The Journey of a 13-year-old girl from Thiruvananthapuram to Visakhapatnam
Raju G. Mendez
Presumably so! Inquisitive heads and empathetic hearts in Kerala, no matter how many, wouldn’t have escaped their attention in this direction last week!
A minor girl, the daughter of a daily wage laborer hailing from Assam, went missing on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, from Kazhakkoottam in Thiruvananthapuram. Later, the girl, who was discovered in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on a train reportedly on Wednesday by the Malayali association there, was handed over to the Railway Protection Force.
While all other co-passengers remained indifferently insensitive, the glances of another co-passenger girl, Babitha from Neyyattinkara, fixed on the girl sitting opposite alone, holding a turbulent face, tears rolling down her eyes. She could smell something fishy about it, though she couldn’t quite figure out what.
In August , 2024, a distressing story unfolded that exemplifies the critical role of vigilance, empathy, and swift action in times of crisis. The journey of a 13-year-old girl from Assam, serves as a powerful reminder of these valuesHowever, the least she could do was to capture the girl’s photograph on her cell phone. Her conflicting thoughts of confronting legal troubles in the days to come and the displaced fear of socially stigmatizing negative comments from her people and friends for having involved herself in matters, not of her concern—though not a sign intrinsic to an egalitarian society—restrained her from further action. We should give a standing ovation to the girl who captured the image of the missing girl, which eventually became the only alarm bell that further facilitated the official investigation into the Assamese girl’s journey.
In fact, upon reaching home and seeing the news about a missing girl scrolling across the television, she immediately alerted the police about the photo she had taken out of her intuition. Ultimately, this paved the way for the swift, peaceful resolution of the entire episode.
A big salute for her timely, empathetic, and proactive gesture of extreme sensitivity!
The Assamese girl, likely prompted by her instinctive desire for freedom to make her own decisions in life, exhausted by ongoing ordeals at home, ended up making an immature decision to leave home. She was not heading toward ‘heaven’ in Assam but rather into the ‘demonic territory of predators.’ The culmination of the incident would have been tragic had it not been for the divine intervention of the Kerala Police, reportedly aided by the Malayalam Association in Vishakhapatnam, who seized and rescued her from impending danger. Hats off! The girl is now safe and secure and is about to reunite with her parents after fulfilling the legal formalities in Thiruvananthapuram.
The girl had left home to visit her grandparents somewhere in Assam, recalling her pleasant and cheerful moments from her early days. She set out with only Rs 50 at her disposal, a meager amount for anyone, but her only asset to take her to her destination from Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station. Mindful of her physical hunger and thirst, subdued by mental agony, she traveled aimlessly, eventually landing at Vishakhapatnam station via Chennai.
Simultaneously, the Kerala Police, keenly monitoring the situation, garnered tips from CCTV footage and confirmed that the girl had reached Chennai by train. Suspecting she might try to board a train to Guwahati, Assam, they intervened abruptly and ultimately saved the girl.
The questions that arise about our lukewarm attitude towards the worth of Kerala Police are:
- “Had such an incident occurred in other states of India, would everything have culminated this way?”
- “Would the girl have been safely brought back, untouched by predators lurking around?”
- “Do we ever wish to appreciate the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ of Kerala Police, swift and obsessive in nature, filtering out distracting, monstrous information and picking up on relevant social cues?”
Above all, the plight of the Assamese girl shouldn’t be considered an isolated or rare occurrence! In the latest sophisticated social scenario, as we claim in vanity, there are many adolescents who, though not all, are inadequately equipped mentally and emotionally to withstand even minor sufferings or challenges in their lives. The inclination to irrationally leap into decisions and actions that are rash and indiscreet is prevalent.
Additionally, modern parenting has become incredibly demanding and complex. For many, especially those who consider themselves wise parents, but often to those who are doting and cater to the whims and fancies of their children—either complying with relentless pressure or satisfying their ego by maintaining social status—parenting can lead to disastrous effects if not handled appropriately.
By further putting our heads into the ever-growing complexities of parenting in the modern era, an awfully demanding task has become literally a hard nut to crack for many including the educationally qualified. To mention a few shortcomings in this regard, remember! not to those who think themselves wise parents, but rather to the doting parents who often tend to cater to the whims and fancies of their wards, either complying with relentless and obstinate pressure from their wards or as a means to satisfying, the inbuilt ego of parents to keep maintaining status-co by satiating to the irrational and unlimited number of wants, other than choosing to give meticulously for the basic needs, wisely in tune with the growing demands of the advanced world as well. Often it seems like, wrong measures are devised by doting parents to attract false respect and recognition, from the side of children and from society. A big blunder in itself. Such similar approaches of parents by belittling untowardly and long-lasting heavy consequences of their own act of ignorance by serving ‘too much too early’, ultimately leads undoubtedly to disastrous effects for which the evidence is being provided by media and other sources around the clock.
Every phenomenon in the world has its contrasting aspects! It is our responsibility to grasp the relevance of parenting, understanding its merits and demerits against the backdrop of youths whose mindsets may better align with ‘Alice in Wonderland.’
During the transition from innocent childhood to the adult world, children find the rules and etiquette imposed by adults arbitrary and unjust. This clash between the imaginative, creative world of childhood and the structured adult world leads to confusion and struggle.
As George Bernard Shaw said, “You don’t stop laughing when you grow old; you grow old when you stop laughing.”
( About the Author: Raju G. Mendez is a language and life skills trainer, writer, and journalist based in Thiruvananthapuram. )
