BOYS AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN

                  BOYS AT THE AGE OF FOURTEEN

“In this world of human affairs there is no worse nuisance that a boy at the age of fourteen.

“He is neither ornamental nor useful.  It is impossible to shower affection on him as on a little boy; and he is always getting in the way.  If he talks with a childish lisp he is called a baby, and if he answers in a grown-up way he is called impertinent.  In fact any talk a t all from him is resented.

“Then he is at the unattractive growing age.  He grows out of his clothes with indecent haste; his voice grows hoarse and breaks and quivers; his face grows suddenly angular and unsightly.

“It is easy to excuse the shortcomings of early childhood, but it is hard to tolerate even unavoidable lapses in a boy of fourteen. The lad himself becomes painfully self-conscious. When he talks with elderly people he is either unduly forward, or else so unduly shy that he appears ashamed of his very existence.

“Yet it is at this very age when in heart of hearts a young lad most craves for recognition and love; and he becomes  he devoted slave of any one who shows him consideration.  But none dare openly love him, for that would be regarded as undue indulgence, and therefore bad for the boy.

“So, what with scolding and chiding, he becomes very much like a stray dog that has lost his master.    

“For a boy of fourteen his own home is the only Paradise.  To live in a strange house with strange people is little short of torture, while the height of bliss is to receive the kind look of women, and never be slighted by them. “

The extract given above is from ‘Home Coming’ a story by Rabindranath Tagore.  The hero of this story is a fourteen-year old boy who has lost his father and is entrusted for his further upbringing to his maternal uncle.

While the uncle was quite considerate to the boy, his wife was not.  As a result, the boy gets afflicted with  fever after some time and dies.  Without the love of his parents, especially the mother, he was emotionally starved. Away from his home, he was like a stray dog. His physical, mental, emotional and social needs remained ungratified.  Tagore’s dictum “For a boy of fourteen his own home is the only paradise” proves true.  Away from his parental home, he was in hell and dies while he was in the custody of his uncle.  

“Homecoming” is a story about the behaviourial problems of adolescents both boys and girls.  What has been said about boys in this extract equally applies to girls.  

It is interesting to note that Tagore has mentioned not only the problems of adolescents, but also suggested remedies which should be adopted by all co0ncerned.            

7^th December 2019                                   G. R. KANWAL