Childhood and Youth are the two stages of life that one would cherish the most.
At least, I do.
The scenario has changed way too drastically. The definition itself has changed. A paradigm shift.
I can think of a lot of differences between the way we lived our childhood and youth back then (in the 90’s) and the way the kids are living it today.
Here is my take on top FIVE differences and then, YOU, my lovely readers, can decide to agree or otherwise.
#1…First and foremost that comes to my mind is the gadgetless world that we lived in.
We were ourselves so mobile and agile that we didn’t need any device to reach out to anyone, anywhere. We used to travel from one place to another in a jiffy.
Ping???…No, we used to just walk, run, swing, sing, wing and ding it!!!
And on we would Bring it!!!
# 2…Bro, Bruh, Sup, dude, lit, brb…
I was under the impression for the longest of time that these were just sounds which were uttered and spluttered out from a bored or annoyed mouth…BURP!!!
To my total shock and dismay, my friends, I discovered that today, these are considered full fledged words that have squished and squashed their way jiggling into the Oxford Dictionary with legit meanings!!!
The Gen- Z has created words out of some random sounds!!!
That’s Magic…Abracadabra!!!
Kudos to the definition of development and its highs…or lows!!!
I am not really sure!!!
# 3…How many of you get nostalgic of the worn out, yellowed with age pages of your notebooks, folded pages, doodle patterns, FLAMES at the back of every text book, dried rose petals kept safely in the middle of a book in memory of your first high school sweetheart, exchanging notes and secretly passing love and romance filled letters???
The only Pages that one can find today are, courtesy a certain “Larry Page”, on a Mac Laptop or iPad…each student copying, cutting, pasting, sending and passing on one’s boredom onto another…and that too online!!!
How virtually cruel and sad!!!
Could we somehow Ctrl, Alt or Del this tragedy please???!!!
# 4…Movies were in the real sense considered a tool for entertainment during those days. It was a complete package deal for a whole day- out adventure.
It used to begin with us reaching the theatres (Single-plex only, nothing Multi-Complex about it!!!) about 2 hours before show time, standing in long, never ending queues with caps on our heads to beat the heat and buy the tickets if we got lucky.
The tickets were handed “only one” per person. You could never buy a bunch of tickets at the same time. That was safely kept aside for black marketeers and shady fellas behind the theatre scenes.
“SOLD OUT” boards were put out in front of the theatre gates in no time.
The black marketeers would then come out of nowhere and start their business in their sing song low-tone of “Dus ka bees, dus ka bees”. Tickets worth 10 Rs. for 20.
Some of you are now using the same tone and even singing it in your minds, Aren’t you???
Nowadays, the whole element of buzz and excitement of watching a Movie is amiss.
Tickets are just a click away.
Done and dusted…You just click and watch the flick…
This lack lustre tech“development” just doesn’t make me tick!!!
# 5…Finally, a major lacuna I find in today’s youngsters in particular and the world in general is the Humane’ touch…the connection.
The spirit to come out genuinely and be there for others is hardly to be seen. Everything feels superficial, unreal, just there, yet not there…
The intensity and genuineness with which we used to be there for our family, friends, their friends and family, through ups and downs of life is not to be found today. Everything now is on a “need to be” basis.
The only connect today’s generation has is with Siri and Google Aunty/Uncle (depends on your gender). They are their ‘go to’ people.
Siri or Alexa is requested and expected to even crack some jokes and the kids consider themselves lucky to have these unseen, unknown, robotic tuned ladies at their beck, click and call to get some laughs in their lives.
I am not sure if this is really a laughing or a Siri-ous matter!!!
Those days of my childhood and youth were definitely not filled with tech savvy gadgets,like “I”phones, “I”pads, “I”watches or Mac laptops.
They were more of “We”-hang out pads, “We”-watch each others’ backs and “We” -laps on which we used to bury our head tops and cry our eyes out when sad or happy!!!
It's a pity that these days are not really days, they are but a haze…which just pass in a daze…
Ours used to fly…along with us!!!
I miss those days that thankfully weren’t …today!!!
