Dear Millenials And Generation X
An Open Letter by a Young Woman in India
Dear Millennials and Generation X,
I’ve been thinking about how to write something that resonates with most people who can read English, and belong to the age group of 40 years below. In today’s world, it is becoming more and more difficult to communicate with those who belong to a different ideological group. Most people have labelled themselves and others into strong categories. These labels have in some way decreased the credibility of what is being said.
So if somebody considers me to support Bharatiya Janata Party, I am labelled a Hindu Nationalist and everything that I say from there on becomes a moot point. Since I am a Hindu Nationalist, a bigot, a fascist enabler I cannot make sense. And hence must not be heard. In the same manner, if I belong to the other group, the ones who call themselves left-libertarians, nationalists and citizens of the country, then I am labelled a communist, a JNUite, a Maoist, an Urban Naxal, or worse, a Muslim.
I hope you can believe me when I say that it does not matter which of the above groups I belong to. What matters is that I am in my 20s, just graduated and have my whole life ahead of me. Those who this letter is addressed to must be in a similar spot. Some of you lucky ones would have a well-paying job, a lover and a dream vacation. I write because I want to bring to your attention that the country we have to spend most of our life in might not be in the best of situations. Now you don’t have to agree with me, most of you might not. But hear me out.
“It would be unfair, some of the students in the class would know, but they would keep quiet in fear that they might be reprimanded in the same manner.”
Do you remember when you were in school, there was that kid who was confident enough to ask the teacher questions which would get them into trouble? Sometimes this kid would stand up for a classmate who the Hindi teacher was needlessly hitting. Sometimes, this kid would in the hope of providing a true account of an incident, speak for a child who was too scared to utter a word in their support? Most of the time, this kid would be reprimanded for questioning the teacher, the authority in the classroom. It would be unfair, some of the students in the class would know, but they would keep quiet in fear that they might be reprimanded in the same manner.
Some of us girls will know that we knew a man was looking at us in not the right way but there was nothing we could do about it. We felt scared that we didn’t have enough evidence to prove his wrong intent, or feared that we would lose the opportunity because of which we had to expose ourselves to this man. Sometimes, it would take another girl, putting together the courage to complain about that man for us to feel that we had gotten our justice.
These are only a few incidences, when something was not okay and a person put together the courage to speak truth to power. If I say that the teacher made a rule that nobody could question her and put it at the front of the class. And then, the kid who in all their honesty and good faith, would question the teacher would be given a punishment so severe as to never do that again.
If I say, the girl who called out on a sexual offender at work was told that no man could commit a crime like that, and if at all it had happened, she must have been the one asking for his attention. And this was put in bold letters, stamped on each call letter. Leaving no chance for a woman to even consider sexual offense as an offense, like it isn’t after marriage.
What if, I say, that those who are in power today are not willing to let those who question them be. I’m not going into the details of whether the point of contention itself is wrong, I am only asking this. If I question the government and they put me into prison for doing so. Does that not hint that we are moving towards a very rigid space? Is that the India we want? An India that reminds us of George Orwell’s 1984? An India where if one doesn’t toe the line, one gets jailed?
The Government could be right. Maybe those who are questioning have misunderstood its intention. There is a space for dialogue. Why are young men and women, not looking for jobs but making asking questions their favourite pastime? Maybe there is something that they are pointing towards and because we have so strictly labelled each other, we might not even understand what they are saying.
You know how when your lover is unfaithful, there is nothing that they can do that doesn’t remind you of their unfaithfulness? Your friends keep telling you, you might be overthinking. But your hurt ego has made an opinion so strong, that even though your heart wants to understand it can’t?
I beg you to listen. To pay caution to the winds! Before it is too late, we those in our twenties are in our thirties and the country has become unquestionable.
Yours truly,
Your friend
The writer wishes to have immense hope and faith in the world. She likes plants, music, dogs, cats and other such warm things.
Note: A version of this text was originally published on Youth Ki Awaaz by the author on 29 April 2020, and has been republished here with her consent.
