| The young these days clearly have a limited vocabulary.
Ask them anything and the reply is "chill". I looked up the Oxford Dictionary
and it says that means lowering the temperature or a mild illness. For this generation
though, "chill" means to take it easy, simmer down, relax. It's also the way
they look at romance. Love for them is nothing to get so excited about. People like me grew up in a classical age of romance when wooing was
serious business, even sacrifice. The new generation would laugh at me. Success -- or
failure -- in love and romance just doesn't seem to disturb their equanimity. Love, as our
cover story tells you, doesn't seem to be so much about emotion; it appears to be just
another accessory. As careers have moved up their priority list, romance has moved down
the scale.
I'm struck by how something so basic has changed so
drastically in urban India. It is clearly a reflection of larger changes in our social and
economic structures. In this new age of nuclear families and consumerism, where television
images beamed from across the world set the trend, there are new metaphors for life and
love. Like the fast-food places that the young haunt, love for them is much the same: well
packaged, instant gratification.
To research this story our correspondents visited smoky
bars, pool clubs and college campuses and talked to young people. They brought back a
fascinating tale of an adventurous, confident and matter-of-fact generation. As Assistant
Editor Samar Halarnkar, who wrote the cover story, says, "While most of them were
frank about how changing partners wasn't a big deal, almost no one agreed to be
photographed with his or her boyfriend or girlfriend."
Love may have changed -- but no one seems to have told
their parents. It's okay. Chill.
(Aroon Purie) |
