So Called People Of The 21st Century

"3 min away." said Abhishek's mobile screen,as he just booked a cab to go to the bus stand. He was eagerly waiting for the cab to arrive soon. The cab arrived after nearly three minutes, Abhishek informed his grandparents that he was going and left the house.

Abhishek is a 19 year old guy, who returned from hostel to his grandparents home to spend his holidays. He spent his childhood in his grandparents house, before leaving to another town with his parents. As a child he always looked forward for holidays, so that he could travel to his favourite place. The big city where his grandparents lived. That city was his go to place for all his vacations right from his childhood.

Abhishek has a close friend Ramya. They are friends right from 1st standard. 12 years of friendship it has been. There was nothing more than friendship, except for Ramya tied a rakhi to Abhishek. They were finding their siblings' love in each other, because they had none. They had each others' back everytime, cried when they drifted apart to different places for their higher education. But this didn't lead to any change in their relation.

Now coming back to the present time...
Ramya's on her way back to her college in Chennai. As there were no direct buses from their town to Chennai directly, she booked a bus from the city where Abhishek's staying.

Abhishek was head over heels, as he was meeting his sister after a long time. He wanted to take her out for dinner, because being foodies is one of the things which brought them together. Ramya reached the city and called Abhishek. He could see Ramya from where he was standing, and rushed excitedly to meet her. They talked for a while and Abhishek booked a cab, back to his home. Ramya insisted that she would feel awkward at his home, but Abhishek was hard to persuade and Ramya finally had to give up.

They reached his house and Ramya freshened up. Just as they were leaving for dinner, his grandma told then that she cooked for them and asked them to eat at home. Unable, to oppose her words, the friends agreed. The dinner was done and they were chatting at the dining table. Just then Abhishek's grandparents came to talk to them. They told them the real reason so as to why they insisted them to have dinner at home. His grandma said "We are living here from the last 25 years and many of our relatives livein and around the city. We know that you both are friends from childhood but they don't know right? If someone sees you they'll speak about you both in a hundred ways at any family functions, marriages. We can't shut everyone's mouth right? I hope you understand."

Ramya immediately replied that she understood the situation and told the grandparents that its okay an she didn't mind. While on the other hand, Abhishek was in a state of shock and surprise. He's wondering how people who live in a city which is so big,can be this narrow minded and have such cheap thoughts. All his childhood, he beilievd that his family was the best one. But his belief was broken into pieces by his family itself.

This incident throws light on the lack of basic broad mindedness among individuals. If a girl and a boy are together in a mall,restaurant or any public place, that doesn't obviously mean that they are a pair or couple or they're dating each other. They can be friends,best friend or even soul siblings.

There's a famous dialogue in Hindi, "Bade bade shehron mein aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rehti hai, Senorita !!." I think it should be rephrased as "Bade bade shehron mein aisi chhoti chhoti soch wale log rehte hai, Senorita !!." Relatives, have two things to do. One call us on results day. Two work as an unpaid private detective for our parents by spying on us and informing them with whom are we spending time together. No dude, like seriosuly don''t you have any other thing to do?

A person who's constantly judging one's choices and preferences is not healthy. He's sick.People live in this big city but their thoughts are still stuck in their ancestors' village. We are living in the 21st century. You have to digest that. You can't travel on two boats at the same time dude. One hand you're supporting womens rights and on the other hand you're judging other women and girls. This needs to change.People have to start changing, otherwise they'll turn up being orthodox and narrow minded, something which is not good for anyone's development except for to prove that they are highly moral.

PS: Though the names of the characters have been changed, this incident is loosely based upon a true life incident.