On my way back from work today, I noticed 3 separate incidents
of minors (read people not eligible to apply for a learner’s license) riding
scooters. On another day I would have
simply dismissed it off as another stray incident but today it touched a raw
nerve and hence I am writing this post.
For some days now, a leading Cola making company has
formulated a new campaign targeting the youth. Nothing new in that you might
say .. Cola companies always target the youth. But if you see this campaign
they are encouraging the youth to be restless. A few months ago another leading
internet service provider launched its top of the line 16 MBPS service
similarly targeting the youth and encouraging them to be impatient.
Why do you want the youth to be impatient? What are the
after effects of them becoming impatient? Is it not enough that we already fall
prey to so many impatient people day in and day out? Is it not enough that we
are bordering on being an undisciplined, ignorant and arrogant country? Is it
not enough that we do not use our common sense at most times and go on to use a
compound wall as a urinal or the open road as a wash basin to clear our throats? Instead of teaching the kids the importance of patience we want to induce them
to be impatient? Do the corporate business houses have no social responsibility? OR is it just limited to donating money in charity and/or doing something similar for a day and forgetting about it till next year? Today they want
to drink a Cola .. Abhi … tomorrow they might want to sample cocaine… abhi ke
abhi … who is responsible for this?
Dad: Waiter, Get us a beer and an ice cream.
Son: Dad, why ice cream? You too have a beer.
A few good people, like a cousin of mine is putting in hard yards to teach the kids importance of good social behavior like do not litter, do not urinate on compound walls, do not spit on roads. And here we have a media blitz by the cola asking them to do it abhi. I think the worst part is it is endorsed by well-known celebrities from the film and cricket world and the kids of an impressionable age will take to emulating them.
Coming to the 3 minors I saw on the road today, all of them
were below the age of 12 years. One of them was accompanied by her mom riding
pillion try to teach her daughter to ride. Case 2 was even more awesome where
an under aged kid was riding a Dio with another 4-5 year old as a pillion
rider. And the best of the 3 was a 12-13 year old kid riding with 2 pillion
riders. I think I need not mention none of the 3 cases wore any protective gear
at all and were happily chatting to their pillion riders while putting
themselves and all others at risk too. Whom do you blame for this now? Do you
blame the kids themselves or their parents or the society in general which is
always unforgiving to people who take their own sweet time to learn things.
Impatience breeds ignorance and arrogance. I leave it up to
you to decide if it is right to be impatient or wise enough to wait for your
turn. Tomorrow, when a kid cuts through a queue of people waiting to pay their
bills .. don’t blame the kid, blame yourself for not taking note of it when the
kid was busy growing up.
