Lesson for youngsters

Forget millennials, I consider even the generation immediately succeeding my generation, which are those born in early 70s and thereafter to be truly blessed. I will quote a few facts in support of my statement.

(1) My paternal grandfather was born in 1890s and he witnessed both the world wars and even worst the partition of this country.

(2) My father,born in 1928, just about remembered the effect of Second World War but had vivid memories of partition of India as he was dislocated from Lahore and had to start afresh in Delhi. This always bothered him.

(3) My elder brother, born in 1956, has vague memories of 1962 China war but clearly remembers 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan.

(4) I , born in 1962 , have very faint memories of 1965 war ( only thing I remember is blackouts when we had to switch off all lights and had to do a drill of hiding under the table) , but slightly more clear idea of Bangladesh war.

Of course all those alive in 70s would also remember state of emergency declared in 1975 which was another difficult period for the country. Operation blue star and riots post demolition of Babri Masjid were other significant happenings and the last significant event of the last century was Kargil war in 1999.

Therefore, I first mentioned millennials though even immediate generation after my generation should also consider itself lucky as though aforesaid tragedies of 80s and 90s were major and serious, but they were not global in that sense.

In fact, this generation has not faced what my generation faced – very poor local transport, severe power cuts and water shortage, waiting period for everything – from scooter to car to colour TV, shortage of essentials and queues at ration shops, very poor communication ( telephone line at residence sometimes required booking as long as 3 years) and very low economic prosperity ( property ownership was mainly inherited, cars were unthinkable and symbolic of ultra rich and foreign travel – are you joking – my father never owned a passport) !

Internet, telecom, automobile, banking sector, consumer revolutions have changed the game to such an extent that it would require a separate blog on how I phone and BMW are no longer symbols of affluence and travel to any place other than Singapore or Dubai at least is a strict passé!

But amongst all this economic prosperity and other developments at break neck pace came Corona virus that has levelled the playing field for younger generation and millennials to what our previous generation was witness to ! It is declared to be worst happening since the world war 2, much worse than Bengal famine , Pak China wars or plague attack!

It’s time to sit back and learn what we refused to learn from our elders in our mad race to acquire material wealth!