Pants-Down Syndrome

The youth of the cities across the globe are struck by what I would like to call as “pants-down syndrome”. The young boys, especially the school and college going students, take pleasure in pulling down their pants, as the latest fad in the fashion world. It is sickening to see boys easily falling prey to this kind of subversive and ugly trends, without ever thinking if that makes them better human beings. To follow the current seems to be in vogue in today’s world, and those who do not fall in line with the trends are looked at suspiciously, and are even branded as traditionalists and conformists. These people are considered archaic and old-fashioned, who do not know how to appreciate the modern trends.

To flow with the current of the world seems to be the norm today, and everyone is so convinced of this that they would not dare to go away from the set norms of the society. Every fad and fashion which takes place in the United States of America or in the Europe seems to be catching the attention of the Indian youth, as much as other youth of different other growing nations. The implications which these have on the social and cultural lives of the people at large are not considered, and slowly these fads are sure to affect the native cultural fabric in some way or the other. But why would the youth bother about how their changing trends affect the native culture?

We are too quick to change things, which have been sustaining us for centuries and decades; we feel that variety is the spice of life, but we would love to swallow only the spice and may not like to have anything staple for sustenance. Many of the societies which are pioneers in ushering changes in society do it slowly and steadily, and they do not propose changes overnight, but study the present scenario of the socio-cultural setup and gradually infuse change. But that is not the case with our youth; anything they see on the television or on cinema, has to become their norm too.

Unfortunately our young people do not thinks sufficiently why they have to follow the fads and fashion started by somebody in the States or in the Europe. Blind following had been one of the greatest enemies of development in our country. We had an era, when the ordinary people deified the film actors and actresses, so much so some of the actresses had temple dedicated to their name. Cult worship is still strong in the country, and the fads and fashions often strengthen the fabrics of cult worship, which can later manipulated in order to win political mileage. But it is too complicated for the young people to consider all these angles before they plunge into a new style.

Dignity is something very personal to each one, and if there are attempts to waterdown the personal honor and dignity, they should be resisted by society; unfortunately that does not happen with the pants-down syndrome. Imagine parents allowing their children to follow this sort of meaningless and ugly fads, and if there are parents who take time to explain to them on the dangers of following this sort of fads, then probably many will think twice before borrowing anything blindly. However there is one big consolation, this fad is not going to stay for ever and ever; it is sure to disappear into thin air as quickly as it entered the cultural arena.