A CALMER YOU

Life’s not easy. It has never been…not even for the ones living in the White House or Mannat or Antilla. So you and I have enough reasons to crib, complaint and cry, if we wish to. It is still not bad enough for us to ‘play’ with our life’s very existence. And that’s why it is a bloody serious matter if youngsters across the world have started to do just that, in the name of a so-called ugly game called The Blue Whale Challenge.

I’ll tell you why I call it ugly before even describing what it is. Firstly, there’s nothing ‘Game’ like about it. Second, the Blue Whale is a beautiful creature who has done precious little to be associated with a nasty phenomenon. Thirdly, the term challenge should and does only invoke one emotion — that of courage. And the Blue Whale Challenge is the biggest example of just the opposite — it is symbolic of cowardice.

What started as an online concept in 2013 in Russia seems to have now reached more than 50 countries. The so-called inventor of the so-called ‘game’ is behind bars. But this is what he managed to create – a network of sadists across the Internet who lurk around, looking for vulnerable kids who will agree to take up the challenge of harming themselves and eventually taking their own life — either for the sorrow or To the parents: If your kid has started spending too much time on his/her phone, and begun to look sad or lonely of late, you should be able to catch the signals early on. The Blue Whale admins normally respond to those kids who put up statuses or remarks about hating their To the teachers/ counselors: You know it better than I do, that kids of a