When Art Doesn't Stay Behind Bars

All of you who are well past the growing-up years and settling into slower paces of life would certainly recollect a punishment or two from those childhood/adolescent phases.

- Jitha Karthikeyan [e-mail]

All of you who are well past the growing-up years and settling into slower paces of life would certainly recollect a punishment or two from those childhood/adolescent phases. Homework unfinished, books forgotten, sad performances, and bad conduct—the reasons were varied but simple, and the execution of punishment for these transgressions was even simpler. An imposition of repetitive writing assignments, a knock on the knuckle, a parent's reprimand, or the humiliation of standing outside the classroom were all a part and parcel of yesteryear existence, before Generations Z and Alpha changed those rules.

In one's adult years, punishment becomes redundant vocabulary except when one messes with the law. A proof of guilt and a subsequent court verdict could land one within the confines of a cold, dark prison to serve time—the penalty for wrongdoing. The prison then becomes a space for incarceration and an eventual reformation.