The Children First

He must have been 10 years old and as he went up to the counter of the shop, a well-dressed woman also reached the counter. Just then a well-dressed man (I have dropped “gentle” prefix) appeared in front of us. The young customer was brushed aside, and the shop keeper ignored the lady. He served the man first then, looked up to me, “what do you want, sir?”

I said: “that kid of my country was the first, then this lady came to your shop and thereafter came I. You must serve the kid first, then this woman and then is my turn.”

“Oh, you don’t worry about the kid, they keep coming here all the time,” retorted the shop keeper without remorse.

“But you charged them the same rate, short-shrift them and you give them short-change.. Don’t you? You will serve the kid first..” I admonished the business man.

Although we claim that Indian children are spoiled in the joined family system but if objectively analyzed, the children have no rights in our society. They have no voice in front of elders. They must obey the grown ups and they are treated totally dependent on elders – financially, emotionally, mentally and intellectually. Obedience and compliance are the two paradigm that govern our relation and attitude towards youngsters. Even if they are professionally established, grown up it is considered impolite if they speak up before the elders, let alone to disagree on critically important issues like selection of educational courses, profession and / or choosing life partner.

But you can judge cultural advancement of a society by the standard you treat your children. The democratic and progressive society can be built only if the youngsters are treated with dignity and respect. In Japan, children are treated with deference. At the traffic crossings small red flags are kept in the boxes on both side of the road. A kid picks up a flag and entire traffic comes to halt. Little kid crosses the road, and deposits the flag on the other side of the road. Only then the traffic moves on.

In contrast, I hear one Sri Sri 1008, His Holiness Saint Brahmanand ji Maharaj freely narrating with relish a divine story. Of romance between the Himalayan Princess Parvati, who was sent by Brahmaji, to seduce the Great Explorer of the Himalayan Yogi Shiva. Having entertained the devotees the Maharajji brings in superhuman qualities of the Himalayan couple. And lo, and behold, Parvati produces a kid (Ganesh) out of her body, without having sex with the god whom she had, with so great effort, seduced to love. Then the Maharajji describes how the Great Shiva beheaded the harmless and unarmed kid just because he obeyed his mother but defied the intruder, the man who claimed to be his father – Shiva Himself.

In the beginning of the 21st century, the Islamic jihadis had massacred 300+ unarmed women and children in the Beslan village school in Chechenya. And there are stories of religious ritualistic sacrifices of kids in the western Judiac-Christian and Islamic faiths. I find similar gene effect of killing children reflecting in the Shiva-Ganesh mythology. I am not sure but the child sacrifice is alien to Hindu culture and unless we have some counter textual proof, I am inclined to believe that beheading the Ganesh must had entered in the Indian myths after introduction of the western mythologies.

While considering the rights of kids in our society, I remember a very personal experience. Some years ago, I returned from a foreign trip. My host who came to receive me at the airport was a very cultured and educated Indian. With four daughters he had the 5th child – a male kid at last. Obviously the boy was love-spoiled. But to take care of the age 6, the man had hired a 10 year old kid – as a cheap child-servant.

As we came off the car, hardly we had entered the house, the spoiled son came up crying: “Ramu slapped me Papa…” The servant kid 10, had apparently hit the master’s 6 year old kid.

The master shouted: “Bastard, how dare you hit my son..” and threshing of the poor servant kid began.

Protecting the boy, I held the hand of the master: “Don’t touch him.”
“He beat up my son.”

“Yes, but he’s also son of someone. Who’ll defend him? Children are children,” I said philosophically.

“Who can stop me? He is my servant..” retorted the father.

“I will” and I challenged my own elder brother.