It is acceptable that a bit of moral policing of young people is necessary and
we need to be proud of our culture.
Where do we start?
Should we stop to wonder how other cultural influences came about? Are we
talking about what we term as the culture of western world? Let us look at
ourselves who feel the need to contain our youth in our great moral culture.
One could talk at length about the moral culture of our elders - the long
standing red light areas of cities, the rape of young girls practised in the
name of religion in some areas, the abuse of tender boys, the heinous murders
for gain, the abusive despicable tradition of terming human beings as
untouchables - it would take volumes if I go on.
May be we should stop to think:
Where do we send our children to study? In Schools where medium of instruction
is in a foreign language - English
What form of dress do we give them to wear? The dress of the foreigner OR the
dhothi / saree!
What food do they get to eat even in our homes? Idli and sambar OR groovy
dishes made of animal meat! Then
how ironic it is that we observe a meatless day on 31st Jan in
'reverent' memory of a simple saintly person
who lived as he preached.
Do we discourage them from eating Burgers and Pizza - the food of the people
with 'despicable' culture !!!
Do we watch movies and shows displaying foreign modes of life? Do the
youngsters sit alongside and watch too
What language do they/we speak even at home ??? rarely if ever in the mother
tongue
What alcoholic beverage do parents and elders consume? Foreign stuff ! But
surely not toddy.
And what about the club culture of elders? Is there a club where forign liquor
is not served, where there are no
dancing and partying into the wee hours of the morning on all festival
days. The pub for the youngster is
what a club is for the parent/elder
Do we want to continue to treat our daughters different from our sons? We
have to be more than dumb to
believe that the present day girls can be taken back to the days of SATI
and DEVADASIS or even to believe in
a set of values of life that are different from those advocated for boys.
And finally, as parents where do we aspire to send our children to study and
earn a luxurious living???? To the
lands of this so called cultures so abhorrant to us!! Do we for a moment
stop to think that as young people
they may end up not only acquiring that culture but those moral values as
well?
AS ALWAYS WE ARE BIGOTED
