COULD THIS NOT BE PREVENTED?

Rakesh, called Rocky by his friends, is the only child of his parents. His father is in a high position in a MNC while his mother too is so in a reputed company. When he was born they both were struggling to make their mark and were more in office than home. He was taken care of by nannies from his infancy. He was just a year old when he was put in a day care centre and by the time he crossed 2 years he was in play school cum day care centre. When he went to regular school, they had kept a maid to be with him till either of them came back from office. By the time he was in teens he had a key to the apartment to let himself in and he used to be home at his own except that maid used to come at the time of his return to make his lunch. He had all facilities which could be given by his parents. He was quite popular in his friend’s circles as he had enough money to spend apart from being a young tall handsome lad. Many a times his friends both boys and girls used to accompany him on his return from school and stay over for lunch. He started smoking at an early age due to peer pressure.

He was in 10^th when he got interested in girls as per normal curiosity. It was some time toward end of the session that he had come back with a girl and as maid left after lunch, they started mooching around which lead from one thing to another till they found themselves in bed making out. His mother was surprised to see bedcovers washed and hung to dry. He told her that he had spilled milk and thought to wash before stains get permanent. Thereafter it was something like a new toy for a child. They used to be together often and repeat the act. From there on he started looking for other girls. By the time he got to college he had a string of girls with whom he was physically active. However he did not let this affect his studies or sports in which he was good. That as a matter of fact was a point of attraction for girls to befriend him.

After graduation he started working with a BPO which involved night shifts. He used to be asleep when his parents went for work and he used to let himself in with his keys on return as his parents used to be asleep. Only time which he spent with them was week ends and even then either they had some commitment or he went out with friend. He completed MBA in marketing by distant learning. During this period at times he used to bring some girl colleague and sneak her in without the knowledge of his parents. When they left in the mornings he used to be asleep with room bolted from inside. One such girl introduced him to drugs. He slowly got addicted to it. There were a few occasions when no girl was available he brought some call girl contacted through so many advertisements offering same in round about way. He even had got STD but fortunately went to doctor in time and got cured. Though he was careful not to let this interfere with his work where he had proved to be good but finally all this took toll. He started deteriorating and landed up in de-addiction centre.

That is where I met him and heard all this from him. I am associated with a NGO which works for helping those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. As he was not saying anything about his past, I was asked if I could meet him to see if he confides in me. He is a young man of just about 24 but looks close to 40.

I feel so sad at this young life having gone this way, almost wasted though there is still little hope of reclaiming him. I have my views on how this could have been avoided but am not writing that presently as I would like you all to share what could have prevented this. Please do share what you feel could have helped.