THE current realities that we appear to be missing to notice have triggered this appeal. A major part of these realities refers to our young generation. Hence this appeal -- to parents of children in the age-bracket of 18-22 years and below. For, no matter if many would disagree, it is a sad reality that some untoward elements and ugly masterminds are targeting our children’s unsuspecting minds for various purposes, commerce being the prime one. Just because the commercial world produces goods meant especially for young people, the market experts target that segment by creating enticements and allurements whose hidden dangers we somehow refuse to see or sense. Hence this appeal to parents -- to wake up and sit up and take notice and start acting decisively to protect the young generations from an overwhelming decadence that is being unleashed on the larger society. Various marketing narratives are doing the rounds of the larger Indian society (just as they are doing elsewhere in the world as well). Among the main targets of those narratives are young people who are offered lots of fake narratives to assert that certain products are meant to fulfill their core needs that they cannot avoid. And among the products that are on offer very cheaply is the massive data that is available almost for free to anybody who seeks it.

 

So, much before our youngsters are mature enough to sift the right and wrong or good or bad in the mountainous data that is easily available at the click of a button, they are loaded with information whose meaning they cannot understand. Most unfortunately, this data is of all kinds -- including pornography, crime, unbridled sexually titillating content, political negativism, anti-India stuff (which includes materials that are meant to denigrate India and its rich culture and tradition and history. ... ! Most unfortunately, most of the average Indian families are not even aware of what is actually happening on the ground right under their nose. Fake narratives, thus, invade young minds in the most attractive packages and pollute those fertile sanctuaries of unsuspecting innocence. Any society where the human element is sacrificed at the altar of consumerism starts its unavoidable journey towards a certain doom in a few decades. The larger Indian society is well on this way. And that is the worst fear. That is the biggest grief. That is the most treacherous anxiety that should trouble all of us. Yet, there is a good way out -- the way of good mature response to the silent invasion on our young minds at a wrong stage of their impressionable lives.

 

We must make conscious efforts to keep our children from getting influenced by wrong, market-driven narratives and dish out before the kids a more credible alternative that will wean their attention away from wrong narratives. And friends, this is possible if the families create wonderful, full-of-love family eco-systems, and stay deeply and closely connected with the children on an all-times-any-times basis -- so that our kids develop a clear aversion to wrong things of life, no matter how glittering, how glamorous. The secret is to form a very strong familial bond and keep the children protected by an invisible shield of love. Of course, every parent would insist that he or she has such a bond with the kids. To all such people, the loud-thinker asks only one question: “Oh, really?” ! Yet, time it is for us to be told that the overall experience does not match with such proud assertions. Most unfortunately, increasing numbers of parents are constantly complaining that the kids do not listen to wise words these days. However, if a conscious effort is made in the family to keep the children all the time under a vigil of love and affection without false notions of discipline, then a great connect can be established between the youngsters and the elders. That is all that is expected at this stage as a first step. It will certainly be a slow and patient process -- to draw youngsters closer into the family bonding, but it is necessary to keep our kids safe from wrong influences. (To be continued)