Devangshu Datta: An education that kids deserve

VIEWPOINT

It is with fondness that I recall my first encounter with "Raja" condoms in the mid-1970s. These multi-coloured rubbers were a vast improvement on the Indian equivalent. A friend's older brother brought back a gross from Bangladesh, where Raja was distributed free by a Dutch philanthropist.

My pre-pubescent gang chiefly used condoms for plugging motorcycle exhausts. We thought this was a wonderful joke. The idea was to watch the unsuspecting biker kick-start. About 10-15 seconds later if all went well, an elongated balloon would fly off the exhaust and zip unpredictably across the road as it deflated.

Unfortunately, India's Nirodh didn't make the quality cut. It couldn't take either the heat or the expansion. It either melted or it burst. If you got really lucky, the biker fell off in surprise as and when it burst. But it was all very hit or miss. Raja, on the other hand, slid off smoothly after attaining Cuban-cigar dimensions.

Later on, condoms became a bragging point. You "proved" you were getting "it" by whipping out your wallet and displaying rubber. Baden Powell would have approved of us; we were all prepared even if there weren't too many girls around to help us use 'em.

Speaking of the scouts, many of us received our primary sexual education while belting out the anthem "Bharat Scouts Aur Guides Ka Zhanda Ucha Sadaa Rahega". Our seniors in the movement kindly explained the connotations. Others received sexual enlightenment through osmosis. You learnt the four-letter words and then you learnt what they meant.

I was lucky. I went to a missionary institution where they taught moral science. When we were around 10, we read about Maria Goretti (the Italian saint who the Indian celeb is presumably named for). Maria was fast-tracked to canonisation after being raped and fatally stabbed. She forgave her assailant with her dying breath (and subsequently miracles happened, etc).

Now a sermon about forgiveness was all very well. But few of us had a clue about the birds and the bees and that understanding was kind of crucial in the context of this parable. The MS teacher was a salty-tongued Anglo-Indian Jesuit who was kind enough to give us a clinical description of human reproduction.

And then, when we were about 12-13, "Pop Mark" moderated a discussion about the pros and cons of masturbation. Much to our relief we learnt that we wouldn't go blind or have our growth stunted! So I learnt about sex from a priest who had vowed celibacy (though I have my doubts how seriously he adhered to that vow).

We never had a formally mandated, classroom discussion of the birds and the bees. Biology stopped at zygotes and paramecium. Post-Emergency, we did know about Nas-Bandhi. However, vasectomy was viewed as a cruel and unusual punishment meted out to the enemies of Sanjay Gandhi, rather than a means of contraception.

We had no concept of contraception as such and little idea about venereal disease beyond knowing that "Shefali" and "Ghona" were nicknames for syphilis and gonorrhea. One of my pals, who went on to become a medico specialising in STDs, performed a vital task in keeping my generation clean. "VD" as he is inevitably known, was resigned to friends looking him up with a "confidential problem".

However, even in my sexually-ignorant generation, there were quite a few shotgun marriages and several abortions. Several escaped inadvertent parenthood by the skin of well, their foreskins.

AIDS hit India when I was in my mid-20s. Given our levels of knowledge, it's not surprising that it cut a wide swath through my generation. And the next. And the one after that. It's been almost 20 years and 21st century kids aren't taught much more than we were.

Hence, AIDS is still logging up impressive numbers. So are the Marie Stopes clinics. Isn't it time to give the kids a break and tell them enough to help them stay HIV-negative? After all, teenagers and young adults can't help keeping the flag flying!