If you are a 1980's child, you may know what I mean when I say that the 80’s kid is the rope in an eternal Tug of War.
Born in the decade that witnessed some socio-economic and cultural shifts of epic proportions, be it rise of capitalism, fall of the Berlin Wall, advent of cable TV and MTV, blazers with shoulder pads, baggy sweaters, neon makeup, Madonna (the pop music icon), 80’s set the pace at which world would change in the next 30 years. History has given us ample instances of how a revolution or friction impacts those born in such times.
So here we are, the generation that welcomed cable television in our homes, watched movies on the VCR or VCP (more popular in India), styled our hair in big curls, reserved afternoons for biking through dusty trails or baking our skin in the sun and grime with our friends, picking adult gasps and horror every time a world leader/icon would be assassinated in some part of the planet. Those were tumultuous times too and now that I see the stats, those years had lots of human blood strewn all over. But enough with the dark blasts from the past.
One in the 80s had the best seat to watch the world and the human race make its way through some Byzantine transformations. That would partially answer the constant state of confusion and self-exploration that our generation consistently experienced. We grew up with the belief that we are here to herald a new dawn of human civilisation. All the restless energy, the evergreen thirst for material acquisitions you witness today took baby steps in the Eighties. We were bedazzled by the Big C. For the pervs, I meant Capitalism. And yes, ‘bedazzling’ everything was trending.
The young and hungry then, the likes of Steve Jobs, took one giant technology leap after the other and raised the bar for all those who followed in the next decades. Oh yes, the ‘Yuppies’ were far cooler than any of the young millennials. Well, wait, you do not use the word ‘cool’ anymore? Too bad. It was cool slang anyway.
From portable music in the form of Walkman to wireless telephones, the 80s created the blueprint for what is to come. And boy! Didn’t it all feel surreal? As one in awe of the television, in India, it translated into being glued to all the mythology shows on weekends and if lucky, catch glimpses of Hindi film song shows. The seedy TV screen was like a magic box and promised me a life full of possibilities. If we could shove the world inside a box, wonder what we could achieve stepping out of the box. Arnold to mullet craze to the onslaught of AIDS, variety was the essence of life, the good, the bad or the ugly.
In our 30’s now, we, the 80-borns, find ourselves in a peculiar juxtaposition yet again. Yes, we were always in the eye of the storm and that’s why we are responsible for a myriad of innovations and out of the box wonders. Yet, the mature adult now wants to take it easy. We ushered civilisation into a world of seamless connectivity via the world wide web, yes, but we also celebrated collective human efforts. We attended protests and rock concerts; we knew the value of bonding in person, rubbing shoulders or hugging out differences. I am disconcerted by the growing acceptance of everything virtual. A ‘like’ and a click to express our participation? Do they even qualify? Who knows it better than the neon-loving, 80’s beauty? The disquiet, caused by the disruption (another millennial slang) puts us again in the churn and grind routine.
Can the Walkman generation, walk alongside the Instagram and Twitter influencers without being consumed by an existential angst and continue to be relevant?
