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From the mouths of teens |
Parent
Problem |
A common complaint among most teenagers
is that their parents don't trust them enough. They said that their parents thought that
they lacked "common sense". Their biggest grouse was that they weren't allowed
to go out often enough even if they were in groups and that their curfew time had to be
followed strictly. "Even if we have a good reason to stay out beyond our curfew time
and our parents know that it is perfectly justifiable, they complain", says Ashwini
Pai. |
Career Choices
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About taking up jobs, Dharini
Parthasarathy says, while most parents give youngsters the freedom to choose their
profession they would like them to take up steady kinds of jobs like engineering and
medicine. Says Ashwini , "I think most parents wouldn't consider theatre having any
scope in terms of a career. They would like to see their children taking up some stable
job which means a 9 to 5 kind of job." Adds Dharini, "Ofcourse there are some
grown-ups who think its okay if a girl doesn't take her studies seriously because
ultimately she's going to get married".
There's need for the education system to be revamped and students given proper
counselling before they decide on what they want to do with their lives. This they feel
should be done in school so that they don't end up making the wrong career choices. Amar
says parents too have a role to play here. The tremendous coverage given by the media to
glamour could result in the youth being misguided. It is also for parents to tell their
children what is best for them. "Parents know their children the best", says
Karthik.
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Money,
Money |
Although there were heated arguments on
some issues, they were unanimous on one point-----money makes the world go round. All of
them said that there was a great deal of idealism in the previous generations. But the new
generation was much more practical.
When I asked them about working in a village full time, educating children or doing
some other sort of community development programme, they said they wouldn't do it at the
cost of a full-fledged career. Says Preethi Parthasarathy; "I would definitely extend
financial help. But the task of uplifting the poor and the rural areas is the job of the
government. That's what we're paying taxes for."
"I think money is very important but it's not the be-all and end-all because
it often causes rifts in relationships", says Karthik.
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Marriage |
Talking of relationships we come to the
topic of marriage. It's an amazing blend of rationalism and idealism. All of them said
that religion, community and other differences did not matter when it came to marrying and
they were prepared to go against the wishes of their parents in the matter. "After
all we are the ones who are going to be living together" is the common refrain. All
the boys said that they would have no ego problems if their wives were working and doing
better at their jobs, provided the wives didn't act like the "boss"!
As far as accommodating in-laws was concerned, the men said they wouldn't mind,
providing that their wives earned. But it was the duty of the son to look after his
parents. At the same time some of them felt that there was nothing wrong in the concept of
old-age homes and that old people would be happier at such places where they would meet
like-minded people. According to them there really is no need to attach a social stigma to
the concept.
Given a choice all of them preferred to live in nuclear families and added that in
joint families there was absolutely no room for space.
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Patriotic |
Finally all of them felt that Mahatma
Gandhi had played a role in our freedom struggle but that his ideologies were impractical
in today's world. They all wanted the country to go nuclear, have a crop of young
technocrats to lead the country and get rid of corrupt politicians.
"India has a great future and I definitely wouldn't like to leave and settle
down in some other country", says Karthik.
And who do they consider great people Ashwini and Satish say Mother Teresa
(there are loud protests from the others because of the conversions), Karthik says
Einstein, Preethi says Kiran Bedi, for Amar it's Vallabhai Patel and for Kiran, well he
just doesn't have a hero or heroine.
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