On Request

A friend asked me to do a piece on the recent Akriti Bhatia controversy, expecting my usual cynicism on the topic. But frankly, it hardly calls for any sarcastic remarks, not just because it would be distasteful, but since it's already a very obvious issue that we know prevails, but very few attempt to fix. My own school had terribly unhygienic bathrooms, a nurse who would make you pay for sanitary napkins and an administration that just never quite cared if you were genuinely sick, since it was a generalized notion that all kids tend to fake illnesses to skip class. That was the degree of trust and responsibility the school had over the kids. And we just couldn't care less, never bothering to complain about it or pose it as a serious issue so that it can be rectified.

I also found certain facts quite odd, one being that Akriti was not in possession of an asthma spray. Every child who is diagnosed with asthma is required to carry the mouth spray around for a temporary relief in case of an attack so that they can at least request help. And it is true that not all schools are given nebulizers since it is required that they be used with caution and in the most severe of emergencies. It is also not possible for all schools to have an on-call doctor since the doctor-patient ratio in the country is already at a pathetic number.

Further, many facts still remain unclear, like those of the exact time taken since she went to the school clinic to when she reached the hospital, and whether she complained of a discomfort or recognized that it was an asthma attack.

I'm quite sick of cynicism at this point, especially when it comes to school-related controversies such as slow medical attention and ragging. They are definitely issues to deal with, but when the media highlights to such a point that it stands on the knife edge that wavers between the duty of a journalist and the disgusting lack of media ethics, you tend to sit back and wonder how cases involving humiliation and pain for the parties concerned can be so blatantly projected, just to take full advantage of a little necessary evil called 'freedom of the press'.
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