Clock it, Boomerji

What do the kids want? To reset the algorithm to reality

Kamala and the kids came into the living room where I was sprawled on the sofa watching news. She firmly took the remote from my hand and switched off the TV. An ominous silence filled the room, replacing the comforting babble of the news anchor shouting at me. “The nation demands to know, when you will wake up and smell the coffee!” my sons admonished me. I’m awake but not woke apparently. “Are you even watching the reels we’ve been sending you?” 

I had noticed the start of a storm even on my morning walk in the park. Uncles and aunties were huddled in their separate sanskaari groups on the park benches. Their carefully constructed bubble was being democratically destroyed. “My son is asking me to sit down and listen!” WhatsApp Vishwanath whispered conspiratorially. “He is wanting to have that talk that fathers dread having with their children – not about the birds and the bees, about cockroaches!” It was a national phenomenon – a young version of Swachh Bharat that was cleaning up generational garbage. 

Roles had been reversed – kids were teaching parents about protests, posters, and politics. Baby boomers were being taken to task by the baba log. Patriarchy was being replaced by young women leading from the front. At the slightest hint of the conversation being hijacked by ‘the good old days’, the future reminded the past to ‘clock it’. The frenzy of Gen Z was going viral with a vengeance. Millennials watched in wonder as new-gen reeled in the views.  Voices were being heard, opinions were being expressed, clichés were being challenged. Instagram was making new friends in tight close-up while WhatsApp and X lost their wow factor. With humour, caricatures, and hilarious lyrics, politically incorrect was trending. 

We were being introduced to the language and signs of the next generation. Chachas scratched their head cluelessly, as Vaaste gana huiya was playfully yelled at them. And instead of chai pe charcha, the kids are playing pizza aur politics. Unkill-joy and Aunty National were becoming resigned to the fact that they were now an anachronism. Parents are used to controlling children’s screen time. Now, children were telling parents to spend less time watching hysterical TV anchors. Slowly and quite certainly, the algorithm of an older generation was being reset to reality.

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