My Generation Desi

I completed my HSC (or 12th grade) in the late 1990's and I consider anyone plus or minus 2-3 years from my batch to be a "My Generation Desi" - hereafter referred to as MGD. [By the way, I am aware that I've now managed to disclose my age - you can do the math I guess.]

I can easily detect a MGD when I meet one. Following are the top traits:

Disclaimer: I've met more Pune/Mumbai MGDs that any others, so this may be skewed :-)

The Andaz Apna Apna effect

Andaz Apna Apna for MGDs released at a time when we were old enough to watch movies on our own, but young enough to have all the time in the world to watch it a million times and mug up every single dialogue. So MGDs cannot help but connect every real life situation to a dialogue from the movie. Whenever I go to birthday parties and someone comments: "Tumhari b'day hain... tum lo", I know I've spotted a true MGD.  Fellow MGDs will invariably laugh at the same joke every year, leaving all the non-MGDs with a confused look.

The Friends syndrome

Again, NBC's Friends hit Indian TV channels at a time when most MGDs were getting their graduate degree and hence had all the time in the world to first watch Friends and then discuss it repeatedly with fellow MGDs. Every single one of us relates to atleast one of the Friends' character. We hence in a bid to emulate, like hanging out with our friends doing nothing but chatting and plus, if we are doing that at a coffee place, that's the icing on the cake!

Laughter is the best medicine and laughing at someone else's expense is panacea

So, we all enjoy laughing at others - but I believe this trait is heightened in MGDs.  A true MGD would not be found laughing harder than when he is laughing at someone else. I have no explanations as to why this is more evident in MGDs - but I do know that it is something that has caught on with the whole generation.

To be continued..