Baby Boomers Rule – Again

We apparently are in a misconception that the Millennials are the new consumers and forgetting the fact that the ‘Baby Boomers’ hold the keys to every ‘locks and safes’ of the world and run the show. The generation that brought the pop culture and made the first consumer generation is heading into retirement. Time to wake-up folks and cheer up the baby boomers and their invigorated spending power that reshaped Texas to Sin-City and Bangalore to Silicon-Valley.

However, going by our Hindu-Shastra (which clearly needs a moderator), a man at 60 is expected to retire and renounce. But isn’t it a more passive way of spending their ‘senior’ years, after all, why should one hustle while young, and not enjoy the old.

Well, Matt Thornhill, president of Generations Matter, a think tank in Richmond, Virginia says “Boomers are the first generation on the planet to get to age 60 and still see a long runway ahead,”

Perhaps, the strongest validation of the Baby Boomer Renaissance is the 2011 film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and approves the fact that – 50 is the new 30 and why not so. This generation (baby boomers) has been more active and more involved in ‘‘shaping’’ the world than the Snowflake generation.

With an annual spending power of $7.1 trillion— one must not take the segment for granted, which is estimated to hit 13.5 trillion dollars by 2032 and consider it as an opportunity, than a liability.

No Shrinking Violets – Baby boomers Rock

We’re no longer looking for the youth as role models, many seniors have become leaders already and some of them started after retiring. Take the example of our Faujah Singh, who became the oldest marathon runner at 101. Well, I ain’t advocating every senior to buckle up and start running, but staying active is a good way to live.

There’s always a space to start in a big way, even with potentially dwindling family circle – kids are grown up (hopefully), grand babies moved abroad (thankfully). It’s lonely in suburbia, nonetheless, the cityscape is open to diverse peer groups and communities, making it more interesting and pleasant, allowing a lot of opportunities to ditch retirement.

The Tragedy of Birth

Mr. Raphael Samuel’s decision to sue his parents for conceiving him without consent has garnered him all the attention he wanted and made me think, ‘when is a baby actually conceived’ – is it the time when our father casts his evil gleam on our mother or do we take a more scientific approach and stick to biology. Though the former sounds creepy and makes us a product of our father’s misconduct, sticking to biology is more rationale.

Well, this could be a stunt for 15-minute of fame, however, Mr. Samuel’s argument stems from the fact that any new human life will inevitably involve pain and suffering, while pleasure (although good) is irrelevant to those who do not or have not existed in the first place – this philosophical movement is termed as ‘anti-natalism’.

Though the believers of anti-natalism are in the minority, however, edging into the mainstream won’t take much time. Popularized by Matthew McConaughey character, Rust Cohle in True Detective, where he believed, ‘human consciousness was a tragic misstep in evolution. Life is bad, so is death and together they constitute an existential vice’.

In a country, where parents mollycoddles, kids turning up suing their parents can come as a surprise. Though the lawsuit drama could just be a click-bait, nevertheless it gives a clear idea of the understanding of new millennial and I say, it’s not bad at all, but suing won’t do any favour.

Though his thoughts are way ahead of time, it’s always glad to come across people who think differently and are brave enough to step out and speak about it in a society tied up in its accord. Anti-natalist or natalist, joke or no joke – people are suffering and we can’t un-see it with any sort of spiritual veil and bulls**t and bringing in a child for the sake of our continuity is both selfishness and the irony of our existence.

The Confession of a Tinderella and a desperate Grindrella

As the overrated weekend came to an end, my confession reckons with Rosy Edwards – the Millennials search for THE SPECIAL ONE by lowering the standard and finding love, one right swipe at a time.
 Though it’s ok to be open to both the genders and with the technology guiding us through the ‘SWAMVAR’ process easily, the question of being coy is out. Moreover, sleeping diagonally in the bed when you see happy couples around, hurts. Thus, finding a date on Tinder or a mate on Grindr seems meaningful in a much meaningless life we lead in this rat race.
Well, honestly speaking, girls are always delightful, probably, because of the fact that they amuse the 'not so man' side of a man and their ulterior motive to settle down and an occasional sneak-peek into their naked anatomy, becomes a source of curiosity for the penis bearer.

However, no Romeo and Juliet are born in real life and most, after few courtships end up saying ‘sayonara’ to become an old chapter in each other’s memory. To undo pain, no strings attached or one-night stands come handy. Well, blame it to Shakespeare or our poor, overdramatic Bollywood scripts – love is never about the romance we understand and the agony of Tinderella continues…

Having said that, the much curious man has several opportunities and with 377 being revoked, one can seek refuge in the desperate crowd of testosterone.  Well for beginners, the platform seems a safe haven and a few lucky ones end up tying knot. However, not everyone can have a similar fate, delving deep into it, one can come across the not much talked about complications of the society. Nevertheless, the desperate Grindrellas are comfortably share ‘unsolicited pics’ for fun, enjoyment and dates and probably it’s the only way for them to be accepted in this broken world, among people who are equally broken and discontented. Love is never about hunting for THE ONE and the agony of the desperate Grindrella continues….

This reminds me of the most popular Quote by Mirza Ghalib:
‘Dard jab dil mein ho, toh dawa keejiye, Dil hi jab dard ho toh kya keejiye’

The Dichotomy between soaring desire and low ambition

Today, while performing my daily browsing ritual, I came across an article on the ever-increasing desire and the waning ambition, the millennial’s hate for Mondays and their effort of ‘finding themselves’ in the abyss.

With every brand targeting the millennial and the Facebook’s insatiable urge to follow us to the grave – the new consumer generation, find things overwhelming. While being ambitious is branded gluttony, the market never leaves a stone unturned to entice us into buying more without keeping a constant flow of purchasing power.

Now if we follow the social demand of keeping the desires alive without ambition— we might just end up squabbling over the same piece of meat like little hungry dogs and at the end no one is content. We cannot stoop to this level, can we? After all, we’re humans.

Well, the market and the government will do what it has to do, to maintain the rigmarole of its existence. We can’t change it; however, efforts can be made to change ourselves. I'm neither asking anyone to stop desiring nor am I advocating high ambition.

I can only say what few Zen masters have said before:

Do not desire too much, not to desire to stop desiring.

Let’s be pragmatic, we all can’t be ambitious together, nevertheless we can do our best to what we do (even on Mondays) and let the effort pave our course. Let not everyone be a creator, we need more people to sustain the creation. The world now, needs less heroes and more humans.

Humans need less – they’re ‘Minimalist’. Minimalism isn’t a fad, it’s a way of living, living with what you need, not what you want. It’s not shunning desire, it’s living with it and having a check on it. Every desire can never be fulfilled, or we would’ve had ‘fishes on trees’.

Minimalism doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with owning material. The problem is the meaning we assign to stuffs we own. We end up giving more meaning to our things than health, relationship, passion, etc. If you dream of owning a car, go buy it, see if it’s important to you. If you want to own a house, go own it. Minimalism simply helps you to make decision consciously, but not deliberately because ‘Sharma ji k bete neh kharid liya, to mujhe bhi lena hai’.

Minimalism is a tool to identify what’s important in your life and focus on it, as we all know— a man with less, sleeps well.

Yugen – Creativity and the feeling

Well, this is a topic most people won’t like it and might come as a devil to most of the teachers. We know all our universities and schools are trying to teach creativity through workshops and creative programs and it’s a big thing these days.

However, the trouble is, if we found out a method to teach creativity and everybody could just know the formula for creating a beautiful object, it would no longer be of interest. What always is an essential element of creativity is the ‘Mysterious’.

It’s when Yugen comes into play, Yugen – a Japanese word comprising of two kanji characters meaning ‘mysterious’ and ‘deep’ roughly translates into – ‘an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and mysterious for the words’.

There’s a Japanese Haiku poem that says:

“When the bird calls, the mountain becomes more mysterious”

With this kind of poem you see, you get a feeling, which might mean nothing, but that nothing is everything. Creativity is that experience when the thought wanders into that nothingness (void) and this is Yugen.    

Yugen is the sensation of life that keeps you going, without the thought of a specific destination. It’s when the space is used to keep your imagination flowing into it without being specific. Creativity is an experienced and cannot be learnt.

To further elaborate, lets talk about humour, a joke as we know is funny as it hints at something, but you never explain to yourself why you laughed, because that will spoil the joke. In the same way, there is this mystery, which is never defined, and which you understand and see the beauty, just as the humour of the joke. Thus, there is no philosophy of humour nor any for creativity and discussing more about it is futile.

Seek a meaningful life not a happy one

We all want to be happy, but most of us have no idea what to do. 

Should we make more money? 

Should we focus on pursuing our passions?

Should we give up all our material possessions and become a monk in the mountains?

Well, we all have a different take on it and there are times when nothing seems to work. 

Having said that, let me introduce you to the concept of ‘ikigai’, few identify it with the Japanese formula of happiness, but I say, it helps you lead a more meaningful life. Well, let’s be honest, happiness has no exclusive rights of the path to heaven.

Ikigai roughly translates into ‘a reason for being’, you need to have a purpose of living. Though it sounds easier than done, when you know nothing is under your control. However, there are four components you need to check to achieve ‘ikigai’. 

1) Find something you love:  

Find things that make you feel good, that makes us stop thinking for a short period of time, few call it the ‘Flow State’.  This could be drawing, singing, reading, etc. – that takes you to the state of bliss where you feel focused. The same happens when you fall in love with someone because being with that person allows us to forget all the other problems at least momentarily.

2) Find something that the world needs:

We humans are hardwired to feel good when we know we are needed. Back in the day when we were hunters, it was easy, as everybody played an important part—the hunter was as important as the cleaner, and one could easily gauge the effect of one on the other. However, nowadays, most people work in corporations – being given small roles in massive companies, where even if we work our butts off, it’s hard to see the positive outcome, it doesn’t look we’ve accomplished anything and even if we quit, no one will really care. You need to find something that creates a positive impact around you and that’s the second component of ikigai.

3) Find something that you get paid well for:

Let’s be real– ‘You need money’ – money to put a roof over your head, food in your mouth and clothes in your body. Without enough of it, you’ll spend most of your life worrying and stressed. It is crucial to earn not just some money, but a good enough to live a comfortable life. You need to live without stress and achieve financial independence, which is the third component of ikigai.

4) Find something that you’re good at:

This doesn’t mean you’ve got to be born with talent – it means you’ll have put in time and effort in order to get better at the skill. We often face difficulty in the beginning when we take the first step; however, practice is the key, which lets you overcome the hurdle, and this makes it the fourth component of ikigai.

The Venn diagram below gives a better picture of what ikigai is and how to strike a balance between Passion, Mission, Profession and Vocation.

Kodaikanal – The Queen of Hills

It was a starry night, I packed my bagpack, and set off on a journey down south from Hyderabad. Though travelling across Southern states is not as convenient as North, nevertheless I never lost hope. I had always preferred budget travel, so I booked a train ticket without breaking my bank. I heard a lot about Kodaikanal and wanted to explore it by myself.

Though there aren’t any direct buses or trains to Kodaikanal from Hyderabad, one can reach either via Madurai or Coimbatore. I choose Madurai. I boarded the train at around 6ish in the morning and fortunately, the train departed on time. The journey was comfortable, moreover the trains in the south have a reputation of being clean, which I absolutely agree. It was a journey of 24 hours and thankfully there weren’t any annoying aunty, snoring uncle or kids shouting out loud.

Though I had to sacrifice my preferred seat for a pregnant lady, nonetheless being considerate feels good. I don’t eat much while travelling, but I make sure to carry nuts and fruits, as staying constipated is a bad idea.

I reached early morning and damn, I was lost, people don’t speak Hindi, and English is spoken by a chosen few. And again, budget travel was in my mind so never opted for OLA or UBER. Fortunately, I found a man who spoke a little English and he helped me board the local bus to the state bus transport station where I could get the buses for Kodaikanal. The buses were easily available with high frequency.

One can book local buses (Govt. owned) to Kodaikanal at Rs 250, which takes around 4-5 hours to reach. People with motion sickness must avoid buses. If you are willing to pay more, there are many taxi services or Zoomcar is a great option. Travellers should carry extra sweaters as the weather gets chilly at night.

To be honest, it is best to travel in your own vehicle while exploring Kodaikanal, as the town has a very poor commuting facility and the ones available are either too expensive or less frequent. I, on a budget travel, had to walk most distances or hitchhike my way through the town and yes, people were very cooperative.

Most of the best hotels are located near the lake area, which seems to be the centre. However, if you are looking for seclusion, I suggest finding hotels near the Observatory or Vattakanal (2 km from Kodaikanal). I personally booked a hotel on Goibibo near the Observatory with a breathtaking view (though the staff spoke only Tamil, my sign language came handy) The only barrier I faced was language, which is a common scenario for non-Dravidian in most parts of Southern India.

There is no nightlife as such, unless organised by the hotel you’re staying in. For Shopaholics, Kodaikanal is famous for chocolates, medicinal herbs and essential oil. You can get some for yourself, they are good.

These are few of the places you can go while visiting Kodai:

1) Kodaikanal Lake

2) Coaker’s walk

3) Silvercade falls

4) Byrant Park

Once done, do visit Vattakanal, to experience the nature’s glory. Check out few of the pics from Vattakanal.