, music, drugs, communication or ourselves. Actually it is a combination, and while it is not universal it is prevalent. It is the attitude of making money the easy way, with the least amount of effort in the shortest time. That in itself is a sound policy however the difference is that today's youth include by hook or by crook into the mix. Stealing is OK, stepping on a friend or loved one is acceptable in many cases. There is a lack of integrity and honor, and this saddens me.
Gangster rap music often promotes guns, violence, rape and getting what one wants at any cost. Films are abundant with racism, and get rich illegally schemes. In India there still seems to be a stronger family unit and the all for one and one for all mentality but particularly in urban environments this too is disappearing. Here in the States this has reached near epidemic stature. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of good kids, yet there are more and more bad apples and often one bad apple can spoil the bushel.
If there is a cure I believe it to be communication between parents and children, perhaps some peer groups for support as well. I am sorry my commentary seems negative today.. really I am hopeful but like anything worth having it requires hard work and commitment and a single purpose.... It is not an easy road. Few seem to understand the consequences of getting rich or making a fast buck the wrong way, what they fail to see is the lasting imprint these actions leave with us. It is much better to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and know you did it right than you pulled a fast one. Most of the youth do have deep rooted values and while they may be able to push them aside for a time and even enjoy their ilgotten gains sooner or later reality sets in and the scar is deep and lasting.
I hope I have not depressed anyone's weekend... hugs, Spencer
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Priya,
This is a familiar scenario. Juveniles eloping to find out that all that seems isn't true. Someone once said, ye dil jo dhadaktha hai, isska kya karen.....loosely translates to what to do with this lovelorn heart, to which the reply was dimaag bhi toh hai..usse bhi chala ke dekho....The brain works too, if only once would care to use it.
hmm. How are you btw any relation to the famos Sivan's , Santosh , Sanjiv ? jus thot would ask LOL
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Nidhana , thanks for the comment. I did think of the movie "kadhal" when I posted the blog but there a lot of movies on similar line :)
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Hi Priya, Good food for thought!!! I feel sorry for the mother and the son. The movie referred to, I heard is based on a true story . The mechanic goes insane right?
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