Romeos juliets and valentines of Andhra
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Drawing a parallel to Shakespeare's tragic young lovers, author Ram Kamal highlights a rising school-level romance epidemic in Andhra Pradesh. Driven by unrealistic portrayals in Telugu cinema and a lack of regulation on tobacco and alcohol sales near educational facilities, more than 70% of school students are estimated to be in relationships. Kamal warns of the severe consequences of these distractions, including plummeted academic performance, emotional trauma, family and caste conflicts, and early marriages. To safeguard the state's future development, he calls on parents, teachers, the government, and the cinema industry to intervene with realistic messaging, vigilance, and comprehensive sex and psychological education.
Romeos, Juliets, and Valentines of Andhra
The State is in a love epidemic.
By Ram Kamal
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a tragic love story set in Verona, Italy. The play follows two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, whose families are bitter enemies. Despite the feud, they fall deeply in love and secretly marry. However, a series of unfortunate events, including Romeo killing Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a duel, leads to his banishment. Desperate to be together, Juliet fakes her death with a sleeping potion, but the plan goes tragically wrong when Romeo, believing she is truly dead, takes poison.
When Juliet wakes up and finds Romeo dead beside her, she takes her own life, sealing their tragic fate. Their deaths finally bring an end to the long-standing feud between their families. The play explores themes of love, fate, and the consequences of hatred, making it one of Shakespeare's most famous and enduring works.
Juliet is explicitly stated to be 13 years old in the play. Her nurse and father mention that she is not yet 14. Romeo's age is not directly mentioned in the play, but he is generally believed to be around 16 or 17 years old, based on his maturity and actions in the play.
William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet between 1591 and 1595, and it was first published in 1597. In 1591, the legal minimum age for marriage in England was 12 years old for girls and 14 years old for boys. These ages were set by canon law, which governed marriage at the time. However, parental consent was usually required, especially for those under 21. While young marriages were legally possible, they were not always socially common, especially among the upper classes, where arranged marriages were preferred everywhere in the world those day.
In a private study conducted out of curiosity by my team in the State of Andhra Pradesh high schools (3 schools in 3 districts were put under observation for this study), it was to the shock that these mixed schools were kept as boys' classes and girls' classes separately. In further investigation, I came to know that more than 70% of the boys and girls are having love relationships.
Like any other studies, we did further acid testing to see the truth. It confirmed Andhra's over 80% of the student population is not in a positive state of mind and does not have any goals in their lives. They are living in an illusionary world of unrealistic Telugu cinemas.
Among these boys of 12 to 16 years, cigarette smoking is considered a path to attract a girl and show male chauvinism. There is no law and order in the State that ban the sales of tobacco products or liquor in the vicinity of the schools. In India, the cigarettes and other tobacco products (COTPA) Act of 2003 prohibits the sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions. The act also prohibits the sale of tobacco products to anyone under 18 years of age.
Everyone thinks that he is a World Famous Lover like Vijay Devarkonda and every Girl is ready to become an Aradhya the cast played by Samantha in the film Kushi, Once the love is smitten deeply affected with or struck by strong feelings of attraction, affection, or infatuation, then the trouble starts from school and finally reaches home. In most cases, before the boy gets a proper mustache, the under-aged girl who poorly scores in her SSA examination will be married off by her parents. For Andhra, now this has become an epidemic, and school teachers are wonderstruck without a clue how to control it.
In 20% of these cases, older girls are in relationships with younger boys too. But basically, they consider it as status among their friends and doggedly use the boy to get whatever they want as a slave. Now Valentine's Day is on the corner and all fancy stores near the schools are filled with love cards and gifts expecting a business not less than 20000 to 30000 rupees in each shop.
School love stories are everywhere in the world to a very small handful of numbers. But in Andhra Pradesh, it has become an epidemic.
Underage school love affairs can have several consequences, both emotional and practical. It will badly affect academic output. Distractions from studies can lead to poor academic performance. Increased stress from relationship issues that affect concentration and learning.
It also has a high take on emotional and psychological effects. The pairs immaturity can lead to misunderstandings, heartbreak, and emotional distress. Constant anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem can develop from conflicts or breakups. Remember every breakup can play a havoc in the lives of the child. Some may recover, but they will have the pain for a long time, which will surely affect the academic growth of the child and lead to heavy career disappointments.
The biggest calamity of these immature love stories is the high velocity social and family conflicts both families will undergo. Andhra's already rotten cast equation will add kerosine to the fire. It also breaks friendships that might suffer due to jealousy, gossip, or peer pressure end up in gang fights and casualties.
Any of these student love stories start with physical attraction at first sight due to their hormonal bubble-ups. Many of these student lovers engaged in early physical relationships, leading to potential health risks. Immature emotional decisions could result in reckless actions like running away from home or self-harm.
Every child is sent to school as part of healthy nation-building. This pandemic school love epidemic is certainly not good for the impact on the State of Andhra Pradesh's development. This author travels across India and no other State school's student population are in a mess like in Andhra Pradesh. We failed to understand our children and set a futuristic goal for their lives.
As we have seen and experienced, a premature relationship can lead to long-term regrets or lost opportunities. Unplanned situations (like teenage pregnancy) can disrupt education and career goals for girls. Their lives will never be the same thereafter.
Encouraging healthy friendships and emotional maturity before serious relationships can help students focus on personal growth and future success.
The state government, parents, and community in general have to be vigilant and a proper sex and psychological education is a must to overcome this situation.
Hello, our cinema fraternity should start showing the warning signs before the film, during the love songs, and after the cinema that “Immature love relationship will be injurious to the bright future of an underaged student and will bring disaster in their lives” and bravely display the age of the hero and heroine that they are above 22 years.