I have seen a lot of people feel uncomfortable sharing their age, but I have no such hesitations. I am 32 years old and my younger cousins tell me that I belong to the old generation. If you are born in the year 1990, you are still considered but if a year less – 1989, you are from the old school.
Being an elder sister, my cousins come to me seeking advices about studies, career and relationships and when I try to help, the only reply I get is, “Didi, leave it, you’ll not understand it. Aapki generation aur hamari generation mein bahut fark hai.”
In the last few days I was having a conversation with my younger sister about relationships and she said something which hit me hard. Though she is from the new generation and I am from the so-called old generation, we share a lot of mutual thoughts and interests. We spoke about love, how the generation after the year 2000 perceives love.
Her friend broke up recently and she shared the incident with me. As I always say, my words or I don’t intend to hurt anyone or offend, it is purely an expression of my own thoughts.
Love in the past equated with loyalty, but nowadays love is synonymous with lust. She shared the story of her friend whose boyfriend cheated on her while being in a committed relationship with her.
My sister shared her fear of loving someone or getting into a relationship. My generation had this problem but I guess the proportion of people was less. She asked, “Didi, what if the same thing happens with me?”
To be honest, I had no answer and I was completely quiet. After a pause, my sister said, “Didi, I feel I have a generation gap with my own generation.” I asked her, “Why do you say that?”
She replied, “My generation wants sex, but they don’t know the real meaning of intimacy.” It was really deep what she said and I understood her point straightaway.
I remember a thought I scribbled in my diary which read, “Everyday relationships die, because they are merely a lie.” I felt the same a few years ago, when I was looking for love which I never got. I asked myself many times where the problem is… After many years, my little sister gave me the answer. I had it too! The generation gap within my own generation.