COLLEGE BLUES - THE REALITY CHECK
If schooling comprises the formative years, then college definitely is the finishing school where children are packed and packaged as ‘men or women’ to be brought out into a huge unpredictable market called “society”. And if, the finished product is defective, then they’re rejected and doomed for life.
College-portrayed as the most glamorous and happy go lucky period in a person’s life by films, the very word which makes the school going kids drool over, and the mention of which takes the elderly to an effervescent world of nostalgia. This is what I, an outstation student of first year, thought about college and college life. But the reality is not so rosy and goody-goody, and one only comes to know the “inside story” if one has stayed there and seen all that “with his very own eyes”.
College is generally associated with a life sans responsibility and full of fun, adventure and “FREEDOM”-not only to cast vote but to do all sorts of good or bad things which a person always wanted to but couldn’t, due to restrictions imposed by age, parents, teachers, school and family. But once in college, the bird is set free to soar high up in the sky, to explore all exotic shores and exalted peaks. Freedom always comes with responsibility, as rights come with duties. But youngsters often get so intoxicated with the taste of this ‘new found freedom’ that they forget the significance of responsibility which refers to “the self imposed restrictions and limitations”.
When we’re out of the confines of our secure home and beyond the protective supervision of our parents, it’s then that we get to know this “Big Bad World” full of wolves under the skin of men. We are then exposed to all sorts of evils which are irresistibly tempting. They start from a mere cigarette which we had seen Sanjay Dutt or Amitabh Bachchan stylishly smoking but never had the courage to take a puff during school life because we feared somebody passing by might watch us, or the same old chilled beer can which always used to beckon us from inside the refrigerator but we never dared to touch it as our dad’s angry eyes flashed in our mind. And these evils are not just limited to the cigarettes and booze in the roadside shops but have also come in within the college premises in the form of drugs which are sniffed privately during rock concerts. Any party in the hostel premises is incomplete without dirty dancing and buckets full of cheap alcohol. The flesh trade is also steadily catching up with the youngsters, mainly college goers to earn fast and easy money. Everybody knows who these so called “young, educated and decent models” of massage parlors are.
Most of these temptations initially start as an adventure with “it’s just the first time” attitude but in the absence of self imposed restrictions, gradually make us groan under their servitude.
The core of any revolution throughout the world have always been students - grown up, decision making, opinionated college students. They are the very future of the country and society. But what sort of future and progress can be expected from today’s youngsters who are themselves enslaved by intoxicants and evil practices. Such students can only take the country back to the ‘dark ages’.
It’s high time that the gym going, adventurous and cash-rich youth awakens to the ills of these evils and boycotts them completely. Gone are the days when college going youngsters like Mr. M. K. Gandhi used to promise their mother to refrain from all intoxicants and to hold all women in high regard, but today’s modern, tech-savvy generation next can at least make a silent resolution to themselves not to give in to such temptations for their own good, for the good of their country, and above all the happiness of their parents.
College-portrayed as the most glamorous and happy go lucky period in a person’s life by films, the very word which makes the school going kids drool over, and the mention of which takes the elderly to an effervescent world of nostalgia. This is what I, an outstation student of first year, thought about college and college life. But the reality is not so rosy and goody-goody, and one only comes to know the “inside story” if one has stayed there and seen all that “with his very own eyes”.
College is generally associated with a life sans responsibility and full of fun, adventure and “FREEDOM”-not only to cast vote but to do all sorts of good or bad things which a person always wanted to but couldn’t, due to restrictions imposed by age, parents, teachers, school and family. But once in college, the bird is set free to soar high up in the sky, to explore all exotic shores and exalted peaks. Freedom always comes with responsibility, as rights come with duties. But youngsters often get so intoxicated with the taste of this ‘new found freedom’ that they forget the significance of responsibility which refers to “the self imposed restrictions and limitations”.
When we’re out of the confines of our secure home and beyond the protective supervision of our parents, it’s then that we get to know this “Big Bad World” full of wolves under the skin of men. We are then exposed to all sorts of evils which are irresistibly tempting. They start from a mere cigarette which we had seen Sanjay Dutt or Amitabh Bachchan stylishly smoking but never had the courage to take a puff during school life because we feared somebody passing by might watch us, or the same old chilled beer can which always used to beckon us from inside the refrigerator but we never dared to touch it as our dad’s angry eyes flashed in our mind. And these evils are not just limited to the cigarettes and booze in the roadside shops but have also come in within the college premises in the form of drugs which are sniffed privately during rock concerts. Any party in the hostel premises is incomplete without dirty dancing and buckets full of cheap alcohol. The flesh trade is also steadily catching up with the youngsters, mainly college goers to earn fast and easy money. Everybody knows who these so called “young, educated and decent models” of massage parlors are.
Most of these temptations initially start as an adventure with “it’s just the first time” attitude but in the absence of self imposed restrictions, gradually make us groan under their servitude.
The core of any revolution throughout the world have always been students - grown up, decision making, opinionated college students. They are the very future of the country and society. But what sort of future and progress can be expected from today’s youngsters who are themselves enslaved by intoxicants and evil practices. Such students can only take the country back to the ‘dark ages’.
It’s high time that the gym going, adventurous and cash-rich youth awakens to the ills of these evils and boycotts them completely. Gone are the days when college going youngsters like Mr. M. K. Gandhi used to promise their mother to refrain from all intoxicants and to hold all women in high regard, but today’s modern, tech-savvy generation next can at least make a silent resolution to themselves not to give in to such temptations for their own good, for the good of their country, and above all the happiness of their parents.
BY:- SHUBHRO SEN
posted by Shubhro at 11:06 AM
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