Redefining My Generation!

I have a genuine problem here. Who was the genius who declared our Generation as Generation Y, the set of people who can be gleefully described as Mobile phone addicts, Internet dependents, Junk food lovers, whose staple diet includes Pizza, whose day begins and ends with Facebook and who think SMS language is an Oxford defined standard?

I respectfully disagree.  

I mean, yes, this is what we may have become now, but this is not what shaped us. This is not what defined us or made us who we are today! There's a lot more to this lot of us, who grew up in the 90s. And today, I undertake the noble task of re-defining my Generation.

I may never be able to cover the whole gamut, but feel free to add on in the comments section!

1. We grew up watching Doordarshan! - Cable TV was a rarity. We got our first cable connection only in the 1999 World Cup. Till before that, it was Doordarshan. And the worst days of my life were the days following the demise of former Presidents, when Doordarshan would blank out and we would end up missing the 1 hour of TV we were allowed watched.
2. The First and the Last People Who Watched Anything on a VCP/VCR - I sometimes think this invention was exclusive to our Generation. Parents bought VCPs and VCRs when their first child was born in the 80s. By the time the second child was 10, the product was obsolete enough that it wasn't even valuable for sale by weight to Kabaddi walas. But we watched some good things in the few years that it faithfully served us.
3. Sriman Srimati and Tu Tu Main Main were our Favorite Shows - Heh. Remember these show? Keshav Kulkarni, Kokila, Dilbura? Sasu Maa? We laughed till we got tears in our eyes. No amount of HIMYM or Big Bang Theory can replace that for us!
4. Private Albums were the most popular music - Gud Nal Ishq Mita? Yaad Piya Ki Aana Lagi? Gori Teri Aankhen? Stereo Nation? Bhool Ja? Hell, they were some good songs. And you know the best part? They weren't viral on social networks. These songs became famous when  they were circulated on blank cassettes and recorded and re-recorded a million times over!
5. English Vinglish No No - We never listened to English music or watched English movies, unless it was certified as Sound of Music or Lion King. And I can bet, in every family, there was a "Hawwww" moment when the elder sibling first stole a recorded audio cassette of Backstreet Boys into the house and tried listening to it on a Walkman, only to be discovered by the younger sibling and be complained about to Mum. "Mummmmmmy, Akka is listening to ENGLISH music!" #Confession
6. English Books. Hell Yeah. -  Go ask the kids today if they ever bothered reading an Enid Blyton or a Roald Dahl. Our summer vacations were spent with these books. Exchanging them with friends, re-reading the same Secret Seven stories a million times, having imaginary meals with Enid Blyton's descriptions. We read English books and we dreamed of their stories.
7. You were not a Topper unless you enjoyed a Free Ice Cream at Nirulas. - It was a plain, unwritten code. Get your report card, take a photocopy, rush to Nirulas with your Dad, reach over the high counter and show him your report card with all straight As. Beam at him when he says "very good". Go over the whole display menu and decide to have a Triple Sundae. Once Again. Select Chocolate as the biggest scoop. Drool while he pours chocolate sauce all over the boat shaped ice-cream. Carefully cover the icecream with a lid and protect it with your life on the way back home with your Dad on the scooter. Relish. Lick. Enjoy.
8. Tape Recorders --> Walkman --> MP3 Players --> iPod --> Stopped Listening to Music - Been There, Done That. - I mean, literally. We used all these things and while this generation of kiddos thinks its cool to flaunt an iPhone, they should know that we have been there and done that. This set of electronic products were invented for us and re-invented by us!
9. Junk Food Kis Chidiya Ka Naam Hai? - We are definitely not the Pizza generation. We had our first Pizzas well after the 90s. Our first brush with McDonalds was in the 2000s. Our idea of junk food was Chaat and Noodles. When we first had Pizza, I remember we came home and my Mom set out on the incredible task of reverse-engineering this marvel dish. We used Paneer instead of Mozerella Cheese. It never melted, but man, was that the best Pizza I ever had or what? :)
10. Autograph Diaries and Slam Books were our Facebook and Twitter - Never poked anyone till 2010. Never pinged anyone till 2005! Never tweeted till 2009. Never blogged till 2008. Our only means of "networking" was forcing a slam book down people's throats and begging them to fill it up with meaningless info about them.
11. Khichdi and Sarabai versus Sarabhai were * the* Sitcoms! - In early 2000s, we discovered the real meaning of humour on TV. We still love Prafful and Hamsa, Jayashree Ben and Rosesh and Maya Sarabai. I'll take them over any of the crap that comes on TV today. We still burst out laughing when we recall a silly Hamsa- Prafful conversation and share it with co-Khichdi lovers! \m/

So there.

I respectfully disagree.

This post makes us sound so ancient, but that's not the point. The point is, we cannot be typecasted as the Facebook Generation. Ask me to quit Facebook any day, and I'll do it gladly. But ask me to forget any of these above mentioned qualifications? I can never get myself to do that! :)

Do you agree?

Cheers!