Millennials Are Not That Complicated. Period!

Are you someone born between the years 1981 to 2000? No. I am not an astrologer and so my next question won’t be what your birth star is. We are just fellow millennials trapped within the toxicity of our society that cribs about us at every move we make in life. We have had a pinch of 2020 throughout our lives!

“Ee pillerokke entha ingane?” – is what generation after generation has been nagging about since the time of Aristotle. We are no exception. We millennials are right at the heart of this statement. Nobody understands what we want and if they do, they don’t understand why we want it in the first place! Let us explore some very common concepts that have not sunk into the minds of many. This is to show you that we are better than being just a wanderlust generation and also why we think some people should dry clean their minds before throwing obnoxious looks and baseless comments at us.

Passion matters. Period.

Passion is just some fruit that grows on trees to many of our appaapans. It is not. This generation is driven by a mad force to do something outstanding and out of the box. We have this undying spirit to do something that we love doing and this brings about a frown on our dear society’s face. 

How many times have you been equated to Kumarettan’s son (the equivalent of Sharmaji ka beta)? “Ninte oppam kalich nadanna chekkana! Ippo sarkar udyogasthan aay! Ha!”(He used to be your playmate once, now he has a Government job). This statement is often served with a pinch of ‘no eye contact’ and flavored with lots and lots of sarcasm and occasionally gets you referenced to a ‘vaazha’.

Please understand that photography, clay modelling, or even shoe designing is a job. We do freelancing not because we didn’t get placed. When millennials talk about food and fashion because that is what excites us. And if that is what I love, please don’t judge me for it. Not that I care, but just saying. 

We live in the moment, for the moment

This is probably one of the worst nightmares of Generation X. They shudder at the thought of how unplanned and don’t-careish we are about our future. We millennials have all heard the story of how they started saving more than half of their salary from the moment they started getting paid a salary! (Flashback to the time when I got my first salary and spent it on booze and ahem ahem!) 

It’s not that we don’t save up and are ignorant about the future. It is because we have much more to do for ourselves. In a world where traveling is ‘thendithiriyal’ and discovering new mediums beyond our walls is ‘anaavashyam’, I don’t know how to get this through the closed doors of your skeptical mind. We don’t prefer to spend money on staying in a lavish 2 BHK for rent just so some random ammayi and her pesky daughters can come over and ‘talk’ whenever they have the time. We know that they just want to ask questions because, well, that is what they do. They don’t give a damn about your answers anyway.

Also Read: Do we need a Malayali version of Tinder?

Social media is not a disease!

I don’t even have to get you guys started on this one. With the lockdown sitting on top of our heads, we have our moms and dads on top of us too. “Chumma irnn thondiparikkaathe enthelum okke poy cheyy mole” can change to “ Babuettante kadenn korch pappadam vaanguo online il” in just a matter of minutes. 

There is an unsaid conviction that if we are on our phone it’s either for WhatsApp or Instagram. I recently almost had a brain seizure when my aunty sneaked up behind me while I was on Instagram and said, “Alla puthiya WhatsApp lle?” It took me some time to explain that everything doesn’t branch out of Whatsapp and that there are numerous other social media platforms. Five points for all those who guessed that she still thought everything was the same even after my speech! 

Millennials know how much social media influencers have helped us change our views about the world. We know of very many people who have built their careers on social media who had started with literally nothing. Most of them started it on a whim, not realising that they had a thing for content creation. From Prapti Elizabeth and  Dolly Singh to Carry Minati and Mostly Sane, we all have our favorite social heroes!

We dare to speak

Gone are the days when sexuality, sex,  or mental health were kept behind the shelves and not spoken about. Today we not only talk about them but also extend our heartfelt support to the misunderstood communities. Mental health and depression have become hot topics, especially in the current scenario. People have the guts to voice out their struggles with mental health and help out people who need support.

Please, for the sake of God, breathe in and digest the fact that sadness and depression are hectares apart. When we talk about the LGBT community or have a gay friend, it doesn’t make us millennials or him/her less ‘tharavaadi’ than you are. And don’t hush me up if you catch me clearing doubts of your teenage daughter who still thinks babies come from heaven. Sure they do, but she needs a bit more detailing!

It is not weak to quit

While we have a hard time convincing our parents and the ever-loving ‘naatukaar’ about why we quit our job, there is another set of people who like to secretly believe that we got fired because the latter seems to be a more genuine content for their next kudumbasree meeting. 

We find ways to stay happy. We quit jobs when it it stops being satisfying. We know that getting another job is not a cakewalk, but we are not willing to settle down for something because we know our worth. Some of us know that we aren’t made to be frozen inside cubicles, caught within the labyrinth of deadlines and powerpoints and pointless meetings. Understand us when we say there is no job satisfaction. 

And please don’t tell us that in a few years we’ll get used to it. You see, that’s the whole point. We don’t want to get used to anything. We want to ‘be’ of use elsewhere.

Hey you reading this, you and I know that the struggle is real. No matter how many times we try to withdraw our heads into a self-content shell of existence, we’ll still probably find someone out there who doesn’t get the whole point of our existence. It is okay to be confused. It is okay to take the time to understand what you want to do. Days, weeks, months, years? You decide. You don’t need a validation certificate to show that we have passed the ‘society test’. You are you. And that’s what makes all the difference. No Artist Baby or dreams are cheap!