Of Parents and Children…

A generation which believed in arranged marriage, the security of government jobs, which hated being in debt, looked forward to the coke cans brought by relatives who were lucky enough to go abroad, whose aim was a home by the age of retirement, who made annual trips to their ‘native place’ in second class railway compartments, for whom Bombay was the land where dreams could become reality, who heard live commentary of cricket matches on AIR, who went to the airport with family to receive or see off those rare people who were fortunate to go abroad, who forwarded the lovemaking scenes in movies because they were shy, who accepted that bureaucracy had to be oiled with bribes, for whom Amitabh Bacchhan was just an angry young man trying to fill the shoes of his predecessors in vain, who belived in getting home by 6’o clock,whose only idea of balance was the kind they had at the bank, and maintained a work-life balance without realising it, who believed they were lucky enough to get the Rin shakti and taste the thunder, and would get confused with anymore choices than available in the market, for whom the movies and a dine out were rare occasions to be savoured, who believed in making pickles at home, for whom razors were blades, and who would be appalled at ‘that time of the month’ being advertised, and for whom the only discs were the flying ones their kids played with, or the ones that were suddenly supposed to land from space one fine day, just like Subhas Chandra Bose who would reveal himself from anonymity one day, who had to carry their entire water supply on train journeys, who firmly believed that a woman’s place was at home, whose only idea of shares was the kind they would be getting from their parents, who still hadnt quite decided between capitalism and socialism, who believed in keeping their refrigerator in the living room coz it was a status symbol, who could look out of their windows and marvel at the sights that nature made, whose mailboxes got full only when the entire family went for vacation, who believed in one life-one job, whose retirement plans included staying with their offspring, who made financial plans for their parents as well as children, who loved having their kids on their lap, and looked in wide eyed amazement at the silly things their grandchildren did, a generation with hardly any choices…

A generation which believes in arranging their own marriage, the insecurity of the job market,which lives a life on EMI, has difficulty deciding between diet or regular coke, whose aim is a home by the age of retirement, one each in 3 metros, who hate the fact that their hometown doesnt have an airport and so increases their transit time by a few hours, for whom reality is what you make out of your dreams, wherever you were, who see live webcasts of championships on their handheld device, who are lucky if their family receives them after international trips, forget local ones, who forward the lovemaking scenes in movies because of the overdose, whose only interaction with the bureaucracy is a tacky webpage, for whom Big B is the biggest anyone could be in Bollywood, who regularly make and break plans of reaching home by 6’o clock in an effort to get that elusive work-life balance, while maintaing a portfolio with the right equity-debt balance, who would switch to a different brand at the slightest dissatisfaction, for whom the movies and a dine out are rare occasions,because home deliveries and home theatres are so much more convenient, who actually like ‘Mothers Recipes’, mostly the packaged kind, for whom razors are like most other things, disposable,who believe that sanitary napkins were just another FMCG product, period!!, for whom discs are of two kinds- the ones you go to when you want to party and the ones that give you music and movies, like the recent one you bought , a movie about some forgotten freedom hero by Shyam Benegal; who love the idea of ‘pet bottles’, coz you actually dont need a 500 ml bottle for such a short journey, who firmly believe that a woman should be allowed to work from home, if she so wished, who rack their brains to decide which shares to invest in, who dont care a hoot if it is capitalism, socialism or bipasha basu’s jism, just so long as they have a blast, who are sligtly uncomfortable about the fridge in their kitchen coz it lacks the usual inbuilt TV in it, who watch on Windows the marvelous ‘nature’ screensavers, whose mailboxes are full and overflowing from all the vacation snaps from other family members, who sometimes contemplate whether a life is just a job to be finished, who believe in making safe retirement plans coz they know their children wouldnt have them in their plans, and make plans for their children so they dont run the risk of getting sued, who love having their children as their laptop wallpaper, and look in wide eyed amazement at the silly things their parents did…a generation with multiple choice in education, career, sex, food, entertainment …life!!