Schoolies

They throw the big book of chasteness and discipline that we have been painstakingly writing since they were born, at us without any mercy. The schoolies week has begun. The first generation Indian migrants, brought up in the abyss of Victorian values imposed on us by the British, may get totally lost in despair at the hedonic life style of their teenage son or daughter. It is time to experience the cultural shock.

It is an irony, people from the land of Kamasutra, still finds sex a sin. But booze is another matter, while the parents have happily taken up the western culture of setting up a mini bar at their homes, wishing the kids to be teetotallers is hypocrisy. Frazzled to the deep end, a calm inner voice may suggest that, they will be back as the little lambs; we always wanted them to be. The mundane nature of the whole exercise, more likely to turn the ‘doe’ back to ‘doe’.

Parents of boys, with a wink may find solace in the timeless adage, boys will be boys. For boys, the much celebrated schoolies freedom involves shacking up a couple of school girls. Your daughter is a party to the celebration or a victim in the whole game. It is a pain to be the parent of a teenage girl, in this country. The Indian values may pinch from deep within. The little girl as we know, fond of comic books and farm animals suddenly talks about privacy and freedom and demands lesser parental controls. She spends most of her time texting behind closed doors. Is there something to worry?

‘Worry’ is a disease. Do our children use drugs? Do they keep good company? Are they safe wherever they are? As parents, we are yet to get used to the western mindset of “My life, my enjoyment and my priorities”. The spooky inner voice may take us to a level of paranoia. Thrilled and excited to enjoy everything that was forbidden until then, makes a dangerous mix of anything unimaginable.

On a second thought, should we worry at all? Indian values are not based on control and cover up; it is more to do with freedom and Karma. The concept of Maya, as explained by Sri Krishna to Arjuna explains it all. Nothing is permanent and nothing is real. We all are actors in this world stage, doing our role as per the script. We all are born for a purpose and our children have the right to explore and find their rightful place in this world. A Schoolies week of drug, sex and booze is not going to change anything and they may reach a realization that life is above all those things and there is much more to life.

Once the whole saga is over, we as parents may realise that the petrichor emanating around us is pleasant and there is no other trace of evidence that it had rained at all.

  scoolies