Looking
at the cases popping up around us these days, Delhi University deserves a
standing ovation. Starting formal courses on modern love and heartbreak is
probably the most progressive thing any academic institution has done since the
times Romeo0Jukiet, Heer-Ranjha and Laila-Majnu. Superfluous shall be removed
from the syllabus. No more cursive writing or grammar. Honestly, the real
question is not why these courses were launched, but why it took Authorities so
long. In fact, we should begin them right from school. Expecting teenagers to
figure out puppy-love on their own is like asking a frog to fly and then
blaming the pond when it falls.
Since
we’ve all finally accepted that co-ed schools are healthier than boys-only or
girls-only silos, we might as well agree to the rest of the truth too.
Separating adolescents creates more myths than mythology, more fantasies than
Bollywood could churn out. These teenagers (Boys/Girls) remain forever in
uneducated curious mode. They learn hard way. Then we sit around blaming mobile
phones, the internet, movies, TV, and even Crime Patrol—as if all problems of
modern India can be solved by banning a VDU. Instead of cursing the darkness,
these courses are that one brave candle someone finally thought of lighting.
Because
trust me, today’s ‘forever in love’ generation is drowning in emotional
typhoon. Inside their teenage ribcages, full-scale hurricanes are spinning
24/7. And when these storms don’t get managed, they take the scenic route—to
murder, contract killing, blue plastic drum, drunken rage, drug binges,
disastrous live-ins, and painfully avoidable suicides. Emotional management has
quietly become humanity’s biggest unsolved mystery, right after ‘Why do people
still forward WhatsApp messages?’
So,
these courses plan to teach some simple basics—tiny truths that might help
clear the dense clouds sitting on young minds. Designing the syllabus is no
joke. What to teach? When to teach? How much to teach? It’s tougher than
drafting the Union Budget. But at least let the youth know the difference
between love, puppy love, infatuation and ‘whatever-this-feeling-is-that-creeps
on weekends’
Look
around—couples marry on Monday and by the fourth week they are plotting each
other’s murder like it’s a group project they must submit. A bit of theory
might help. Right now, everything is a giant emotional zigzag—puppy love,
daydreaming, obsession, and zero understanding of real-life basics. What does
it mean to earn a living? What does running a home involve? What is marriage?
More importantly, what marriage is not?
So,
by all means—run diploma courses, certificate courses, degree courses. The
Indian male especially needs to learn the fine line between caring and ‘I own
you’ Some short-term compulsory courses might actually save a few marriages.
Love, romance, heartbreaks—these are all so pervasive and prevalent, yet we
expect teenager to navigate them without oars, without map or compass. Gautam
Buddha said ‘Appo Deepo Bhava’—Be your own Guiding lamp. Beautiful line, but
even a lamp needs someone to strike the match.
It’s
high time we explained these things in simple, clear, user-friendly text book
like language. The objective of life is to be happy—not to hang from trees or
kill each other out of boredom, which seems to have become a pastime lately.
The problem doesn’t seem to be going anytime soon; in fact, the disease is
growing faster than the beneficiaries of 5 Kg rice doled out to BPL families.
Someone
has to teach this GenZ what sages have said ‘the lane of love is extremely
narrow; no two (persons) can together walk through’ Marriage is basically a polite word for
compromise. Rather Compromise is not one up but two up. Marriage has eight
letters while Compromise is a ten-letter word. Old titles like ‘gharwala’
(Master of the Household) and ‘gharwali’ (In-charge, household) are outdated;
people come together to multiply their happiness and progeny, not to destroy
each other’s very existence.
And
for that reason alone, these courses deserve a grand, open heart, open mind and
open arm welcome.
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