Taming the beasts is perhaps easier than taming the brats. This has become increasingly evident as the cops seem to be failing to outsmart those with clandestine designs. High on the heels of the recent crackdown on cabin and dance restaurants, which is still far from being acclaimed a success, the authorities, in yet another crusade, have directed the cyber cafe operators to dismantle their cabins with a similar objective — to discourage ‘undesirable’ activities of the amorous kind. Over a thousand cyber cafes operating in the capital have cabins, not meant so much to allow sacred privacy as to allow surfers to have a secluded place to give free rein to their sensual inclinations. It is business as usual for the cafes but with increased clientele.

This is not only making ‘perverts’ out of young adults, but also encouraging them to use such places as a rendezvous for courtships, which many in our milieu think are on the wrong side of our societal values. The authorities are also learnt to have issued the cyber cafes with a directive to block the pornographic sites. Will all that be enough to achieve the objective? There are many other places where the willing can go to get their desire. Public parks, for example, have become the most sought after. When it comes to the affairs of the heart, or of forbidden pleasure, people always find a way out, as if to exemplify the adage Where there is a will, there is a way.