The young and the restless

Yesterday was a special day. The nation or at least the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was celebrating National Youth Day

The young and the restless

Yesterday was a special day. The nation or at least the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was celebrating National Youth Day. For the uninitiated who have just attained the legal right to hit a bar, the day commemorates Swami Vivekananda's birthday since 1985.

I am still on the right side of 30 with no balding spots and just the right amount of lard, which provides me padding from Delhi's extreme cold or whenever I fall flat on my face. Thus, I decided to participate in the celebrations with gusto. So I made a decision to scan the newspapers and take some tips from other young people around the country, just in case they were celebrating it differently.

It turns out that someone got inspired by the Boston Evening Post's description of Vivekananda becoming a 'rage' in the West after his speech at the Parliament of World Religions (Chicago) in 1893. A commercial pilot mowed down a restaurant manager with his car. This road rage incident hit the headlines all over.u00a0

While at another place in the Capital two persons; including a teenager were busy chasing a Russian woman's car for 30 minutes and hurling choicest abuses at her. When apprehended, they denied the allegations levelled by the lady. Possibly, somebody had recently informed them about Vivekananda's motivational saying, 'our country requires heroes: be heroes. Stand firm like a rock' or was it a certain former telecom minister's viewpoint, I had no idea. Four other young people in the Capital chose to be abhaya or fearless and without fearing for consequences, stabbed an 18-year-old to death because he chose not to 'lend' them a screwdriver.

Then an entertainment channel was exchanging mothers on primetime. Young TV actors and comedians were swapping moms with others from contrasting socio-economic backgrounds for a week. The idea perhaps is to follow Parivr ufffdjaka ufffd the Hindu religious life of a wandering monk, which Vivekananda undertook for five years touring the country.

Well, to cut a long story short, it was a very confusing day and I had no clue which of these young idols to imitate. Bursting crackers on Diwali and instigating my ailing neighbours to be a little spirited is easy.u00a0 Chucking water balloons during Holi at unsuspecting young girls in youthful spirit is my baiye haath ka khel. Indulging in hyper-consumerism during Christmas or Eid comes naturally. But being youthful and trying to celebrate National Youth Day, left me wiser by 20 years.

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