The games killing our children

The death of Bombay Scottish student, Gaurang Dalvi, has brought into focus the risky pastimes that children indulge in. Team DNA finds out that the city’s youth has long flirted with danger. But it is as a result of a tragedy that their reckless behaviour has come to the fore

MUMBAI: When is a game not a game? When it can lead to death, would be the logical answer. But Mumbai's teens seem to be losing their grasp of logic at a breakneck pace. The revelation that Bombay Scottish student Gaurang Dalvi, died while attempting something known as the Choking Game, may have come as a shock to many parents, but the city's youth have seen it all before, in its myriad, if grotesque, forms.

Randhir Dutt may be 30, but in his heyday he was privy to some "diabolical" initiations. "We were just another bunch of rich kids in a school full of rich kids. We decided to have initiation ceremonies for people who wanted to hang with us," says Dutt.

"Sometimes we would force the newcomer to steal a car, or steal money from his parents, to prove that he wanted to be a part of our gang. The more money he stole the more we praised him." But there were darker rituals, of which Dutt harbours a deep sense of guilt. "On one occasion we forced a 14-year-old friend to have sex with a prostitute. And on other occasions we would force them to drink a full bottle of whisky in one swallow," he says, adding that the initiations continue to this day, and claims the Choking Game is just the tip of the iceberg.

When a friend told 24-year-old gaming conceptualiser, Rohit Verma, that he could help him 'pass out' for a while, Rohit brushed it aside as a joke. But, when on a college trip, and no one else volunteered for the Choking Game Rohit stepped forward, sure that it wouldn't work. 

"I was asked to take a few deep breaths, and cross my hands against my chest," Rohit recounts. His friend then embraced him from the rear and pressed Rohit's arms hard into his rib cage. "When I came to, my first thought was that I had fainted on one of the treks we had been on. But the next instant, I realised that I was still in the room and the trick had actually worked," he says.

After Rohit's demonstration, several others stepped forward for the experience. Everyone who volunteered for the exercise mentioned a feeling of 'having gone away for hours', even though the demonstration lasts only for a few seconds.

"We never played the Choking Game per se," says a 14-year-old, on condition of anonymity. "But this was certainly a variation. One of our mates was an expert swimmer, but not everyone knew about that. He bragged about the fact that he could stay afloat upside down in the pool for three to four minutes. He did it in style, and after that every one of our group was dunked in the pool for more than a minute."

He says, that some members of the group emerged from the water panting, while others swore by the game. "If something had gone wrong, we could have been in real danger, as we had no guardian around," he says.

As for 22-year-old, travel writer, Mihir Lad and his friends, they went looking for their adrenaline rush on the city's streets. "We used to stand by the side of the road and wait for a fast-moving car, and cross the road just as it was
approaching. We did it for the thrill. But now I realise the mistake I made."

Sometimes what can appear to be simple horseplay can easily end in tragedy. Sixteen-year-old Sameer speaks of a game — he and his friends play on a regular basis — in their school. "It's called Pyramid," says Sameer, "The targeted boy lies on the floor and the rest of the group pile on to him, one after the other, making a pyramid." According to Sameer,
although the pyramid lasts only a few seconds, for the person at the bottom of it, it feels like an eternity. "You really have to grit your teeth and steel yourself to endure the agony."

Team DNA: Dean Williams, Dhananjay Khadilkar, Salil Deshpande & Ameya Bhise