Lost and Found (editorial)
"Today's youth? Materialistic, directionless and spoilt. In a word, lost."
This is the most common lament echoing through the Great Indian Middle Class struggling to cope with the realities of a Resurgent India. Hearing this lament expressed so often brings to mind a term coined by futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970. He called it Future Shock - a shattering stress and disorientation that is induced on individuals who are subjected to too much change in too short a time.
With today's economic dynamics, we are not just being subjected to too much change in too short a time; we are being subjected to change in too many spheres of life all at once as well. These changes are shaking the very foundations of our reserved outlook on life nurtured by centuries of slavery and decades of 'babu'cracy.
So, how else do you expect society to react to the pro-active, materialistic, go-getter attitude with which today's youth is asserting itself? After all, we are a society founded on self-restraint, where being rich is the same as being evil. Till 15 years ago, Indians waited for six months to bring home a Vijay Super. Today each of the six major two-wheeler companies launches a new vehicle model every six months.
Suddenly out of the blue, the youth is reviving the forgotten Art of Making Choices. It is weeding out the decades old confines called Self-Doubt and reviving the sleeping trait called Self-Esteem. It is learning the skill of Demanding Dues. The Paradigm Shift is tumultuous and there is a mix of concern, confusion and incomprehension in that lament over a 'lost generation'. Not to mention, a hint of jealousy too.
The fact is that one can be surefooted only when the ground beneath the feet is stable. On the constantly sifting sands of technological age, agility is a greater virtue than stability. Unlike in the past, today's youth do not have the privilege of a closely guarded values base and security of a state sponsored support system. It is learning the rules as it plays the game - Adjusting its schedule, its definition of work and leisure, even its biological clock.
Alvin Toffler had predicted - The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. While today's youth will stand this test of literacy, the same cannot be said of the earlier generations. The importance of what this generation has found - self-esteem, pride, self-dependency, attitude - is lost to those who criticize the generation as lost.
This is the most common lament echoing through the Great Indian Middle Class struggling to cope with the realities of a Resurgent India. Hearing this lament expressed so often brings to mind a term coined by futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970. He called it Future Shock - a shattering stress and disorientation that is induced on individuals who are subjected to too much change in too short a time.
With today's economic dynamics, we are not just being subjected to too much change in too short a time; we are being subjected to change in too many spheres of life all at once as well. These changes are shaking the very foundations of our reserved outlook on life nurtured by centuries of slavery and decades of 'babu'cracy.
So, how else do you expect society to react to the pro-active, materialistic, go-getter attitude with which today's youth is asserting itself? After all, we are a society founded on self-restraint, where being rich is the same as being evil. Till 15 years ago, Indians waited for six months to bring home a Vijay Super. Today each of the six major two-wheeler companies launches a new vehicle model every six months.
Suddenly out of the blue, the youth is reviving the forgotten Art of Making Choices. It is weeding out the decades old confines called Self-Doubt and reviving the sleeping trait called Self-Esteem. It is learning the skill of Demanding Dues. The Paradigm Shift is tumultuous and there is a mix of concern, confusion and incomprehension in that lament over a 'lost generation'. Not to mention, a hint of jealousy too.
The fact is that one can be surefooted only when the ground beneath the feet is stable. On the constantly sifting sands of technological age, agility is a greater virtue than stability. Unlike in the past, today's youth do not have the privilege of a closely guarded values base and security of a state sponsored support system. It is learning the rules as it plays the game - Adjusting its schedule, its definition of work and leisure, even its biological clock.
Alvin Toffler had predicted - The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. While today's youth will stand this test of literacy, the same cannot be said of the earlier generations. The importance of what this generation has found - self-esteem, pride, self-dependency, attitude - is lost to those who criticize the generation as lost.
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