No, it’s not fun to be young now. I was browsing through television channels idly at my hotel and came across a programme telling people what not to wear. This young girl of 21 – 22, pretty but plump. Wears loose clothes and covers herself with a stole all the time – it’s become part of me, she says when the show hosts ask her to get rid of it. When they try to tell her that she is pretty and should have more confidence in herself, she shakes her head in disbelief and then she cries. I write in my diary that I hate myself, she says. And why, because she is plump in a world that is skinny and knows she has no place in it.
Cut to another channel. This time an ad. Proud father feeding son a laddu; 91%. Another voice pipes up; 93% their child. And higher and higher it goes. For tuition classes – jyada marks pao, laddu khao. Or some such thing in the voiceover.
No, it’s not fun to be young. I know we all grew up with pressures of our own – education, looks, career choices, expectations from family and subsequent disappointing them. But are things worse now?
i guess the earlier generation felt the same way, Charu… i remember my mom telling me how much fun they had when they were kids, and that i didnt know how to enjoy… now i tell samhith much the same thing.. and worry more about him too…. and i shudder to think what comes ahead!