What is this new shift? Is it that we are slowly stagnating in our current state of existence, and by default are craving something new.  Or is it that we have lost balance, between our real passions and our necessary desires? I belong to this group of people, majorly the youth of the nation, India. We are a sandwich generation. With numerous layers of customs and culture above us and an equal number of them tempting us with modern attractions below. Where as what we really are, or can be is somewhere in the middle.

Lets look at this objectively, are most people in the corporate work culture happy? No! Are they constantly raving about how great their work place is? No! Are they eager to wake up and reach work to have a positive and a productive day ahead? No! Then why are we in the loop if all we can think about is how to get out of it?

I want to be a good son to my parents, I wish to respect their faith in our culture, maybe even take a genuine dip towards understanding it. At the same time I wish do my best to keep their standard of living on the rise as they have kept mine in all these years. To fulfill these two simple self generated agendas, we have to go through the modern indian edusocial process. Education is merely the pivot, it is the societal conformist notions and pressures that drive us or as in this case are tipping us off balance.

To respect those numerous ideas that i don’t  really relate to has taken a toll on my ingenuity. I have followed a method of customs that move with a domino effect. To skip or resist even once at any stage would wreak havoc across many distances and hearts. To provide the material well being and stability also requires me to follow a well demarcated path in a consistent fashion, with the only rebate provided to the free spirit being the numerous career options – as we call them today.

From school to college, the true sense of education is not being instilled, but what is worse is the opportunity to understand the true sense of education is being depleted. Is knowing the scientific names more important or having the opportunity to witness, observe, contact those forms of life more educating? The work culture is stale, with barely few good firms actually working towards giving their employees a lifestyle, rather than just a fat cheque that brings with it lifelessness.

It is out of these ideas that I feel more and more people are stepping out of the box. More people each day are not taking that next usual step, but instead looking up and taking a blind step to the side. It takes courage to do that, it take an adventurers spirit. As much a challenge it was for sailors to find new lands in the age of naval discovery, equal are hurdles for us modern adventurers to leave the daily stint, be without a regular job and be exploring avenues that are  truly calling. I feel optimistic. We are slowly but steadily moving towards not being lost in between cultures, but in charting our own course as citizens, as the youth and as a nation.

In a nation of cultural treasures and geographical bliss we are finally recognizing hidden potentials. That may lead not just to spirit lifting adventures but also to a way of life. From school children to top notch corporate honchos, every person today knows another person who has taken the time to go dive, climb, cycle, travel, write, do social work, research, photograph, explore, discover, uncover. It is a great change, a great phase of transition. For those of us making it forward bit by bit, all we ask for is understanding, encouragement and more than anything else, active participation to experience this new movement. If you have made it this far, then further it is.