This vandal act in a Bangalore school is a crime that opens our eyes in many different ways. It tells us that we are a “Big City” with typical “Big City” problems gnawing at all of us. It opens our eyes to the fact that even our little ones are not away from the dirty touch of such acts.
In the hierarchy of crime, paedophilia is possibly the worst of them all. A dirty act performed by a dirty mind. A sick act really, performed by a sick mind.
What does this tell us?
Tells us clearly that being watchful and forever alert is something given now in a city like Bangalore. We are a mixed city with mixed problems. Only the most paranoid of us will survive then. Ouch! A city like Bangalore, the old “pensioner’s paradise” of yore, is today in the news for the act of a paedophiliac! Sad, but reality bites. And how!
This act has hurt every parent. And who is not one? All of us, whether we have children or not, emote with the issue. One single set of parents have gone through the near-touch trauma, but its seismic shake affects all of us. This is really a problem that is not Bangalore centric alone. It is all about the big city everywhere.
Acts such as this exist and touch every segment of society, the privileged and the not-so-privileged. We need to be watchful for it in every school, government and private. Awareness needs to be big on this score. I really think sex education is an imperative at every school at every level of class. One is never too young to be sensitized to the perils of living in a big city with sick minds prowling.
This current act has occurred in the premises of a school. We need to examine every chain of commute and study that a child goes through with care. Children travel to school in buses run by schools, public buses, private vans, private autos and a whole host of options. This commute is yet another item to be parent-audited. At the end of the day, all of us have realized that the security of our children cannot be outsourced to schools that demand an indemnity bond when they admit kids. The security of our children therefore becomes and agenda of top importance. Gone are the days when we could take Bangalroe for granted. Not anymore. Too many years have passed and too many new things have happened over these years.
While we vent our anger peacefully and peacably, it is important to simultaneously plan a future that is safe and secure for the children of this city. This child is the innocent audience and citizen of this city. This city belongs to each of them even more than it belongs to us. It is the responsibility of each one of us to ensure this carefully for them. As we do this, let us look at every child, rich and poor. Let us focus on the child who lives in a gated enclave, as equally on a child that lives in the many slums of Bangalore as well.
I am sure we will come out of this crisis wiser and safer. We need to do this for the sake of every child, starting with this innocent little child who had to go through this gory ordeal at the hands of a sick man.
