A growing consumerist society has meant a change in societal patterns. New-age India, too, is going through the motions of trying to adjust to changing stereotypes, especially in everyday life. If there is role reversal happening in gender dynamics within the home and outside, the rules of parenting have also changed, considerably.
The rise of double income families and the breakdown of joint family system have brought about an inevitable dependence on servants and domestic helps for middle-class India.
For children in urban India, an aaya or a bhaiyya is an ubiquitous presence. For parents, it also means being able to bring themselves to trust somebody else with the upkeep of their children. And more often than not, the trust seems to be intact.
For the Noida-based Talwars, who are mourning the loss of their 14-year-old daughter Arushi, it seems that their close ones may have broken their trust.
While earlier suspicion focused on their Nepalese domestic help who was later found murdered, recent reports point toward the involvement of former servants. The police, meanwhile, have also not ruled out the role of relatives.
The Talwar residence will not hear the carefree laughter of their daughter any more. As they mourn the loss of sunshine in their lives, seeking refuge in memories and anguish, they unfortunately will be left with no answers till the guilty are pronounced so.
Meanwhile, many parents across the country will be wondering and asking the same questions — Is this the end of innocence? Are children anywhere not safe any more? Is this the world that we would want our tomorrow to see?
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