Greens, jeez & these generations!

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2-3 drops.

Not neat, always with a glass of water, preferably warm. Mix well.

The green color, synonymous with nature and health, quite literally fits the description of this thing. Tiny, sleek bottle, but you dread getting closer because magic takes time, and the wait period feels like the end of the world. The left pocket of the fridge cover was sulking with a Pudin Hara bottle, and my first reaction was fear, followed by surprise and nostalgia.

For a very brief period at the boarding school, my sister & I would often complain about the spicy hostel food. Grandpa lived about two hours away and would visit every weekend with a new bottle of Pudin Hara (an Ayurvedic medicine for indigestion, in case you have not had the distasteful pleasure of experiencing this life-changing, gulp-at-once hugely popular name in the Indian household, in my generation). First, he was super hopeful about both of us finishing the whole bottle within a week, and second, it felt like his passion was preparing the elixir of Pudin Hara. Because grandpa was not allowed inside the girl’s hostel, he’d have the caretaker record the video of me & my sister gulping down the full glass with that painful green liquid. 

Another week, another bottle.

My sister couldn’t stay beyond a week at the hostel (not because of Pudin Hara, although I believe it’d have been a perfect farewell to this pain-in-the-throat recipe) because she just couldn’t do without the physical presence of our parents around. I managed for a good nine months—me, school, wardens, the double-decker bed, infrequent visits of Grandpa, and Pudin Hara.

Discovering the bottle in the fridge pocket brought back a lot of childhood memories, some of which feel good to remember and a few others that tease with a prickling sensation.

I hated being sent to the boarding school, and yet every time I was asked if I’m doing okay, I made it look like I’m having a ball. After a more-than-decent, celebratory 95.14% in the board exams, I was tempted to check out the Delhi University colleges and dream of pursuing Literature or Arts. So, when Dad shut down the laptop in front of me, I just didn’t have it in me to confess that Science isn’t my thing. Neither is Engineering. I ended up doing both. And I had all my college to blame my parents for not letting me live my dreams. 

Now, in hindsight, I wish I was more aware of myself. I wish I stood my ground like I do today for the things which truly matter to me. I wish I’d gone up to Dad, held his hand, and said, “I want to do you proud. But I also want to make me proud. I trust you for choosing this road for me, but I want to take this other one. Maybe I don’t exactly know where I’m headed to, but I want to make my own choices.” Yes, I am very dramatic, and I love having these ghost conversations with family, people, and me every now and then. It makes me feel like I’m in charge(inside my head). Today, when I see this younger generation doing everything- from school to piano lessons, french classes, painting, zumba, yoga, animation courses, *uhh* the list goes on- I would be horribly jealous & upset. And sometimes proud. Mostly proud.

Because come to think of it, my generation is sandwiched between hardcore, traditional family rules you got to follow, and somewhere on the journey ending up discovering ourselves and changing trajectories to eventually be on our path to happiness. It’s been a struggle, but I think as a generation, we have confided in each other and stood by our folks to be able to choose ‘us’ over somebody else’s definition of ‘us.’ I’d like to believe we’ve pioneered the manners in which we evaluated our circumstances and made the most of what we got. I also believe the last part of the last sentence stands true for our older generation too, but here’s how we are different. In the process of making the most of what we got, we never let go of our dreams. We waited. And so began the design thinking approach of prototyping our ideas, thoughts, skills, and talent, leading to a bunch of new professions/passion projects being invented.

I have also been extremely fortunate to have witnessed some of these success stories right around my circle in my generation. A college junior going on to follow his passion for words & poetry and is now ruling the hearts of the youth in India: Amandeep Singh. There’s a bunch of other friends whose eyes glaze on the auditorium stage, and every time you watch them, you feel like they are living what they’re acting. This favorite of mine, Amit Raj, has been an engineer and now an actor and a rapper. When I say an actor, he’s worked for serials, web series, co-acted in the company of some remarkable faces of India, and is a rapper par excellence. He recently debuted on IMDB after his web series, Pataal Lok, set a whole new benchmark for the nation. 

Further ahead to the Generation Z coming right after us, it is so empowering to watch them sprinkle empathy and hope in all that they do. Aged between 5-24 years old, they are winning spelling bee championships, bagging social & entrepreneurial fellowships, running million-dollar start-ups, writing blogs, working with the government to provide support in the times of COVID-19, practicing and vocalising human equality, travelling to get perspective and standing up against people who are wronging other people.

2020 has been revealing in the sense that being a millennial doesn’t hurt anymore. It doesn’t feel like the battle’s lost because we will either have time to ask for chances or dream- we can do both. And I’m just grateful that we are accompanied by the strength of Generation Z who’s living on the edge, with their heads held high and their minds without fear. In the times of a global pandemic shaping the way we reimagine things, a survey by an auditing firm Deloitte actually called out the Millennials and the Generation Z being the beacons of hope. Who would have thought that the hearts being misconstrued as overambitious and reckless would be trusted to lead the change? Then again, the start to this new decade is turning out to be a time of restoration and new beginnings- who better to take charge than the ones who’ve lived these new beginnings in their heads every sunup and sundown, who better to spread their arms and navigate through because “we got this.” There’s a warm, ticklish feeling of having arrived, and the roads are new. It might not feel like a perfect time to celebrate, but there could not have been a better time to live, live like we belong to nature, and not the other way round. 

As we are ready to go places, hand in hand, I still feel there’s one piece of information the Generation Z might not be aware of- Pudin Hara. Yes, I take it upon myself as a matter of responsibility to introduce them to the magical world of green- after all, there are newer stories in the making, and good omens count!

Featured Image Credits: Wikimedia