Generation Y
The cover article on the December 7 issue of Lifestyle is an apparent attempt to represent the so-called Generation Y. My understanding is that you belong to Generation Y if you're born in the 80s and by that definition, I am a member of Generation Y. However, I thoroughly disagree with the writers of this article, who claim to represent my generation. Not all of us, as their article and accompanying pictures seem to suggest, devote most of our waking hours admiring and emulating current Western cultural trends. Some of us are very fond of our own Bengali language, literature, music, clothes, and heritage. Thanks to the global media and the information age, our generation has had the good fortune to be exposed to ideas and cultures from around the world. Perhaps, for some of us, this has fostered the need to feel ashamed of our Bengaliness, or hide it. But this phenomenon is certainly not universal. Focusing almost exclusively on Western pop-culture and Bollywood to define the different "groups" among Generation Y, the authors have forgotten to include the "group" in Generation Y that does not feel the need to ape the clothes, hairstyles, and words of distant lands to carve out an identity for themselves. From my personal experience, those of us who have pride in our Bengali heritage actually make up the biggest group of Generation Y individuals. That most of us lack respect for our nation's current -- and dare I say ailing -- institutions doesn't necessarily mean that we are not actively considering alternatives to the status quo or that we are not concerned about today's social issues.
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