Generation Gap and Its Effect on Vision of the Youth

Author: Jhonanant

The vast silent majority struggling to make a living knows of only one real gap-the widening one between their means and expectations. And this is the only gap that matters in a country like India where the basic questions facing the generations have changed little over the centuries, making the aims of their struggle much the same.

Trying to relate the changes in values and attitudes, the popular political philosophies and the new mores and code of the times to what obtained in the past, the older generation tends to see them in a different perspective. The reappraisal of the ideas and beliefs of a life time that the new exposure calls for may lead to conflicts in some. A natural consequence is resistance. Acceptance of the new fangled ideas does not come easy with most.

No such perspective affects the vision of the youth. Passing through the most impressionable period of life, they are swayed more by the wind of change sweeping all around them and the currents and the cross-currents of ideas, theories and philosophies to which they are exposed. The natural tendency of youth is to welcome anything that seems avant-garde if only they could project it as their very own and see in it a collective expression of their rebellious self.What has changes of late to make this gap a "generation-wide"? Have the social set-up and cultural values undergone such a major transformation as to make the scene one of perennial clashes of interest between the generations? Is there any major issue on which the generations have drifted apart so much making the chances of a dialogue utterly bleak? Precious little.

A cushy job carrying a six-figure salary and all the company perquisites thrown in, with the promise of a foreign trip, or the coveted IAS for those who value power and prestige. The professional' utopia is America, that glittering world of opportunities, or the new wonderlands sprouting up around the oilwells of Arabia. The attraction remains the same-money, more money to make it up and more of the symbols of material success.

For all the free mixing of the sexes and the interchangeable jeans, the path to wedlock remains still the beaten one of a parental arrangement complete with all the vulgar haggling and the garish display of status, the dowry trebled to make up for inflation. The spreading of matrimonial wares, if anything has become more brazen, the market accomplishments and matching demands lengthening the most avidly read columns of Sunday newspapers.

Married love is still mostly of the cultivated variety, the age-old institution remaining very much intact despite an elopement or two. In fact, the citadels of caste, creed and community have become more impregnable and the new generation gives little evidence of any desire to pull down the man-made barriers. The criteria of eligibility also have not undergone any major change, the personal worth of the individual getting far less weightage than his or her social connections and the status trappings of the family. The young sometimes follow the family code here more ardently than the old, even coming home from foreign lands to marry the homely denizens of native villages, preserving their virginity even at 30. Where the gap in all this?.

About the Author:

Jhonanat is a veteran in Internet marketing and writes articles on wide range of subjects. For any information on India holidays or travel guide to India, please visit our website http://www.cultureholidays.com.

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