Respect.. Free-will.. Culture..

Few days back I read this interesting post. It was about few blokes who out of respect to elders, don't smoke in their presence.

In another couple of days, saw a similar post on FB. This one had a different flavour. Few young ladies taking a puff - title went 'mulgi shikli, pragati zhali'.. now this particular title is used by Government to promote education of girl child and literally means - If girl child learns (is educated), society will flourish/develop. Obviously, with this picture its plain sarcasm - don't know towards whom.. Government or this young generation of today's progressive India. Below this 'status' were thousands of likes, hundreds of shares and people who had strong opinions also wrote some very fiery comments.. ranging from 'women in India/our culture are treated with respect - daughters, mothers', 'they should not be objects of desire but of respect', and similar sentiments on one side of the spectrum. And in the 'red corner' were champions of free will and equal rights and freedom for smokers. Some were indifferent to the fact that these smokers were females, while others felt strongly that women are being 'singled out'.

Revolutions...

Few years ago, we had a very touching Aamir Khan movie “Rang De Basanti”. Very inspiring and youth oriented. Does it have a cult status or not, is not what we are interested in. But, it certainly had ideas which were “revolutionary”. At the time when it was released, many people were motivated by it and wanted to do something to bring about a change in society, especially the youth. Others merely dismissed it as a typical Aamir Khan “masala” movie. They were the skeptics who believed that the “systems” is old enough and strong enough to be toppled by youth who are inspired by a popular media?  The idea seemed too farfetched at that point of time.

Meanwhile, the same youth was busy discovering a new media – internet more precisely the “social-networking”. The phenomenon called Facebook and Twitter had happened. The skeptics and the “system” dismissed it just as another addiction that youth is indulging into. Of course, the blogosphere had already evolved by this time. Combined with these newer tools or should we say “WMD” :) changed the world that we are now living in.

Rang De Basanti: A Generation Awakens

A generation awakens?? An exaggeration?? A marketing gimmick?? An overstatement?? Perhaps… but remember the French revolution was ignited by a non-existent piece of cake and bread! Revolutions, in classical sense, aren’t the order of the day. And most certainly don’t happen by watching a typical 3-hour bollywood-masala flick.

But this case is different!

While coming out of the dark cinema hall with other people, some with moist eyes, some with a smile and some sporting a cynic look, I wondered… how apt this analogy would portray what I felt like. And many be a few like me would feel - transiting from darkens to bright light with a momentary blur and then seeing things clearly.

“Agar tum system ko badalne jaao, to system tumhe hi badal dega” (If you want and take initiative to change or improvise system, system itself will make sure you are changed!)

But, “No nation is perfect. You have to make it a better one.”

Guardians of Culture

Are we old enough to decide what’s good or bad for ourselves? Or do we still need others to tell us ‘what to do’ and ‘what not to do’? Or is it, that, we’ll always remain mamma’s boys and papa’s little princesses; no matter how old we grow or even if we have kids of our own?

Be it the kind of movies boys prefer to watch or the 7 pm deadlines for girls (10 pm for the liberal households), there will always be set of rules to ‘regulate’ or rein the adolescent genes, the hormonal changes, et al. The ever-worried parents do need such ground-rules to ensure that their young boys and girls grow into mature and responsible citizens of tomorrow. There’s no denying this fact of life (mind you, it’s necessary in many cases) and no harm in dealing with your children’s future with caution and prudence.

Most of the parents do realize when the time arrives. The time when all their parenting efforts are put to test by means of freedom acquired eventually by the youthfulness. And now it’s this upbringing that decides the course of actions an individual takes. There would be times when people turn to elders for guidance, counsel and support. And elders in turn show confidence in the judgments and decisions of the younger generation.

That’s how generations evolve and human race progresses. That’s Mother Nature’s way. Sparrow teaching its young ones to fly and then one fine day little ones fly off to newer heights to make them proud.