June 26, 2004

‘Mom! Ali broke my new perfume,” cried Arsla. Mrs. Ahmed, their mother, came and scolded Arsla instead of Ali. “Why was your perfume lying on the table? You should have kept it far from the reach of your brother. He is just a kid.”

At that time Ali was eight years old. He could have been punished or at least scolded for breaking such an expensive perfume.

Ali was the only brother of Arsla, Maheen and Shumaila. Being the only male child and also the youngest in the family, he was always given preference to his sisters. Not only this, but he was always forgiven for his wrong doings. This undue importance, lack of adequate punishment and fulfilment of all wishes, went over Ali’s head, and he was spoiled to a dangerous extent.

As Ali grew older, he started to misbehave with his sisters too. One day Maheen came whimpering to her mother, “Mom, Ali abused me, when I asked him to change the channel”.

Mrs Ahmed again supported her son, by saying that it’s not Ali’s fault but the influence of his classmates and that she would talk to the class teacher and sort out this problem. But she never went to the teacher and soon it was a forgotten affair.

Gradually, Ali made a group of friends who bullied innocent kids, insulted teachers and also started smoking. Ali started staying out till late night, neglected studies and as a consequence, his grades dropped to an alarming level. Now he started demanding money apart from his pocket money. Mrs Ahmed, who was well aware of the situation did not question her son nor did she inform her husband about Ali’s actions. She was sure that Ali would soon become responsible, once he is a bit mature, and that this is an era of freedom. Teenagers need freedom; and interference in their affairs, scolding and punishments are age-old tactics to control them. She didn’t know that by ignoring these minor problems, one day, their peaceful life would be disrupted.

At last Ali started taking drugs. One day he came home sweating, his eyes blood shot and face pale. He asked his mother for water, and before drinking it, collapsed on the floor — unconscious.

Today he is struggling for life in a rehabilitation centre. He hallucinates frequently, vomits often and had attempted suicide twice. Mrs Ahmed, sitting beside Ali, who has been given tranquilizers so that he remains calm, is crying softly and regrets what she did. It was only due to her leniency that today, her family is going through so much misery, agony and pain.

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