Let’s call it what it is. The Nalanda head prefect situation has split public reaction right down the middle. One side is stunned into silence. The other is doing that deeply uncomfortable half laugh half admiration routine. Machan that guy is a G. Three teachers ah. Crazy flex. That second reaction is where everything goes wrong. Because once we turn something like this into banter, once we package it as shock value and pass it around like entertainment, we stop asking the only question that matters. Who actually pays the price when the memes die?
On the surface, it sounds outrageous enough to feel unreal. A schoolboy allegedly involved in inappropriate relationships with three teachers, followed by leaked video calls that spread faster than facts. Reduce it to gossip and locker room humour and it becomes content.
Something to forward. Something to joke about. Something to forget. But the damage does not forget us. Strip away the noise and this is not a story about bravado, cleverness or rebellion. It is a story about power, responsibility and consequences that do not come with an expiry date. First, let’s be absolutely clear about one thing. This is not a flex. It is a failure at every level.
Teachers engaging in relationships with a minor is not complicated. It is not messy. It is not a lapse in judgement. It is illegal. It is a gross abuse of power. There is no clever angle, no soft framing and no marketing spin that makes that less serious. These are not anonymous figures on a screen. These are real people with real lives. Some of these teachers have likely spent decades building their careers.
Those careers are now effectively over. Teaching is not a job you can quietly pivot away from when your name becomes synonymous with scandal. They may have spouses. Children. Parents. Entire families who now have to watch their surname circulate through WhatsApp groups, TikTok comments and whispered conversations at dinner tables.
Imagine being a child and seeing your parent reduced to a viral headline. Imagine carrying that into school, into adulthood, into every future introduction where someone recognises the name. That kind of trauma does not fade when the algorithm moves on. Marriages will break. Families will fracture. Relationships will collapse under a weight that no apology statement can fix. Even if platforms delete content, even if the public attention shifts, the people involved do not get to log out of their reality.
Second, leaking content is not a mistake you walk back from. It is irreversible damage. This is the part people love to gloss over because it is less exciting than scandal. Once something is leaked online, it never truly disappears. Screenshots live forever. Downloads multiply silently. Files move from phone to cloud, from cloud to hard drives, from private chats to places no one can trace.
Even if every visible platform removes the content, copies exist in corners of the internet you will never see. We like to comfort ourselves by saying everyone makes mistakes. But not every mistake comes with an undo button. Some decisions permanently alter the lives of everyone involved. This is one of them. You do not get to decide how long something follows you once it enters the digital bloodstream. The internet has a longer memory than any individual.
Third, the romanticising of this behaviour says far more about society than about the people at the centre of the story. The most disturbing element here is not only what allegedly happened. It is how quickly a segment of the public turned it into a legend narrative. Shock value has become currency. Outrage equals reach. Scandal equals status. That mindset is not new, but social media has supercharged it. It is the same mentality that makes people film accidents instead of helping. The same reason a controversy outperforms years of honest work. The same reason clout often beats character.
As marketers, creators and consumers, we need to admit an uncomfortable truth. Attention without ethics is poison. It rewards the loudest moment, not the most responsible action. It trains us to celebrate chaos and ignore consequence. When we cheer this kind of story, even casually, we reinforce the idea that impact does not matter as long as the moment is entertaining.
Fourth, this is not about masculinity. It is about responsibility. There is a dangerous narrative floating around that frames this as dominance, charm or alpha behaviour. That idea is not just wrong. It is damaging.
Real strength is restraint. Real power is knowing when to stop. Real confidence is understanding that not every opportunity should be taken. For adults in positions of authority, responsibility is not optional. It is not negotiable. It is literally the job description. Authority comes with a duty of care, not a free pass to act on impulse.
And for younger people watching this unfold, the lesson being modelled matters. If the takeaway becomes fame over integrity or notoriety over accountability, then the damage extends far beyond one school or one scandal. So, what is the actual lesson here?
- Not do not get caught.
- Not delete faster.
- Not be smarter next time.
The real lesson is far less dramatic and far more important. In the digital age, bad decisions do not stay private. And the collateral damage is always bigger than the momentary thrill that caused them.Virality does not equal victory. Exposure does not equal power. And silence after the fact does not erase the harm already done. We need fewer spectators cheering chaos and more people willing to say something unfashionable but necessary.
- This is not impressive.
- This is not funny.
- This is not legendary.
- This is tragic.
And until we start treating it that way, we will keep confusing attention with achievement and mistakes with milestones.
