This aged person sitting besides me draws my attention and asks, "Son, what does this mean?". He points at the form in his hand. Specifically, he is pointing at the section titled "Salary" against which someone has filled "35K". "What does this 'K' mean?", he asks, with genuine puzzlement on his face...
I reply, "1000. It means '1000'"...
"Sorry...?", he doesn't get what I am trying to say. So I elaborate...
"'K' indicates 1000. That's 35,000"
He still seems unconvinced, as if I have told him that Green Gandhi means a 100 Rs note (which it does - but for my generation, not his)... So I elaborate further...
"'K' as in 'Kilos' you know, hence its used as short-form for 1000..."
Now he looks incredulously at me. Trying to decide whether I am pulling his leg or whether I am daft in the head... Then he seems to recognize the sincerity on my face, and accepts the info i gave him at face value. But the confusion is still there... Finally, looking back at the magic figures, he says "I have seen so many forms... never seen salary written like this before...?? I mean, its salary right, not vegetables or fruits, that you use Kilos for it???"
I have no answer to that. For how many times have I myself using this same short-form before?? Many!
Now that's a good example of Generation Gap...
So is the example of how my Grandfather asks me whether email "address" is like our house address or where is this or that particular web"site" located?
And the example of how my parents find it difficult to use the simplest of mobile phones (forget the "smart" phones)
And the example of how I feel "left behind" when I realize that the school-going kids from our colony have iPads and Facebook accounts while I don't...
I agree that Generation Gap is a part and parcel of life. But the frequency at which generation Gap occurs is fast increasing...
There was a time when Generation Gap existed between Grandfather and grandchild. Which means there was a change in the way a generation thought and acted, every 4-5 decades. That got reduced to generation gap between Father and Son - i.e. a generation gap occuring every couple of decades or so. By the time I was studying in college (about 10 year back), that had gotten reduced to a decade - max. But then it reduced rapidly.
Now, a Generation Gap occurs every 3-5 years.
I feel a Gen. Gap between myself and a fresher joining the organization. And that fresher equally feels a Gen-Gap between himself and his juniors - the college-going kids. They in turn feel a Gen. Gap between themselves and the Kids in school nowadays.
It difficult to notice this generation gap because, we have learned to adopt fast. We accept new technology and changes happening around us and change ourselves accordingly. It is only apparent to a neophobe like me - when you don't have a facebook account while everybody else does; or you find it difficult to use smart phones while even kids can operate them easily; or you look down upon the people in the mall (even the middle-aged ones) wearing "modern" (to your eyes) attire like jeans, t-shirts, three-fourths, etc - as if they are showoffs; or when you sit and wonder where the public telephone booths have disappeared... That's when you realise how fast the generation gap is increasing nowadays.
Of course most people will not notice it and there is a reason for that... I was reading a Michael Crichton book which had an article in it. It said that scientists have arrived at a conclusion that the genes that cause people to grow mature are getting suppressed in the modern generation. Partly this is because, the world around us is changing too rapidly. Growing up makes us rigid and resistant to change. While a kid-like immature attitude helps us to cope with the continual changes happening around us... So we are adapting by staying immature...
In short, what it says is, we have stopped "growing up". So, Loss of Maturity is the price we pay for our fast technological progress in the Modern Information Age...??
I reply, "1000. It means '1000'"...
"Sorry...?", he doesn't get what I am trying to say. So I elaborate...
"'K' indicates 1000. That's 35,000"
He still seems unconvinced, as if I have told him that Green Gandhi means a 100 Rs note (which it does - but for my generation, not his)... So I elaborate further...
"'K' as in 'Kilos' you know, hence its used as short-form for 1000..."
Now he looks incredulously at me. Trying to decide whether I am pulling his leg or whether I am daft in the head... Then he seems to recognize the sincerity on my face, and accepts the info i gave him at face value. But the confusion is still there... Finally, looking back at the magic figures, he says "I have seen so many forms... never seen salary written like this before...?? I mean, its salary right, not vegetables or fruits, that you use Kilos for it???"
I have no answer to that. For how many times have I myself using this same short-form before?? Many!
Now that's a good example of Generation Gap...
So is the example of how my Grandfather asks me whether email "address" is like our house address or where is this or that particular web"site" located?
And the example of how my parents find it difficult to use the simplest of mobile phones (forget the "smart" phones)
And the example of how I feel "left behind" when I realize that the school-going kids from our colony have iPads and Facebook accounts while I don't...
I agree that Generation Gap is a part and parcel of life. But the frequency at which generation Gap occurs is fast increasing...
There was a time when Generation Gap existed between Grandfather and grandchild. Which means there was a change in the way a generation thought and acted, every 4-5 decades. That got reduced to generation gap between Father and Son - i.e. a generation gap occuring every couple of decades or so. By the time I was studying in college (about 10 year back), that had gotten reduced to a decade - max. But then it reduced rapidly.
Now, a Generation Gap occurs every 3-5 years.
I feel a Gen. Gap between myself and a fresher joining the organization. And that fresher equally feels a Gen-Gap between himself and his juniors - the college-going kids. They in turn feel a Gen. Gap between themselves and the Kids in school nowadays.
It difficult to notice this generation gap because, we have learned to adopt fast. We accept new technology and changes happening around us and change ourselves accordingly. It is only apparent to a neophobe like me - when you don't have a facebook account while everybody else does; or you find it difficult to use smart phones while even kids can operate them easily; or you look down upon the people in the mall (even the middle-aged ones) wearing "modern" (to your eyes) attire like jeans, t-shirts, three-fourths, etc - as if they are showoffs; or when you sit and wonder where the public telephone booths have disappeared... That's when you realise how fast the generation gap is increasing nowadays.
Of course most people will not notice it and there is a reason for that... I was reading a Michael Crichton book which had an article in it. It said that scientists have arrived at a conclusion that the genes that cause people to grow mature are getting suppressed in the modern generation. Partly this is because, the world around us is changing too rapidly. Growing up makes us rigid and resistant to change. While a kid-like immature attitude helps us to cope with the continual changes happening around us... So we are adapting by staying immature...
In short, what it says is, we have stopped "growing up". So, Loss of Maturity is the price we pay for our fast technological progress in the Modern Information Age...??
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