Exciting times await India!

These sure are exciting times for our country! With a terrific Cricket World Cup win, to the outpouring of incredible support for the anti-corruption movement, it can prove to be a little difficult at times to comprehend and take in everything. But this being the 21st century, with instant communication abound, we are never too far from anything that is making news!

Having been here for the last six months, I have rediscovered India all over again. It felt very different when I had left, but the new India is teeming with energy and enthusiasm. Of course, there are still problems and plenty of unanswered questions around, but what's encouraging is the positive attitude and outlook that people have brought forth, whether it is during our indelible journey as a nation through the world cup season or the grass root movement against corruption, that has brought people from across the board together to ask and demand for concrete reforms.

The pro-activeness and the belief that the government is not the solution to all our problems, is indeed catching up with the masses, motivating them to stand up for what they believe in, or to go one step further to take a definitive action. We have a large population that is below the age of 35, and this 'youth bulge' can definitely prove to be one of India's biggest asset! With the huge amount of young people, with their tremendous creative energy and the strong will to progress, if tapped constructively, can certainly do wonders!

With the international media hailing India and China as the leaders of the new world order, and perhaps, potential superpowers, it's time for us to look ahead and not get overconfident. It's time to accentuate our strengths, while constantly acting on fixing our problems. Only then will success be ours!

India's Generation Now = Conformist. Really?

It's been some time since I have blogged, not because there hasn't been anything compelling to write about. On the contrary, since my return to my hometown in India, there have been a lot of issues that I have been reading and thinking about. In fact, often while sitting in the car in Delhi's traffic, I have the entire article ready to write in my head, but somehow fail to translate it onto the paper, or should I say onto the computer screen? Ah, the 21st century never fails to amuse me!

Therefore, I finally decided to write today about an issue that is both intriguing as well as raises some critical issues, especially for my generation. It's about India's Generation NOW. Mind you, not Generation X, but Generation NOW! (which, interestingly Wikipedia also calls the Generation Y). Since the past few days, I have been following the results of a survey conducted by one of India's leading national publications, The Hindustan Times (HT), aimed at trying to figure out what India's Generation Now (categorized by the newspaper as anyone between the age of 18-25) thinks about different socioeconomic factors such as career, romance, marriage, family, health and religion. The results, at least for me, have been surprising and unsettling.

The polls conducted across several major cities across India show that India's Generation Now, is in fact quite conservative when it comes to issues of family, romance and religion, but at the same time also comes across as confident and ambitious, striving to move ahead, although at too fast a pace at times. Being a part of this generation, I can identify with some of the characteristics that the survey reflects upon, but there are also a few things that that bother me about my generation's ability and future. Thanks to globalization and the critical economic reforms that have taken place in our country in the last two decades, the Generation Now has been able to dream big and better. And not just dream, but also have the confidence and resources to fulfill those dreams. This has led to an increased social mobility, providing the Generation Now with ample opportunities to prove their mettle.

And although, this all sounds exciting and worthy of recognition, the Generation Now might be losing out on something very important. And, that is the ability to think rationally, to believe in scientific reasoning and thought, and to encourage an atmosphere of intellectual discourse. It's upsetting to see that a majority of the Generation Now still regards religion as the prime source of reasoning and morality, and money and status triumph over rational thinking and knowledge. Of course, this blog is not a vendetta against religion or capitalistic values, but just an opinion of what I think my generation might be missing out on in this age of 15 seconds of fame.

So, how about encouraging an atmosphere where someone who questions religion or politics, or even decides to change the status quo, is given an opportunity to do so rather than frowned upon? Or how about along with the ability to earn money, also have the ability to give some away, and develop a social conscience? Not that the Generation Now does not do this, rather it doesn't do it enough. One of the promising thing the survey showed is that India's Generation Now is very much aware of it's responsibilities towards one's family and regards it as one of it's primary source of happiness. Although, a tremendous quality that I am proud of, we shouldn't let this strength become our weakness, which prevents us from questioning things around us, raising our voices to provide new answers and to expand our imagination and embark on cutting-edge innovations.

It was therefore, unsettling when I read the headline of the survey, which said that India's Generation Now is a conformist generation, that sticks to the status quo, and contended with the way things are overall. However, though we have a lot to applaud ourselves about, our generation still has a long way to go, where we can break the old-age constructs of reasoning and progress, and instead develop a new paradigm of development, free from biases and prejudices. Being a conformist is not the way to go, instead being a rebel at times is better, more important and relevant now, more than eve before.