Generational Gap!

"Kittipul? What's that? Something to do with pulling a cat"?  Notwithstanding the feeble attempt at banter, it was clear from the lad's arched brows and quizzical look that he was puzzled.  His younger sister sought to venture a guess that retained the cat in the picture and added some grass (`pul' in Thamizh).  They were woefully adrift and surprisingly we were embarrassed they were. A childhood friend of this author, who banished himself to the US some 35 years ago when he was still a bachelor, had come visiting with his family - wife, son and daughter,  the entire package carrying that unmistakeable stamp `Made in USA'. Their exposure to India had been limited to periodic sojourns for a couple of weeks, indifferent at best, mostly to assuage the itch of guilt the friend needlessly nursed for having decamped from India.  We were reminiscing fondly about the time his upper lip got split in a game of Kittipul (Gilli Danda in Hindi).  I had pedalled a bicycle with him groggily wobbling at the back, gory face and all, held steady on each side by two running aides, all the way to the clinic for a few stitches and a grandfatherly reprimand from the friendly doctor.  His two children walked into this conversation and sought immediate edification on kittipul.  My dear friend sat there, frozen for a bit, not because he could not explain the game, but was apparently mortified by the idea that he had to interpret something as earthy and fundamental as kittipul to his children!!  He later lamented that the fissure caused by growing up in an alien land had been cleaved further into a chasm by the Generational Gap (GG)!  No dispute there, because kittipul aka gilli danda is not something easily visible in towns and cities in India and seems to have been vapourised in a single generation.

We are always aware of its ghostly presence but from time to time, this GG chooses to hit us in the face with a violence that staggers us - literally - as we found out recently.  An unsuspecting group of friends - age from 35 to 65 - had gathered for a celebration at this bar, without any warning that the `volume' buttons on their music system were ulalterably set from 'Very very Loud' to 'Severe Impact on Eardrums'.  Within a minute of arrival, a couple of ladies had wilted by the onslaught of outrageously wild blare. They bravely went to the designated `controller of noise' and implored him to play music rather than noise.  He pretended to fiddle with the system and walked away; we did not realize that move was to tag our group as `softies' to the higher authorities for further processing.  The manager promptly descended on us and curtly told that within the next hour, that whole place would be crammed with screaming youngsters, who would compel the DJ to `go where no man has gone before' in terms of noise-level, in a take reminiscent of the Star Trek tagline.  He warned us to abandon our post forthwith and take refuge elsewhere so that he could have a homogenous crowd for the evening, without GG spoiling the fun for his regular clientele!! That we stayed put because the wilted ladies could not be revived was another matter.  We were amazed that groups of youngsters were having delightful and very meaningful conversations above the ambient noise, laughing and smiling while we were struggling to avoid choking whenever we tried to raise our croaking voices!! 

When one travels with youngsters on a holiday, GG lurks at every turn.  It begins with `packing' - an activity which, in the minds of older people, means stacking up decently pressed and folded clothes in adequate numbers in a suitcase neatly.   From the youngster's perspective, the rather inconvenient and menial task of packing roughly translates to collecting all the available clothes scattered in the vicinity, regardless of who they belong to and washed or unwashed; carefully making a ball of that compilation and roughly stuffing into a bag always smaller in size than is required for the volume at hand; asking an older person to hold the suitcase down while he sits on it to get the satisfactory, final closure.  The one great outcome of this is that at the other end, youngsters do not compete with oldies for wardrobe space.  Their suitcases left wide open in the middle of the room, serve as their walk-in closet and they are perfectly comfortable wearing the same pair of jeans or shorts and some crew tees during the stay.  When the oldies plan a sight-seeing trip, yielding to that compellingly obsessive habit nurtured over the years,  youth bristles: `Are you guys out of your mind, loitering in this heat when you are on a holiday?? We came here just to chill, watch TV, order room-service, eat and sleep'. Something they could have easily done and were doing at home anyway!!

If you tend to hold your smartphone on one hand so that you don't drop the phone and type with the other, you belong to the earlier generation.  If your phone rings, you are old (it has to just purr, never ring - never mind you keep calling people back, spending more money on calls for which others should have paid).  If you pick up calls from unknown numbers, you are older (`what's wrong with you, why do you pick up random calls?').  If you by chance meet someone, who happens to be a friend of your friend and give him your phone number, you are antediluvian ('how can you give your phone number to random people as if it is some public info to be doled out?'') - reminiscent of what parents tell children when they are young - not to talk to or go with strangers!   If you typed full words on your text messages you are a goner! This scribe is sure there is much more in the realm of cell phones which could tell the generations apart, but that should suffice for now.

Another distinguishing feature of the younger generation is its penchant for online purchases.  While most of the time this works well, to give credit where it is due, when the targeted item is dependent on size or colour, things falter frequently.  Shoes are ordered and promptly returned because 'not the same shade of colour I expected' or 'it seems their size 9 is not the same as standard 9' or 'too much of the top of the socks show'.  So, why don't they go to the shoe store about one block from home and pick up what suits and fits them?? 'Oh, online is so much easier'....Eh??  And, soon they gracefully seek to give the oldies the same pleasure of online shopping and ask you if your shoe also can be ordered online, just so you get to flow with the times!!

When our sons were visiting from the US, one day my dear wife lovingly made some breakfast they liked and sent out the clarion call for us to resume the consumption binge.  I walked up to our progeny and sought their delightful company for the repast.  The youngsters looked at each other and in a well coordinated assault, reprimanded us for eating too much in three meals a day when there is no way we could expend the accumulated energy and fat. They wanted us to follow their illustrious example and ingest only two untimely meals and four cups of stale and acidic coffee during a day.  Our argument that we eat three smaller meals did not cut any ice.  But then, we realized that an entire generation has been growing up eating that way and our pattern did not figure anywhere in their scheme of things.  All this, while my dear wife is always trying to stuff more food into their faces!!

Some people, even as they grow older, are able to ignore GG and deal with the younger crowd in a very sure-footed way, almost as if the age difference does not exist.  This they manage invariably by almost matching their behaviour and responses -- physical or otherwise -- with those of the younger lot.  It is a futile assumption that those who as adolescents or young adults manage the oldies and children well, are able to close the GG somewhat.  It does not seem to work that way.  Sometimes, external help is needed to bridge the gap, like the Indian Pro Kabaddi League (IPKL).  That languishing game from the earlier generation has suddenly got such a great fillip and has a sizable fan following among the youth, thanks to the luminous exposure provided by IPKL.  That tells us something, right??  The wine may be better if it is old, but in order to sell, it has to be bottled anew, with a dash of glitz that appeals to the new lot!!  Oldies can likewise bridge the gap to some extent by changing their spots a bit!! Of course, this does not mean they start packing their bags like the youngsters, god forbid!!