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Generation G A P S....(part 2)

Next, bring on the trumpets and the marching bands, please. Gen X, the now mid 30 to 40'ers (it's my era, so please don't mind the extra fanfare) have come to town. Let's start with childhood. Physical work has started diluting by this time paving way to more focus on education for both men and women. Quality of life was shades better because the culture of materialism had slowly creeped into the society. From transportation to household appliances, changes were happening for the better. As Gen X kids, we still drew water from wells, walked to do errands, biked to schools, did work in the house - without money, mind it (if i ask my kid to do this now, she'd protest it as child labor) and helped the grand parents who were at home.

Other biggie at that time, is that entertainment was all outdoors, because let's face it. Indoors was too boring, crowded with people and also a danger zone for children who could get assigned random chores on sight. Imaginary play that doesn't involve batteries or fancy buttons, mainly physical games, sports were common. And, we had to study but no pressure from school or parents, who were too busy anyway with their own grown-up issues.

Ok, fast forward to a Gen X adult 10 years back. No more routine jobs for us, we were soaring our wings high. Studying, working abroad and if in India, we were busy breaking from the cookie-cutter government workforce moulds and venturing into private companies. Technology was slowly buzzing into our lives, though today's kids would have a hearty laugh over the snail-paced PC's, Internet which was just beginning to show up (we were ecstatic and thought it was so hip to send e-mails back then) and getting a good connection on a land line phone after a frustrating 2 hours of hand-dialing and liberal-swearing, would be enough to make us weep with uncontrollable tears of joy. Women started entering into workforce more partly because of the education levels going up and also because of a need to increase the income of the household.

And, last but not the least, the middle-aged Gen X of today. Sandwiched between supporting older parents on one hand and rearing adolescent or Gen Y children on the other, trying to find a balance between work and family especially the women, dealing with a uncertain workplace situation (heavy price tag for going private), having to cope up with newer technologies that keep mushrooming every second - they're having to manage it all.

In a peanut shell - No fancy-shmancy gadgets or frills yet, simpler times with some physical labor leftovers from Gen W and mainly, having to balance on a seemingly permanent "see-saw" of life.
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