School-going children or trapeze artists

Striking a balance in the world of children 

An edited version has been published by Deccan Herald here. Thanks to the team at Deccan Herald. 

During a recent bus trip I came across a group of school students sing Maati Kahe Kumhar Se, Tu Kya Rondhe Mohe - a song they often began their days at school with.  A few minutes later they followed it up with Chaar Bottle Vodka, Kaam Mera Roz Ka - a song that often accompanied them when there were ‘chilling’ with peers during the later part of the day. Kabir and Honey Singh, one after the other. 

This perhaps aptly brought out one of the challenges today’s school-going children 

face - trapezing between different worlds.

Some of these scenarios the children are able to express clearly. Few years ago I overheard a child convey her frustration to her friend. It was election time and her father and her teacher were at the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. When at home she would have to listen to her father, a right wing leader of sorts, admonish the left wing liberals. At school her teacher was a woke who believed that those right of centre were bereft of grey cells and generously shared her views in the classroom. Neither of them was willing to engage in conversations, to agree, to disagree or to even seek her views. Both of them however were keen for her to subscribe to their worldviews. All they succeeded in was to make her feel miserable. ‘Ideology’ is not the only animal in this forest, there are other species like ‘food’, ‘importance ascribed to marks’, and ‘freedom’.

It is not just the chasm between homes and schools but also the chasms the children observe within their schools and home. At well-heeled homes children often come across parents who - when on social media - are all for patriotism, aka love for their country, those protecting it and its grand history. The same parents, in real life, do not bat an eyelid as they berate the country and plan trips to Switzerland, studies in Australia or moving lock-stock-barrel to Canada. Parents who seldom read but insist that their child should be friends with books! At school, children hear teachers wax eloquent on caste and poverty - teachers they have never seen interact with the “help” or “support” staff on campus! They are also taught terms like ESD (Environment for Sustainable Development) for example; terms that occur primarily in conferences and posters and seldom in the ‘real’ world; a world where increasingly “individuals” are being replaced by “consumers”. 

Then there are challenges that we, as a society, force on them. Challenges the children find difficult to grasp. Today the divide, the distance, between the haves and have-nots is only getting more stark. As we increasingly interact, and exist, only within our worlds we are unaware of the worlds beyond ours. To add to this, actions of those in power and our choices are ensuring that we will soon be, if we are already not, insulated from all that is not part of our world. Today, a child in an English medium school in a Gurgaon or Noida is more aware of the lifestyle in New York and San Francisco than in slum few minutes drive from her home. Physically she exists here, mentally she is thousands of kilometres away!

Trapezing is a high risk activity. It may appear thrilling from a distance and up the adrenaline,  but surely is not sustainable in the long run. 

The lives of our school-going children warrant a deeper introspection and serious course correction. However, before we are to be of any help to the children we surely need to get our act together.

Other pieces published at Deccan Herald here.