STATUS UPDATE

The world according to facebook founder Mark zukenberg, is defined by your status update.and who the hell remembers yesterdays update??Nevertheless here is my pick of the events of 2k11,which made a difference in the lives of the young and facebooked.

                India against corruption’s crusade in august last year,which galvanised young people across the country like never before. They skipped work and bunked colleges to join the protests on the ground,to carry candles and placards in support of the movement.The movement was about national interest. And yet ,they plunged into it both online and offline .A daily drama played out in 140 characters,and it was covered live,like a hot new reality show by excitable television anchors.

Four months later, it all appears to a distant dream, a part of “history”. The cache has been cleared of idealistic chatter. Conversation in the canteen is back to cricket, bollywood and girls.

Speaking of cricket, India’s win over sri lanka in the world cup cricket was possibly the proudest moment of the year for any citizen of India. But even more for the youth, who have absolutely no recollection of the 1983 world cup victory.

                                                                The trouble is the performance of team India since that victory. Young India still loves Dhoni but rather spent its time watching F1 and Manchester united.F1 bole toh ,2011 was also the year that India “arrived”, with the Buddha international circuit at Greater Noida. It was thrilling to know that the gods of racing were descending on our soil.

                                                                                             

                                With humanity also comes tragedy twenty –two year old Malini Murmur, a first yea student at IIM- Bangalore,commiteed suicide in September after being humiliated on face book by her boyfriend.

                                The peril of living your life 24x7 online is now vividly reflected in us.Now youth is all about extremes-of passion, of depression, of ascension.

                                                To pick out any more “events” of 2011 which defined or changed youth is kind of irrelevant. Yes, Steve jobs died, but life must go on. The future is ours and what we make of it.