Sound of Silence

Teenage years: we all have been there and came out of them. Some of you might have just entered this “golden to remember, rocky to get through” phase of your life. And some of you, like me, believe in the fact that even when you have crossed 19, you are still a teenager. 

People say teenagers are weird, confused, without any aim in life. Well if that is still the definition of a teenager, I am still in my teens. I feel I was surer about what I want in my life during my teenage years. As I am growing up, in my “tys” , I miss my teenage years. Life used to be easier those days. Or at least that’s what I feel as I am looking back now. I had some determination in my mind, some achievements I could boast about and some true friends. Those friends I made in my school days, I still have them. They are still my source of strength. I trust them and I love them. And they reciprocate the same towards me.

The wheel of time rolled on and we grew up. We are adults now, according to law, not according to our Indian parents.

 Indian parents have a good trap of words and intelligent policies in their bag of replies. When they want you to start working and stop robbing them, they will tag you with “adult” tag. “You are grown up now. You should bear your own expenses. Go get a job and make our lives easier. Don’t become a couch potato or we won’t pay your bills anymore” and blah blah blah. But try to ask for permission to go for a tour with friends to hills of Manali. And they will play their “ you are still a kid” card. I feel much of my difficulty to believe in the fact that I am an adult now and not a teenager anymore, comes from my parents’ continuous flip of cards.

During my school days, we used to have “life skills” classes. They used to teach us how to deal with peer pressure, parental pressure and study stress and all. It would have been realistically more effective if we could get those lessons now in our post graduate years. I never faced any pressure or trouble from my peers during my school days. But right from my college days to my university days, I am having hard time dealing with this stress. Now that you are legally adults you should be free to choose and free to take your stand. Without any fear or without any doubts in mind, you should follow what you feel is right. But do you get to do that always?

One day a boy was walking on the footpath, swinging his arms high. By mistake, he hit an old man, with his hand, who was coming from the other side. The old man was angry as his nose was hurting now. He asked the boy “Why are you walking like this?” The boy said “I am sorry but it wasn’t my mistake. You should have been more careful while walking. I was moving my arms as I have the freedom of movement.” The old man composed himself and said “My young man, remember this for the next time. Your freedom of movement ends where my nose begins”.

This is the situation we all might relate to in some or the other times in our lives. Everything we get in life comes with hidden terms and conditions. Of course you have freedom of movement, but you cannot take a step that would make you the villain in eyes of some people. Of course you have the freedom of speech but you cannot speak a word against people who might never think once before complaining about you. Why not? Well, ‘cause you are supposed to be the nice one. You are supposed not to mess up with people who have all the freedom in the world to play with your life. While a crowd is misguided and fortunately or unfortunately you are part of that crowd, then, may god save you! Any effort on your part to give the crowd a right direction is going to make you seem to stand out. The crowd’s previous leaders may not like it and they will make you burn in their wrath.

How do you keep your ability to differentiate between right and wrong alive under such situations? You chose to do nothing. You chose to go with the flow even though you know there is a waterfall ahead and you are going to die while you fall from such great heights. At moments like these, you realize not everything in life is black and white. There are different shades of grey and we are living in those grey shades.
                       I don’t know if this is the right way to deal with the situation. But if you are stuck in a situation like me where you know whatever you say or do is going to be framed and used against you, best policy is to keep quiet. Just assume that you are dumb and you cannot speak a word. And if people start getting on your nerves just tell yourself, they can’t harm you without you giving them a reason to. So for the best of two world, to deal with all these peer pressure, all you need to do is Be Quiet.

Life is not a fair teacher, it’s a cruel boss. But we all are going to get through every day and become stronger. Hakuna Matata. Breathe in and breathe out. Just get through the days- one day at a time.

Goodnight everyone.