I am one of those people who was born on the brink of being a millennial, but still am an old-school 90s kid.
I don’t know if this confusion really has a word for it, or is it just another confused version of what young India really wants, because I wonder if young India itself really knows the answer to this.
I was born in a world where love still had a face of honor killing and acid attacks to it. A country where whom you can or cannot love was chosen in the court, and not at the discretion of your heart, because what’s not normal is not acceptable. Yet, I always believed that love will remain the purest of emotions that will ever strike me, or at least that’s what Kuch Kuch Hota Hain and DDLJ, aka Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, have taught me. Hence, I waited for the pseudo of Raj and Rahul to sweep me off my feet. But, was it really what I thought it to be?
With time, I realised how millennials aren’t the kind of people who believe in romance. For them, it’s about the stuff of chic flicks. Hence, from what I’ve seen, they’d rather indulge in the idea of emotionless one-night stands that disappear the next day, just like a hangover. They prefer sexts over letters, and rather than sweeping off, they swipe right and left all-day because that’s how their version of love kicks in. That’s what scares me.
The idea of holding the world on my domain and choosing men on the basis of their looks or a profile is what scares me because, it’s all about the heart for me. I am a person who can fall in love at first sight, but definitely not at the first swipe.
I am scared to put together a profile of my own, because somewhere, I feel how it all might be a package of various sizes, shapes, and even interests of a day to get laid. I am scared because I’m still stuck on pages of sunsets, beach walks and hand-holding. I cannot randomly go around kissing people just to check my compatibility with them, because I do not want to be one of the girls on their scorecards.
For me, love is beyond phone screens and one-night stands. For me, it’ll remain the forever it stands to be, the one I’d rather fight for, rather than look for a rebound from. This world might be an ocean of heartbreaks and sad poems. Yet, with all its pieces, I’m still the person who’d rather not walk out when it turns difficult. In fact, I’ll love a little harder.
In the name of being a pseudo-millennial, I can only be the 90s kid who still believes in the love that stays.
We are in a habit to accept the love we think we deserve. I wish to move ahead of those boundaries, make the extra effort, pull out the best dress for a date, and still be back home by 5 pm, because I’d rather be the 90s kid than the fun and confused version of a millennial.