When Public Intimacy Turns Into Public Anxiety

 

When Public Intimacy Turns Into Public Anxiety

The surge in obscene public displays of affection is no longer a fringe concern—it is a social warning bell. Recent incidents, including videos of young couples indulging in explicit sexual behaviour inside the Rapid Rail in Ghaziabad, have exposed a disturbing collapse of public decency. What is being passed off as “freedom” today is, in truth, a brazen disregard for society.

Let us be clear: this is not about love. Love has always existed in India—quietly, deeply, and with dignity. This is about exhibitionism masquerading as modernity. Public transport, parks, and streets are shared civic spaces, not private bedrooms. When intimacy turns explicit in such spaces, it violates not only social norms but the comfort and psychological safety of others—especially children.

What is more alarming is the absence of shame. The current culture does not merely tolerate indecency; it rewards it with views, likes, and viral fame. The camera has become a silent accomplice. This is not rebellion—it is unabashed vulgarity. A generation raised on instant gratification has confused visibility with validation and freedom with excess.

However, placing the entire blame on Gen Z would be dishonest. Young people do not emerge from a vacuum. They are products of parenting that hesitated to discipline, schooling that avoided moral conversations, and a society that labelled every correction as “moral policing.” In our eagerness to appear progressive, we abandoned the responsibility to guide.

India has long prided itself on being a young nation—not merely in numbers, but in values. Youthfulness without restraint is not strength; it is volatility. When public spaces become scenes of discomfort and embarrassment, the collective trust that binds society begins to erode. A nation does not lose its character overnight—it loses it when boundaries are mocked and silence replaces correction.

Freedom was never meant to be lawlessness. Rights without responsibility become entitlement. No constitution, no culture, and no civilisation survives on unchecked individualism. Decency in public is not repression; it is the basic grammar of civil life.

This is not a call for surveillance squads or public shaming. It is a call for cultural introspection. Parents must reclaim their role as moral anchors, not silent spectators. Schools must stop treating value education as outdated. Society must find the courage to draw lines without apologising for them.

If we continue to romanticise public vulgarity as boldness and restraint as regressive, we will raise a generation fluent in desire but illiterate in dignity. And that is a cost far greater than momentary outrage.

The real question is no longer about youth behaviour—it is about adult failure. Have we taught our children that freedom is power, or have we forgotten to teach them that restraint is wisdom?

© Gaurav Sharma Lakhi

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