Back to Future … IV

“Gire Huye log aur girte nahin hai” Shahrukh said when Dave was trying to lift the bicycle which fell on ground due to heavy wind. He meant, not to lift the cycle because as long as it is lying on the ground it will not fall again. Purushottam and Dave laughed loudly on Shahrukh’s comment and came out of the school compound. They were coming from a monthly debate conducted by all religious heads to debate about various religious beliefs keeping ancient texts and personal experience as reference. These guys are very active in these debates.

I was on my morning walk and I saw these young men coming out. Lots of energy and there is a glow in their face. As soon as I saw Shahrukh, I called him. He did Salaam to me and was waiting eagerly for me to speak. “I heard you have been chosen for Indian Idol final round. I must congratulate you for this. I never heard you singing. How did you learn this?”. He replied, “Bade Chacha, you have mistaken. Indian Idol is not about songs, it is about becoming an youth icon.”. I said, “So, this is not the indian idol competition where judges cry, fight, shout and finally agree on making one young man/girl as best singer of India. In our time it was great fun. I used to follow it closely. We had judges like Anu Mallick and others. He used to fight very well” I paused. “Ohh!! Then this is something fake Indian Idol. Okay!!!”. Purushottam and Dave joined Shahrukh. Purushottam said, “Chacha this is the real Indian Idol. Here there is a competition among young people to find who can be called as true Bharatiya Yuva. They must follow an Ideal life style, have in depth knowledge about Various ancient texts, religious beliefs, modern innovations and vision for future. This is a one year long process. Shahrukh has been nominated from our city to participate in this. As always, he is the best and he will win it”. I found it very heavy for me to digest. “What the hell this youth is doing. Youth is to have fun not to become saint. There is a huge generation gap.” I said. Dave responded, “Chacha, Who said we are not having fun. The kind of fun Pan shops used to give, Televisions used to give in your generation, we get thousand times more fun that that by this.”. Purushottam and Shahrukh were very annoyed with Dave’s harsh response and whispered in his ear to apologize me. He immediately obliged and said “Sorry Chacha. If I sounded harsh”. I said, “It’s okay beta. Have great fun. Shahrukh, wish you best of luck”.  They all left the place and went towards their home.

I was taking tea after morning walk. Satpal came with one stranger to my home. He introduced him as Imtiyaz from Lahore. I was pleasantly surprised to meet one Pakisthani friend. Although situation was not like our days. Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Burma all have joined hands together to form Jambudwip. Although every country is independent and govern their own state but few associations have merged. Entertainment  and recreational activities like Movies Industry, Sangeet and Nrutya academy, Sports associations now work together. Since past 7 years these associations are holding all the world cups. Now, people do not need Visa to go to these countries. I remember, in my young age they all used to fight, terrorism was at it’s peak. Thankfully, one civil war in the year 2012 December started against the so called leaders. Youth participated in every state affairs seriously. Every individual started voting and active in voicing their opinion. I remember, how they pulled me out of my office to go for voting. They were bit harsh then but now I realize the advantage of that. Once the bad leaders were taken away, all problems vanished one by one surprisingly. Although youth continued to remain vigil and had futuristic thoughts. You know Naxalism was a political party sponsored terrorism in those days. We realized it much after this civil war.  Now Jambudwip is the tourism, healthcare, entertainment and most importantly knowledge hub. Many of our universities have been awarded as best in the world. In this thought I completely forgot about Imtiyaz. I made him sit beside me. He offered me some snacks that he got from Lahore. My son had been there for some official work and he says it is a very beautiful city. I had great fun talking to this bright young man. He came here because he got an admission in MS University to do master degree in Sanskrit. I asked him, “Why don’t you study science and become doctor and engineer.”. he smiled and kept quiet.

This is a strange generation. Kids are old fashioned.   

Namaste!!!

– Stray Dog