By Chandeep Arora:
With iPods rocking our ears and mobile phones buzzing in our pockets, we think we are the young Indians. Wearing a low waist Levi’s jean with a cool ADIDAS tee, we think we are the young Indians. But unfortunately a poor boy doesn’t wear an ADIDAS tee but barely manages a shirt without patches. He is not lucky enough to own a pulsar 220 but walks barefoot on the roads, his future leading to nowhere. Do we still deserve to be called the “Youth” who will change the India for a better tomorrow?
As a general perception youth is seen as a time of life when one wears cool tees, enjoys the late night parties and hangs out with friends. Why a Rang de Basanti goes super hit and Yuva fails miserably at the box office? That’s because the former talks about killing a politician and “having a good time” but the latter talks about cleaning the system by being a part of it. What we misinterpret is the word “Youth”. Youth is not a time of life but a state of mind. You are as old as your doubt, you are as old as your fear, and you are as old as your despair. The best way to keep young is to keep your hope young, is to keep your faith young, and is to keep your ideas young.
Young India has no one truth, this or that, either or. There is one Youngistan that watches MTV Roadies, but there is also the one that has Rahul Gandhi reaching out to the problems of people. There is one that is trying to fit in the shoes of west, but there is also the one that has Ginu Zacharia Oommen, who is working for a healthier India. These youngsters are the ones who have chosen the rough tumble of politics, have unusual dreams about the nation but know the possible ways to achieve them. No doubt we have progressed a lot in the last 63 years but the pace of development would have been completely different had some young torchbearers led this process.
Since our childhood we have been taught the flaws of politics, we have only heard bad about politics. The development in the formative years has a deep impact upon the rest of our life. What we need today is to change our acuity, our state of mind. The best helping hand we will ever receive is the one at the end of our own arm. A conventional thought may not be always right. Until and unless we don’t try something new we can’t be sure of its right and wrong. Today’s generation is without any doubt more active and energetic than the previous generation. We have the right kind of ideas, there’s just a need to help ourselves and give it the right direction. We are capable of bringing a positive change in the society. Let not youth be anymore identified with those funky styles, but with new ideas and innovations. There’s a need to flip the perspective. Let’s defy the given. Let’s challenge the equilibrium. Let’s subvert the paradigm. Let’s lead. Let’s lead out loud!
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