Hear Us Out, Please.

Dear People Aged 40 and Above,

Hey, what’s up? Yes, that’s how we greet each other in this generation. I’m sure it’s not as cool as Namaste or ‘Paeri Pauna ji’ but it’s not that bad either if you think about it.

I know you think of us as people who have no manners, no respect and absolutely no values. But that’s not the case. I’m not here to disregard all your teachings and ‘Sanskar’; I’m just here to present the case of the younger generation. We aren’t as bad as you think we are.

We may not have seen the hardships of life as you people have; we may not have had to work right from scratch to earn a living but that doesn’t mean we’re a bunch of losers. A spoilt brat is not made overnight; it’s the way he’s brought up. Who’s fault is that then? Not his, I’m sure. If his parents have given him a good life, all the super electronics and the best of clothes, is it his fault that this is the life he is acquainted with? Is he supposed to throw it all away just because you want him to learn how it is to live a poorer life?

Yes, you had your obstacles in life. We do too. We have a lot more competition than you people did in your time. Earning a name among a population of billions is not that easy. It’s not like we get everything on a plate. Just because we don’t go through the same difficulties that you did, doesn’t mean we don’t face difficulties at all.

It’s a convention in many houses that one needs to be a doctor or an engineer to be called successful. That was years ago. In today’s world, the one who tries something new and different walks the path of success. We explore new ventures; we walk the unknown. Doesn’t that make us more daring?

Getting married as soon as a girl crosses 21 years of age isn’t appreciated anymore. Girls aren’t burdens. It’s not like they’re living with you just to be fed properly and then sent off to another house. We live in a modern society. A girl has as big dreams as a boy does. We want you to recognise that.

You say we have taken all the wrong ideas from the west. If a boy is sent abroad to study and he becomes an NRI, he’s respected but if a girl tries to do the same, she’s getting out of hands. Moving on from gender discrimination, weren’t you the people who taught us that there is a big wide world out there which is yet to be explored? You taught us to dream and then you crashed all those dreams. We didn’t ask you to be what we wanted. Why is it the other way round? Aren’t we more independent now? Isn’t that the first step towards salvation? Getting rid of all boundaries?

Our dressing style, our eating habits, and our odd time tables don’t match. We like to experiment, to discover ourselves. We believe in casting ourselves out of this cocoon. How is that bad? Yes, we will make mistakes. But you did too, didn’t you? Just because our choices aren’t the same as yours doesn’t mean our decisions don’t affect our lives as your decisions affected you. We will learn, just like you did. We can’t live the same way for the world isn’t the same as it was before.

You taught us to adjust. You taught us to make the best of what we have. Isn’t that what we are doing? You say we don’t save anymore. That you used to work so hard that you earned for the entire household and a family of 6 or 7 and still had enough to put in a bank. The economy in your times was much different than what it is today. If the prices increased, the work load also did. Just because we aren’t doing much of physical work doesn’t mean our work is useless. If we’re working hard and partying harder, how is that bad? We keep a balance in our lives. We don’t see the need to save for someone who would never appreciate our hard work. That’s your complaint, right? That we don’t appreciate all that you’ve done for us? We would like to learn from your mistakes and not land ourselves in the same regret-zone as you did. We earn for ourselves and we enjoy that. We save too whilst not compromising with living our lives. It’s today that we live for, not a tomorrow we haven’t seen.

Let us breathe. We deserve to be given a chance. We deserve to be taken seriously. We aren’t ‘loose characters’. We aren’t that bad. Please don’t look down upon us as if we’re scum. We deserve to be heard. 

College Freshers: A Type

College started a week ago. And now that I’m in my final year, I can fearlessly comment about the Freshers who I see around the campus. Even though I haven’t had a chance to interact with many, there seems to be a general trend that they follow; a kind of a category that they seem to belong to. Surprisingly hardly anyone breaks this clichéd norm. It’s a shame. But then again, even I was hesitant to try something different in my first year. They’ll get around just like I did.

Here is a list of the typical type of Freshers who I have observed with keen interest:

1. The Nerd: There is always this person who you will find issuing books on the very first day. Never seen in the canteen or other hangout places, but only in the library. Watch out for a school bag and heavy specs.
2. The Fashionista: This one is either most sought after or made fun of the most. Generally it’s a girl but even a guy can fit into this category. Recognized easily from a distance, the Fashionista always catches the eye. She (or he) may be wearing clothes which you would normally wear at a party. Watch out for heels, totes and good perfume.
3. The Flirt: The sole aim of getting into college for this person was finding a soul mate. Well, as we know, when we run after love, we don’t usually get it. So The Flirt rarely manages to fulfill his goal. He (or she) may never be seen in class or working for a cause but always at some crowded spot, victimizing and plotting. Watch out for ‘sexy’ glares and an air of “Yo baby, look at me, I’m so cool!”
4. The Auditioner: This person has given his name for every society in college. He thinks he can dance, sing, paint, debate, act and/or play sports. He wants to be known in college for his talents and works hard for whichever society he gets into. Watch out for a whiff of confidence and a busy schedule.
5. The Politician: Well, this category may not be as loud in many colleges but it is in mine. Being a student from the only college of India which has it’s own parliament, complete with an elected Prime Minister, I do see a lot of Freshers getting a taste of politics right from day one. The flashy cars, the rowdy slogan shouting, the standard white kurta attire or the rigorous campaigning, everything fascinates this person and he too desires to be voted for.

I’m sure there would be more categories which I didn’t cover. But those would be specific types. When a student graduates, he does so having become a mixture of all the above types. It’s only a matter of time.

Murder! Murder!

R U 1 of dose whu type lyk dis?

If you are, disclaimer: All items in this article are purely coincidental and are not intended to harm or offend anyone from any background, religion or gender.

I understand that it’s the technological era and we live in the ‘SMS language’ world. But now that we have smart phones and QWERTY keypads on almost all phones, why would anyone want to use short hands anymore?

Guys, let me tell you a secret (applies to girls too actually). Typing in short forms is turning off. And bad grammar is even more so. Yes, I’m one of those people who correct their partner’s grammar while he’s being romantic with me. Yes, I know I totally kill the moment but dude, the grammar kills it before I do!  

I was in class yesterday and I was trying to decipher what my chemistry teacher meant half the time while she was speaking. ‘You should be write’, ‘that phenomenon will be occur’ or ‘this is the belongs to’ are just some of the phrases which totally killed my concentration regarding more important facts. Microsoft Word underlines these phrases in green proving that it is not right to murder English like this!

Yes, English can be confusing at times. Specially the pronunciation part. Like why is ‘ch’ pronounced differently in Christmas and chair. Or why shock has the same sound but different spelling as stalk. Why cut is not pronounced similar to put, even though they have the same letter ‘u’ in between. Why the past tense of fall is fell but that of call is not cell.

It takes years and maybe a lot of reading practice to actually get a lot of words and their combinations right along with their meanings. Why finish and complete can be used one for another while talking about work but not so when talking about finding a life partner. I read a joke recently which explained the meaning of the two: finding a soul mate completes you. Finding a soul mate while you’re married to someone else finishes you and getting caught with that soul mate by your partner completely finishes you.

Words used in Hindi may not be used in a similar manner in English. For example, in Hindi, the plural of sheep is countable but in English, the plural of sheep is not sheeps but a flock of sheep. There is no word as ships; it is a fleet of ships.

Good English makes for good reading. Perfect grammar makes for a satisfactory article. For an English student, using a comma in the right place is as important as adding salt to lemonade. Otherwise ‘let’s eat, my friend’ won’t be any different from ‘let’s eat my friend’ and that won’t really be a nice thing to do now, would it?