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| Wednesday, 11 June 2003 |
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Lives blighted on the altar of 'success' by Afreeha Jawad A little boy - he couldn't have been more then ten, stood at a bus halt outside one of those 'five star' schools whose entry in social consideration is a 'passport to heaven'. Beside him was his mum going through some file or the other. In seemingly explosive intonation the mother said: "Putha (son) you could have got more than 42. What happened?" Even before the boy could answer, the mother hurriedly inquired, "What about the others?" Mentioning the names of just two boys, the little fellow informed that they only got above 50 while the rest scored not more than 45. But, the indignant mother wouldn't call it off. What worried her was how she would answer the auntie next door, the uncle at the top of the lane, the numerous other uncles and aunties (Sri Lanka does not fall short of them) who would 'lovingly' inquire into the little guy's performance. "See now what do I tell them? They will all want to know your English marks. See what you have gone and done. Shame, disgraceful..." The boy, quite a smart kid intercepted, "But Amma, why do you scold me? The whole class failed except two. I told you that." Justifying his performance by the failure of the many wouldn't dampen the mother's escalating fury. She went hammer and tongs at the boy and for the latter's luck the bus arrived. Sharing route commonality, this writer too boarded same. The mother went ahead sat right in front expecting the son to follow. The boy for obvious reasons preferred isolation and positioned himself somewhere at the farthest end. She gestured in more than one way asking him to come over but the boy was all the wiser. Just three halts away they got off and what followed is best left imagined. That was a reflection of the goings on in hundreds of Sri Lankan homes where little ones' souls - virtually wrenched out on parental commands and societal demands. Noteworthy in this episode is the societal monster - constantly monitoring its membership. The vast numbers that keep watch over one another's performance - a sort of mutual exercise - wealth, social positioning, upward social mobility and even other trivialities, such as term tests. This writer has time and again heard - particularly where numbers congregate, parental expression displaying vanity. "Oh! my child has hardly any time even to talk to me." From one tuition class to another after a hurried lunch, the child keeps shuttling until nightfall. Things do not end there. School and tuition class homework complement each other till late night. Today's siblings sleep as late as half past eleven only to wake up next morning - half past four. Parental and societal pressure is robbing children of their childhood. Adopting robot like behaviour, they scan through chronological years of what should really be filled with innocence, developing into valueless personalities. Denied the joy of tasteful living - a walk through the forest, to be seated on a river bank, the sight of butterflies' flight, to hear the birds chirp - no, not for them, for all such elegance is lost in a compelling drive towards becoming 'resourceful personnel', slotting for a market economy together with an additional burden of fierce competition which grooming they receive in their childhood years. |
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