Nerve Endings Firing Away

The intergeneration gap can be quite a bitch. I got a healthy dose when my parents visited me over the past week. On one side is that anecdote everyone likes to cite where the character is embarrassed by how less his parents know when he is an adolescent and then wonders how much they learnt when he creeps into the adult age. On the other hand, you never grow up, at least in your parents’ eyes; especially when you have been living away from them for quite a while now. They have a fleeting image of your self when you left home and sadly they weren’t witness to the changes in your life as they happened. Some little, some big, every change in your life alters your personality and the way you see the world around you. The image that parents have in their mind is that of an obsolete you that has long transformed into; err; something different, if not difficult to comprehend. Also, you wonder why parents have failed to notice this change. Well, simply put anyone would be taken aback if exposed to sudden changes. From a teenager who looked to his parents for advice, each one of us grows into an individual who is ready to dole out advice to parents instead. This isn’t taken too kindly by the parents, who sense a loss of control. Especially in India, where consensus among family is considered so important that often interests of the individual are not only deemed secondary but also insignificant.

Like a wise man said, nothing is permanent except change and right from social changes like fundamentalist Shiv Sena goons who seem to object Valentine’s Day to individual orthodox families that do not tolerate inter-caste/language/regional marriages. Thankfully, my family historically isn’t rooted in dogma and we have had our share of ‘colorful history’, yet certain things are still difficult to digest. My parents and I have been at loggerheads for quite sometime over variety of issues that boils down to a certain incident couple of years back. Everything from America to my sense of idealism has been blamed but gradually as time passes, things seem to improve ever so gradually. I am sure things will be much sunnier for me and anyone else in my life. For now, I am content on blaming the generation gap.