Teenage moms-taboo no more?

Right before my ‘big’ move, some people actually looked at me and showed concerned about me going to a place where girls wore skimpy bikinis and people were either black or white. I remember thinking," I am going to another continent, not another planet" Anyway, I see a lot of whites, some blacks and once in a while, I get an occasional beige treat.

I had virtually seen everything but one of the things that truly scandalized me were little petite girls-pregnant! I was strolling along the beach and not to be exaggerating, about a 30 odd pregnant teenage girls passed me by within a 2 miles stretch. Shocking, eh?

I have been around for over a year and it still is to me! You know teenage pregnancies in the United States is at a all time high and so are shows like ‘16 and pregnant’. I decided to support my shock with some substantial proof. So I reaserched and found that "Of the approximately 750,000 teen pregnancies that occur each year, 82% are unintended. Fifty–nine per cent end in birth and more than one–quarter end in abortion" That is a startling number because I come from a place where teenagers,if involved in sex scandals and MMS's, become social outcastes.

It is far easier to find a 'Juno' in the US than find a one odd 'Priya' from Kya Kehna in India.The funny thing is, even in films, Kya Kehna is as ficticiuous as Juno is real.That's how the earth moves. Things are unbelievable when they are in the East but as the globe spins, it becomes more and more true to life. Not only are these 16 year old mothers supported financially, they are also accpeted socially. I always knew that the West was fast and matured faster than the rest of the world. But this reasoning is accepted in terms of progress, economy , technology and growth but the flip side is that when they mature early, they also have a very short lived innocence. Imagine that almost every teenager is or around another one who is pregnant. My heart goes out to little girls who are expecting a child at a time when they should be clubbing, studying and leading a carefree life and not burdened with a responsibility of another life.

At that age, homework and heart breaks are enough. I wish I could understand the pysche of these teenagers as to what makes them go through the whole process of giving birth. I would be lying if I told you that India is far behind because India is known to always catch up with the West and there is no bigger truth that India doesn't have the tolerance to stomach it. No matter how much it progesses economically, the counrty can be quite judgemental and unforgiving when it comes to moral codes.