Indian Youth

If Shakespeare lived in modern India, it’s a fair bet that he would make Hamlet’s soliloquy less about suffering the slings and arrow of outrageous fortune and more about the question that faces so many Indian youth today – whether ‘tis better to rent an apartment, or to buy a house. The dilemma is a relatively new one. Before liberalization created the white-collar IT industry and grew the financial sector exponentially, most of us grew and lived close to home, and even those who emigrated to the larger cities typically planned to return home sooner or later. Even if not, housing remained largely affordable for anyone with a decent job. Far away from home But legions of young Indians now work in one or the other of India’s mega-cities, and the freedom and opportunity they encounter there means that they have little incentive to return to the smaller towns they came from for the length of their career at least. Unfortunately, the real-estate market has skyrocketed as well, and ...

One of the first things a young migrant to Mumbai would notice is the sheer mind-numbing variety of entertainment options it seems to offer. There’s pubs, restaurants, café’s and a general sense of freedom that may be unique to the city. But a fairly quick realisation sets in that most of these things cost money, and if there’s one thing the newly-moved youngster never seems to have enough of, it is money . After all, once the landlord is paid, and the bills taken care of, and the remittance sent back home, there’s very little left to spend on yourself. And if you’re a college student, well that’s even worse, because then you have to make a little pocket money go a long way. So here’s one lifelong Mumbaikar’s attempt to tell you just a few of the things you can do and manage to have a good time in the city without busting your wallet. Go to Marine Drive Just…go. Catch a train to VT or Churchgate (costs hardly anything) and walk. Do it on a Sunday morning if the weather’s good, ...

As we already discussed in the previous article, India’s greatest asset are the youth of the country. I elaborated on why the youth are the greatest asset, now let’s see how they can bring about a better future:  Spreading awareness through social media As already mentioned, it was the youth which flooded social media with strong messages against the Delhi gang-rape case, opening a Pandora’s box of issues like misogyny, patriarchy, the inept police force and the lax administrative approach towards women’s safety and justice and healthcare for rape survivors. It was because the youth raised their collective voice, that the Verma report was constituted and the rapists of Jyoti Singh were arrested and put behind bars. Not just in India, the youth is also spreading mass movements through social media in China, where they are protesting against the Communist government. Even the Arab Spring movement was spread through social media, and that’s why it garnered world attention and ...