Certain old habits of Indian family life are touching: the young still greet their elders by bending down to touch their feet, they defer to their parents by not answering back and not smoking or drinking in front of them, and they follow time-honoured customs obediently rather than sneer at them as old-fashioned.
But obedience and conformity to tradition can be taken too far. For a start, it shows a lack of spark. And if the young behave like middle-aged pragmatists opting for the line of least resistance, then youth is wasted on them.
The findings of a new survey by the Hindustan Times newspaper of young middle class men and women in India paints an intriguing picture of this generation. They like to shop and consume, are brand-conscious, socialise in bars and cafes, look out for the latest gadgets and largely approve (61 per cent) of premarital relationships.
To all intents and purposes they look and sound modern, even westernised. And so they are, superficially. But look deeper at their attitudes towards the things that really matter – relationships, behaviour towards the poor, expectations of women and marriage – and they are not as modern as they appear.
Of the 5,214 middle class men and women aged between 18 and 25 who were surveyed by the newspaper this month, only four per cent would override their parents’ objections to marry the person of their choice; seven out of 10 said the onus was on women, not men, to save a marriage from divorce; 67 per cent said they preferred joint families to nuclear ones; and 68 per cent said they always listened to their elders.
Alarmingly, more than six out of 10 said they felt the giving of a dowry was acceptable. Giving a dowry is a crime in India. It has been banned for 53 years because it reduces women to the status of a commodity. Yet, instead of rebelling against it as a custom that militates against equality and oppresses women, young Indians approve of it.
Had the survey asked about the caste system, I dread to think what the findings would have been. You would think the younger generation would be up in arms about a social system that degrades people purely because of an accident of birth and proceeds to humiliate them mercilessly. But there are no campaigns or protests against it.
A senior McKinsey & Company consultant who was in charge of recruiting in the Delhi office is said to have remarked on the difference between the company’s Indian and European graduates. “The Indians we recruit are brainy but so one-dimensional and boring. They have never done a gap year, worked for a charity or taken up some wacky hobby. All they do is study and work for a lucrative career,” he said.
Now, I am not advocating rebellion for rebellion’s sake, the overthrow of customs just because they are old, the undermining of authority just for the hell of it, or the pursuit of rampant individualism at any cost because it is a “cool” thing to do. That would be tiresome and a waste of energy.
But I do believe that every new generation needs to bring in something new by questioning old certitudes and conventions and re-examining values. It is this which energises a culture and keeps it dynamic and vibrant.
Of course, too much change too fast can be destabilising. Most of us need some continuity to feel secure. Yet the reason why Indian society can often feel stagnant at times is the sheer weight of the past which new generations have failed to remove.
The point that middle-class youths have failed to understand, as they happily embrace “modernity” is that real modernity lies in the mind: how you behave towards others, whether you treat them with respect as equals, and how willing you are to discard customs because they are unfair and discriminatory and adopt new ways of being.
This unthinking acceptance of the status quo might be understandable if the status quo was in pretty good shape. But failing to find fault with a social order marked by all the poverty, squalor, and injustices of India? That is mystifying.
Amrit Dhillon is a freelance journalist in New Delhi
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Score
New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs
Pakistan 219 all out in 47.2 overs
New Zealand win by 47 runs
New Zealand lead three-match ODI series 1-0
Next match: Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Friday
T20 SQUADS
Australia: Aaron Finch (c), Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Mitchell Starc, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Hassan Ali, Imad Wasim, Waqas Maqsood, Faheem Ashraf.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Series information
Pakistan v Dubai
First Test, Dubai International Stadium
Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11
Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20
Play starts at 10am each day
Teams
Pakistan
1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza
Australia
1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland
Company profile
Name: GiftBag.ae
Based: Dubai
Founded: 2011
Number of employees: 4
Sector: E-commerce
Funding: Self-funded to date
UK's plans to cut net migration
Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.
Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.
Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.
Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.
The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Scoreline
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 17
Jebel Ali Dragons 20
Harlequins Tries: Kinivilliame, Stevenson; Cons: Stevenson 2; Pen: Stevenson
Dragons Tries: Naisau, Fourie; Cons: Love 2; Pens: Love 2
England Test squad
Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
Copa del Rey
Barcelona v Real Madrid
Semi-final, first leg
Wednesday (midnight UAE)
RESULTS
5pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner Thabet Al Reef, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer)
5.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Blue Diamond, Pat Cosgrave, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm Arabian Triple Crown Round-1 Listed (PA) Dh230,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Hameem, Adrie de Vries, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6.30pm Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Shoja’A Muscat, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7pm Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner Heros De Lagarde, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami
7.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner Good Tidings, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
