With my awesome pre annual scores under my belt I head back home already in the festive mood. After all Christmas was almost here , exams were done and knowing that I’d done well certainly fueled my enthusiasm. The day went well and I had fun and I slept late and did all of the things i hadn’t done for quite some time now. Seems too perfect? Betcha.

Sure enough the very next day, I have a Parent Teachers meeting. And we all know what happens here. Honestly, parent teachers meetings are the very worst. I mean its very rude.They’re talking about how stupid you are right in front of you.  However given my good report I went in happily.  Talk about expectations and reality.  After an hours lecture I reached home . I heard a lot about me not being hard working enough. Not being competitive and the stuff parents and teachers always say( not generalising don’t attack me parents)Despite my grades, this wasn’t enough. Lesser isn’t acceptable and more is never enough.

Why are we pressurizing today’s generation so much? All we hear is about the competition we’ll be facing and it’s the same with everyone. Isn’t there anything outside of this? Today’s world is stuck in a rat race where everyone is running. The competition is fierce  and to preposterous levels. Competition in exams, for seats, even for the simplest of competitions.Everyone wants their child to be an app developer, an artist , IITian, living abroad livin’ the life. Today’s generation is  living in a nutshell where all they do is run towards a goal someone else has set up for them.

I mean where are they going? I know people who apart from school everyday go to  thousands of tutions and a dozen of dance,hobby,craft classes. When asked they have a simple answer , mugged up and ingrained to the point ” My parents want me to…” or “My parents say this is the only way ill get into a good university” .They are stuck in an unending loop doing stuff they don’t want to, running in a race reaching nowhere and most importantly aiming at a goal they have no passion towards.

Everyone has enormous expectations from their children. But what does it do to them. Ive seen children of my age worrying themselves , crying and falling into depression succumbing under the pressure of expectations. Should children be like this? Its very easy to say ‘ Everyone’s doing it so can you, you have the potential’. But the important question is do they want to?

Nowadays, everyone exists but no one lives. No one has the time to catch a moment to themselves and just enjoy. No time to live the way we want to -not by being the best or the most successful but have experienced the most.

This way the next generation is going to be perfect. They are going to be the very best having satisfied everyone’s expectations but their own. A splendid generation with the very best of qualities but satisfaction. A race of robots programmed for animal competition to be the very best but missing the very essence of themselves…

 

-Adyesha Singhdeo