Category: Thoughts uncut

These kids nowadays…

I have met a lot of adults who complain about the young generation. Most people find it difficult to accept that life on earth — from being easy — has now become challenging. Nowadays, mere survival requires enormous effort.

Irresponsible, forgetful, careless, jealous, greedy, inane, insane. These adjectives, we hear almost everyday from parents of teenagers. From their point of view, their teenage children are useless and can’t do anything right. Parents nowadays accuse teenagers of whiling away their time in front of television watching useless programs or surfing the internet, killing time.

There’s something they need to understand though. The period between 10-20 years is the most difficult part of a modern child’s life. Difficult, not only to the child but also to those around him/her. That is the age a child begins to look at himself/herself as an individual. That’s when a sense of self-importance arises. We feel the transition from a child to a person in society. That’s when we desperately try to break through the chains of childhood that our parents and society had restrained us in.

It’s like taking the first step out into the world after a lifetime in prison. Everything and everyone seems strange. It feels like a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon. As a child, we’d have thought everyone we met were good and everyone was a part of a larger family. It’s during those pre-teen years that we figure out that our childhood fancies, were indeed fancies and everything we thought we knew of the world was wrong. It’s when we meet the jealous, the ruthless; the deceiving, and the unfriendly that we realize how wrong we had been all along. It’s hard to accept.

It feels like forcibly being thrust into a group of snarling and unfriendly wild dogs. Suddenly the picture of the ‘beautiful world’ starts to crumble. We see the world for what it really is.

In days of yore, children were either forced into adulthood before they could come out of their cocoon or our society wasn’t as bad and corrupted as it is now. There wasn’t much difference between the family children knew and the society they would soon get to know.

Now, however, things have changed. It’s like balancing two worlds that are in complete contrast with one another. The change, in itself, is a hard-to-bear reality. That causes depression. And to add to the helplessness, the usual duties of school and homework come in harder than ever before.

That’s the age we feel a sudden urge to experiment on relationships; that’s when we learn to make friends of strangers. Making friends with others who feel as insecure as us is easier said than done, we find it difficult to trust anyone; we view even family with a doubtful eye. Inexplicable emotions run amok in our minds and we won’t feel confident enough to confide in anyone.

Bottled up insecurity, frustration, fear and emotions threaten to break out as depression. When they do break out, they result in desperate mood swings. That’s when the rest of the world calls us ‘irresponsible’ and ‘incapable of doing anything right’. These accusations make us feel as if something is indeed wrong with us.

Naturally, we look up to our family for help. Parents are the only ones we trust and if they have problems of their own, that would be a huge let down for us. Of course, there are some families who make efforts to try and understand.

We find it nearly impossible to rest. To overcome the chaos within us, we look for alternatives. And, with some help sometimes, we do find them in drugs.

Most teenagers who do drugs only do it to relieve themselves of the stress of the outside world and try to rest. I am not justifying the use of drugs, but merely stating that they honestly believe that drugs can help them clean up their scattered emotions. Those who escape the claws of drugs turn to the option of suicide to escape the harsh realities of life. It’s only a moment’s foolhardiness and luckily, some come out of it as coming out of a reverie.

Me saying all these might sound odd because I talk for teenagers in general. Of all things I’ve said, I have felt almost everything myself and I am pretty sure other teenagers feel it too. I realized I wasn’t alone when I read Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, Letters. Reading letters from fellow teenagers around the globe, inspired me to muse on my teenage life, and this is what I came up with.

Earth Day; a camouflage

Early this morning, Google via its doodle, informed me that it is Earth day. When I was younger, I remember discussing this is in school. We never spoke of it again. This topic only popped up in essays of exams. No one in school thought of the necessity to educate or even give us an opportunity to mull this over and voice our thoughts. It may have been because we had grown up and we had more pressing matters to argue at school. Honestly, does anyone really get too old to talk about our Earth? I think not, thus after all these years, I felt the sudden urge to analyse this topic.

Today’s Google doodle is brightly colourful. Pity we seldom see such lush greenery in our busy schedules. Moreover, it’s not just our life style that keeps us away from our Earth’s blessings. Summer is ravaging this part of the world I call home. Nowadays, people prefer staying indoors because the sun is ferociously scorching. This, experts say, is most unnatural. Mother Earth is not so cruel as to torture her children. Who then, can we hold responsible? The obvious answer hangs over our heads, only we don’t make attempts to accept it.

It is natural for a country’s government to face pressures. Of late, one of the huge pressures our government has met is the farmers’ issue. Farmers of Indian villages couldn’t bear to see all their crops in a withered state and thus, heartbroken, they committed suicide. This, is not the story of an individual; it is the life of those villagers without whom our plates wouldn’t be filled with mountains of culinary delights.

Why did the crops wither? Why hasn’t the land been drenched from the blessings of clouds? The answers to these queries are found in our junior school text books. I remember studying something about trees being our life blood; maybe there is a connection. Then why didn’t it ring a bell before we bulldozed these trees?

When I appeared for the Board Exams earlier this year, the examiners instructed us to strike out the pages remaining unwritten. It seemed such an ordinary instruction; it happens all the time. On the first day of exam, once I had finished my writing, I had about five pages unwritten. The hall supervisor reminded me to strike out the extra pages. I took my pencil and ruler to follow instructions; I hadn’t felt anything until then, but when I began to draw those diagonal lines, it struck me how many trees would have been ‘struck out’ as such as unwritten; unused. That’s when I felt guilty of our educational system altogether.

Couldn’t we use recycled paper for our writing purposes? Is writing on whiter paper more significant than the future of our generations? Isn’t the price a bit too high? It’s what I feel.

Scientists discover new things even as I write this. Science and technology have opened up the possibilities of what our ancestors considered impossible. We read articles and hear news of the wonderful services Science has done to humanity. Man is now considered (by himself) as the ‘cleverest’ among creatures that has walked this Earth. Hasn’t it occurred to the ‘cleverest’ people that it is the same inventions and discoveries that led to the puncture in Ozone? It must have occurred to them at some point, because it is in some book that I read of it. So, we know enough to write bestselling books, printed on paper made from felled trees, and displaying concern about preservation of trees and of Ozone’s pity predicament.

Also, the entire concept of ‘Earth Day’, seems like an all new veil to hoodwink; one to convince ourselves that we can actually do something to pull out Earth from the pit we have ruthlessly thrust it into.

Stupid people.

The caste prejudice

Our society feels proud to say that there’s caste discrimination among them. Surprised? Attend a family wedding and you’ll be shocked. People are so clever as to hide this attitude from outsiders though. Because, in the civilized society, people consider it quite rude and uncivilized to admit one’s caste hunger in public.

But as far as I have noticed, (and honestly, that isn’t much (so forgive me if I’m wrong (though I’m quite positive that I am not))) this is a line of thought prevailing mostly in India, or more specifically, Indians throughout the world.

I’ve personally met a few people who are so much against inter-caste marriages. But they hold their tongue in common presence; they are careful not to allow others to decide their character because of their uninterest in accepting an outsider as family.

These folks – I like to call them ‘insufferably narrow-minded people’ – cause so much confusion and disorder if an unfortunate person is to suggest a different-caste helper, let alone marriage. The ones most prejudiced are the Oldies, and they take extra care to educate their generations about this.

There is one problem, though. This is my question, which I direct towards the “insufferably narrow-minded people”, why is it that these people, who feel ashamed and hesitant to accept an inter caste marriage, are proud to declare that their sons or daughters have settled themselves in a foreign land?

You might wonder what the connection is, here’s what it is: when I spoke to my mother about this, she said that the main reason for underlining caste differences is because it is socially difficult to adjust with people of other castes, or as they say, ‘people of other family and social backgrounds.’

How then, can they easily adjust with people of  other national backgrounds?

Whenever long-unmet people meet each other, (particularly at a family gathering) they have the most irritating habit of inquiring of the activities of each other’s children. And what pride they have in saying that their children are residents of the Western world!

I abhor their pride and pity their prejudice.

The very fools, who feel distressed to accept people of other castes, because of their different way of life – which, by the way is the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard of – find it prestigious to admit that their children have abandoned their nation and have gone to live with ‘people of other family and social backgrounds.’

Suckers!

Current issue

There is one hot topic among our people today, and boy, isn’t it hot! It’s none other than the current issue. It’s that time of the year again, the time we are mostly in need of the breeze that nature so unkindly denies.

Nowadays, it is not only the nature that forbids us some bliss; the frequent power failures are highly disrupting. Soon enough, it would be a huge political matter, if it’s not already.

People are discussing this everywhere I go. It’s made the headlines of the evening news. This matter is of a great concern to students and those who indulge in small-scale industries . This is the exam season and whether it be studying or attending the exams, students are surely not going to enjoy the heat wave.

Then again, is this really as bad as it’s described? Yes, I don’t deny the hindrances the power failures are causing, but something tells me there’s some good in this bad.

Here’s how it goes: every evening, when my father returns from work, we (my mother and myself) would be watching TV. Not long afterwards, the power goes off. Naturally, it’ll be too warm for us to stay indoors, so we retreat to the balcony. The next one hour is a time to share our thoughts on everything ranging from studies to world politics. It’s not only about social issues either, we speak of anything and everything, our hopes, plans, worries, disturbances, expectations and disappointments.

These dark evenings throw a light into my knowledge of my family. It really helps me to know more about my parents, and even myself, now that I mention it.

We all need that time alone with people we call family, because, even if we have the same roof over our heads, we may not know each other. Understanding each other would be difficult when each is in one corner, either whiling away time in front of the television or the computer.

I, thus, believe that the power cuts, though a barrier to progress, could be a tool to get to know ourselves better.

A bunch of idiots, we are


We’re leaving school shortly, and looking back, I see a bunch of idiotic teenage friends.

There I was, sitting alone in class, looking at my lazy classmates. My class, a crowd of 61 students, each different in her own goofy way. Our class hosts a mini பாரதவிலாஸ். It’s a blend of many States (and a pretty good one too!).

There was a gang of North Indians, chatting away in never-understandable Hindi, and then the Andhra representatives who would suddenly speak in Telugu ( I just hate it when they do it. Feel as if something’s wrong with me), and the Tamil students (we are the minority, surprisingly) who find it quite hard to cope up with the sudden language changes.

There was a set of nerds, discussing the previous exam (those people will never learn. I mean, what’s the point in crying over spilt beans?). There was the poor class leader, trying her best to silence the class (failing miserably, as always). There were a whole lot of others, idly chatting by in any language other than English (we never had much regard for the rules, especially the NO-VERNACULAR-LANGUAGE rule).

Staring at the mad and frenzied batch of +2 students, I was reminded of my first day at school. On seeing the place, which was supposed to be my classroom and the people who were to be my classmates, I was quite painfully reminded of the local parliament. Everything was just a blur of colours. Now of course, I am a part of this stupid and crazy group of girls. It’s amazing how much can happen within a year.

Last year, we were highly timid and preferred to keep to ourselves. Now of course, everyone  has broken out of her shell. We are all now one big family-the fact that we still have a loads of misunderstandings is secondary-but that does not keep us from sticking with each other. We might not be the of best friends, no, there is too much bitterness there, but we are always there for each other and we don’t let each other down. This, I realized when we were on our school tour. Our class was united as one and it was a great sight to watch. That’s the basic element of a family, right?

These two years of school life has been the wildest experience of our lives. All of us will leave school as people who have changed a lot over a really short span of time. Some of us have become more serious about life while the better rest have learnt to live every moment, regardless of the challenges life is about to impose on us.

After all, life, is for living collectively.

A bunch of idiots, we are