Friends, with Covid pandemic in full swing in the country, you might of heard people of younger generations talking about the hardship their generation is facing due to this pandemic. Further telling, people of earlier generations will not understand , what is the amount of hardship and stress we are going under in the present situation, when there is no guarantee of what is going to happen about our jobs, earnings, family life etc etc.
Now problem with this generation is that they have been used to live a easy life without going through much hardship, the reason being the last 2 decades have been quite good for them, with economy prospering and many technological advancement happening in the world, specially in the field of communication. This generation is not ready to accept that with so much technology advancement , some pandemic can cause havoc worldwide and they have to get locked down in their homes. But actually this has happened, and you know what is the outcome of that.
Now let us go back into history a bit :
Imagine you were born in the year 1900.
When you were 14, World War 1 begins and ends when you are 18 with 22 million dead across the world.
Soon after global pandemic, the Spanish Flu broke, killing 50 million people world wide. Luck you are alive, and just 20 years old.
When you were 29, you survive global economic crisis, that started with collapse of New York Stock Exchange, causing inflation, unemployment and famine.
When you are 33 years old, Nazis come to power in Germany.
When you are 39 World war 2 begins and when you are 45 the war end with death toll of 60 million people, including deaths of 6 million Jews
When you are 52, Korean war begins, and when you are 64, the Vietnam war begins and ends when you are you are 75.
Above is with American perspective.
Now let us see from Indian perspective :
Now consider you are born in 1940:
You miss your early childhood because full country is fighting for independence, and survival is difficult.
When you are 7 year old, independence is achieved but there is partition of the country, with new nation of Pakistan emerging from Indian territory. With lakhs of people dying while migrating from India to Pakistan and vice versa.
Consider the case you along with your parents migrated to India, and you are granted refugee status. Your father starts building his career once again.
So when you are 22 and just completed your educations and trying to enter job market , war with China happened and you see various restrictions in the country including black outs, Indian economy going down
At the age of 25, when your career has just begun war with Pakistan happened, and again Indian economy is affected and you suffer.
When you reached 31, and started settling in your married life, again war with Pakistan happens. So in the span of 9 years you see 3 wars, which affects you mentally and economically.
At the age of 35, you see emergency in the country, when most of your liberties are curtailed, and all political opponent of govt of that time are jailed, No freedom of speech, press censorship etc.
From the age of 40 you start seeing some stability in political system, which last for few years, then there is political instability, which gets over when you have reached the age of 59( ie in year 1999).
Presently, a child born in 1985 thinks his parents/grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, but he never realises that they have survived several wars and catastrophes.
Today the fact is, the new generations have all the comforts in the world, amid a pandemic.
But they complain because they need to wear masks, stay confined to their homes where they have foods, electricity, running water, wifi, Netflix etc. None of these existed back in those days.
But humanity survived in those circumstances and people never lost the joy of living.
A small change in our perspective can do miracles. We should thankful that we are alive. Rather than complaining about the situation, we must accept the same and should do everything we need to protect and help each other.
Friends, what is you say on this matter,
Awaiting your feed backs/comments/views.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
7th Jul 2020