Youth of 21 years : An achievement of all the statutory rights guaranteed in the Indian Constitution
An Open Letter
My dear son Kanishk,
Today you have got all the statutory rights of being an Indian citizen that a normal citizen gets, that is, you have attained the age of 21 years. Many congratulations for this.
It is such a stage in one’s life when there is a qualitative increase in enthusiasm, passion and energy, self-confidence. To understand the values of life, ambitions are born to give flight to their dreams and the passion to go to any extent to fulfill them.
A father eagerly waits for this day when he can proudly say that now my son has grown up. But at the same time, a father also having many types of worries. Our Indian society still maintains a very protective environment towards children. In which imaginable dreams are cherished from the time of the birth of children. Whether it is about his upbringing or education, we Indians keep presenting ourselves everywhere as a protective shield and do our best to ensure that the children do not have to struggle in any way.
It starts when the child goes to school for the first time, by not giving his bag to him, we ourselves carry it to the school van. From that day we give the first instruction to keep him dependent. The time goes on and we take every decision for him, like what you read, what you should not study. Even we decide which clothes the child will wear. we issue instructions for him since morning to the time when he goes to bed for sleeping . Meaning we leave no stone unturned in burying his decision-making ability and impersonal skills.
Most of us Indian people are like this, then one day when the same child turs 21, we leave him alone in the middle without teaching him to struggle in life and get out of it . You are grown, make your own decisions. In such a situation, without seeing the struggle of life and without training how to get out of it, we send it to the same type of Chakravyuha as Abhimanyu was sent in Mahabharata. When he does not know the systematic way to get out of the maze of life, then he gives up on life. This is often seen and heard. All parents should give education to their children to keep aware the story of struggle for life, happiness, sorrow and optimistic outlook.
I was aware of all these things, I never went to the van carrying your school bag except on a couple of occasions when it was raining and you didn’t go to school with an umbrella. From the very beginning, your decision is paramount, even if it is the choice of a toy. Yes, one must keep an indirect eye so that you do not end up in such an uncomfortable situation where there is a risk of getting lost.
Although I do not believe in restrictions and have never stopped you from reading, writing, traveling, eating, wearing and doing whatever you like, yet I am also a common rural Indian, with my cultural heritage and religious If I have brought sentiments from villages to cities, I must have imposed many unwanted restrictions from time to time to comply with it. Today, you are also free from all those restrictions. Now you can take the decision to do or not to do any work on a logical and scientific basis. You will definitely try your best to keep the family and cultural heritage intact. You must first test superstition and ostentation on scientific basis.
Rights and duties complement each other. That is, when you get some rights, then along with it, devotion to duty also comes as a gift and with it comes many responsibilities whether it is towards the family, towards the society, towards humanity, towards the environment, Be it towards the protection of religion and culture, or towards the discharge of the duties mentioned in the constitution of the country. As much as it is necessary to be aware of our rights, it is equally important to be faithful to the duties and responsibilities.
The duties in the Constitution are described in Article 51A of Part IVA. This duty is towards the country and the constitution, which is the moral obligation of every Indian citizen to comply. But there are some such duties that are unwritten, which should be your responsibility to fulfill them. These duties emanating from your own conscience, there is no moral obligation to fulfill them but a social responsibility which goes through humanitarian values. Family, relatives, villagers and all the people of the society expect this from you. I hope you will try your best to meet these expectations. No one will be disappointed with you.
Many congratulations to you on your 21st birthday.
Pray to God to set an ideal in life as a good person. Whatever you do, do it with full dedication and get success in it.
With Love,
Your father
Arbind Singh