I am not very proud to say that I am not very proud of my family. I do owe every material necessity provided to me, but ultimately everyone realizes that life is more than just material. I can't understand them, they can't understand me. We are the strangers with the same blood.
Blame it on the generation gap. Youth is always in rebellion against the old. People always say - children grow up and become reason for the misery of their parents. But nobody asks why don't parents grow up with their children? Why do they still remain glued with their old traditions and principles? Why don't their ideas change with the changing times? Growing up is not the same as growing old, right? I refuse to live with a meaningless devotion. I cannot pretend!
May be it is the destiny of the bourgeois. They are doomed to live with their unspoken disagreements, which with time grow into generation gaps. The generation before me, hails from the times of fresh air of Independence and democracy, India-China India-Pak wars and state of Emergency. Those were the events which shaped their susceptible young minds. They saw India begging foreign countries for food, they saw Indian economy collapse, they saw their rights being taken away from them and people getting forcibly sterlized. They hardly left their families for study or work. Getting a job (with government) was the end of their struggle, that was all they wanted. They retired with their first job. They were emotionally and sometimes even financially dependent on their families. Every crucial decision of their life was taken by their elders. They virtually lived life designed by other people's decisions. Because they had too many of their relatives around all the time, they could never understand the importance of a family. There is no surprise that they believed (and sadly still do) in playing it safe all the time. I am a different generation. 9/11 is the darkest event marked in my mind. I know life is no longer safe and certain. India is no longer begging for food, India is the second giant in this huge race of scarcity and wants. India looks straight into the face of world and says what it wants to say. World knows India is the next super power in making. There are unlimited opportunities all around. I have lived my impressionable years away from the family, independent - emotionally and financially - with dreams of making it big one day. I believe in risking it all. Getting a job is just the beginning of a race for me, not the end. Today, there is always a long way to go.
When one generation fails to get into the shoes of the other - gap creeps in. Countless arguments follow from both the sides, and emotional burdens start getting heavy. Opinions get polarized and there are supporters on both the sides to fight till death for something which could have been resolved with a little open talk, patience and sacrifice. But Alas! We prefer to live with sullen resentments, disagreements mean animosity to us.
This cannot be changed in one day. This is the result of five decades. But may be at least I can prevent this rot from spreading down to my posterity. I would rather tell my son - 'Son, I am old, but I can take care of myself. Don't worry about me, I will be fine. If you need any help, let me know. But just remember, now I don't want to hear from you; I want to hear about you. I want people coming to me and telling stories about you. Go and do what you want to do, become what you want to become.'
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