Chapter 60: You Make A Fair Point

“…Yes, I do hate being forced to do something.” The boy replied quietly. And letting out another sigh, he added, “And have similar feelings about doing the same to someone else.”

“Though that’s probably because it’s too much work and you are a lazy guy.” Harshil chimed in.

“Not right now.” Aanya’s black gaze froze the errant boy in his tracks. Returning her attention to Aakash, the girl followed up on his reply, “Then, if you force these two to conform to your values of porn being immoral then-”

“I thought it over. I admit that pornography isn’t immoral. I was wrong. It’s a method of entertainment…just a little um…different from conventional means?”

“Conventional as per the elders.” Cabir prodded.

“Even so, at our age it is difficult to judge what’s good and what’s correct.” Aakash didn’t stop.

“How would you know? You haven’t watched jackshit.” Harshil harrumphed surlily.

“He’s right.” Aanya fixed her gaze at Harshil. “We are just thinking according to the level people our age think. The adults know more so they have their reasons too. Aakash isn’t wrong. You are being narrow-minded in regard to this point, Harshil.”

“Blah blah blah.” Harshil covered his ears while blahing at which the girl sensibly deigned not to continue since her advice was visibly falling on deaf ears.

Instead, she wagged her finger at Aakash, “But, those again are their opinions. And it doesn’t change the fact that people have the right to choose what they want to watch. You may think it’s wrong, many parents definitely think it is and the fact is indisputable that these two will get reprimanded if their parents find out.”

“But-”

“You aren’t helping them by telling their parents!” Aanya exclaimed, silencing the boy who was about to speak. “At our age, we will come to know about content like porn and erotica, somehow or the other. Then one can choose to steer clear or take a look then decide or just immerse oneself into it.”

“And these two-”

“I’m not done.”

Parting her wave of flowing glossy black hair unconsciously, Aanya went on with her thoughts, “We can consciously understand what is completely ridiculous and what is not. Yes, some ideas may still be wrongly formed due to the influence of porn but do you know whether their parents will tell them what kind of things in porn aren’t correct? Or maybe they will just punish these two idiots for watching and try to take measures so that they can’t watch?”

As Aakash was about to answer, Aanya took in a deep breath before hammering the final nail home, “Can you even say for sure what your parents would do if they had found out you doing something similar?”

“Um...” Aakash let out a long breath out of tiredness. “No.”

“So, at an age where they can mostly make heads and tails of what’s right and what’s wrong, they might be just forbidden to do something not allowing them to judge for themselves. Right?”

“Yeah…but they have had enough time to judge whether it’s…”

“It’s your opinion that you aren’t interested. They might be. It doesn’t mean they don’t know what is wrong with some depictions. It’s just that they understand what part is wrong and don’t focus. Now imagine if they are totally stopped from doing something they enjoy when they know they are able to differentiate the okay and not-so-okay things…”

“Ah…”

“Exactly. Here’s the catch. The more you try to tell someone not to do something the more they would want to do it! Especially these two troublemakers! What do you think these two will do?”

“They would definitely spend more time on trying to figure out ways to watch and even increase the consumption if they were scolded because of it.” Aakash couldn’t help crack a grin.

“So you see, you aren’t doing anyone any favours!” Harshil exclaimed.

“You do know that we are being called problem children who are stubborn as mules, right?” Cabir looked at him distastefully.

“Well, anyway. You make a fair point, Aanya.” Aakash nodded sagely.

“…now you seem pretentious.” Aanya was quick in giving him his own medicine from before.

“Aakash and Cabir, two peas in a pod.” Harshil mumbled loud enough for his companions to hear and got a fist on the head from the slightly stout boy standing next to him for his troubles.

“Ah, whatever.” Waving off the comment, Aakash laughed, “I understand. I won’t tell aunty or uncle about it unless they ask me. But if they do…”

“My parents won’t ask you if I watch porn or not, obviously! What the hell goes through that piece of dung that you call your brain?!” Cabir slammed his hands on the desk, stunned at his friend’s sheer stupidity.

“Seriously, dude…”

“C’mon, Aakash…”

Two sighs came out from either side of the flabbergasted Cabir while Aakash laughed weakly in response.