It was after a long time that my whole family had planned a road trip, and every well-planned road trip has a well-planned music list to go along with it. So the whole family, starting from my little cousins to their parents and their parents, took with them their favorite music CDs and pen drives and iPods. With all the preparations over, all of us squeezed ourselves into 3 different cars. The moment we hit the road, the war started. The war of the so-called “generation gap”.
My father played the hardcore Indian bollywood songs of the 60s and 70s that we enjoyed for a while (may be a song or two) and then it started getting boring. The little ones in the car felt drowsy. After a lot of arguments, my choice was played. It was a mix of 90s and the 21st century music. But soon enough, the younger ones were bored, and once more the music tracks changed, now to the taste of the youngest of the group. I was surprised to know that their taste didn’t quite suit me. Their kind of music had a lot of hard rock, some very lewd lyrics, and absolutely no sense at all. The kids were happy singing along but the elders were starting to get a headache. So to end with, the music player was shut off. The war had ended.
The inevitable progress of time and technology has lead to some obvious introductions of new thoughts, beliefs and morals. As a result, this difference in the general outlook at life arises, which is evident in the difference of opinions and social values between young people and older people within the family as well as within the social contexts. And these days a generation gap exists not only between me and my parents but also between me and my cousin, who’s three years younger than me. Even in school or in the college one can always notice the difference in the attitudes and the thinking of the junior lot from the senior lot. The times are changing so very fast that it does not take a 25 year age difference to make a generation gap. Today, a nineteen year old will have a hard time to understand the mindset of a seventeen-year-old. When I listen to the music choice of my little cousins, I am baffled at what they listen to. Probably, it is the same kind of bafflement that my parents would feel at what I listen to.
Generation gap is the easiest possible excuse for families to quarrel for. The notion of “right and wrong” changes with every generation, and this is the root factor for the clash between the elders and the young. The young feel the elders to be old-fashioned, the old think the young to be shallow. And once again I take music’s help to elaborate this. What my dad likes has deep meaning. The lyrics carry great weight and are thoughtful. Coming a little downwards to my generation, the music still has a bit of meaning but also has a lot of amusing and regular language in it. As to the music of the current GenY, the music has lost its thoughtfulness and is usually, outright rash.
It is a fact of life that the generation gap or “clash” is something that has existed and will continue to exist as long as man exists on this earth. It is not restricted to certain parts of the world, to certain times of human history or to certain cultures. That is why this “clash” is a fact of a life accepted by all generations, all over the world and through all time. As the gap broadens, one can only ask for a bit more adjusting power from people of all age groups and exchange a few ideas, beliefs and “songs” from one generation to another in order to live a blissful life.