The elderly of families in well-marked sections of society made it a point in days past asking the school and college-bound youngsters to earmark a few minutes before bedtime, to write the daily diary, a practice that they had themselves cultivated as a habit. The intent behind that prescription as well as that practice seem to have vanished in memory lane. Thanks to the galloping advances being witnessed in the digital world, the gen next are in no frame of mind to turn to the elderly, not to speak of any interaction with them at any point of time from dawn to dusk on any day, as the days, weeks, months and years roll on.
The elderly, much to their disenchantment, have been made to look grossly outdated on every count of daily life, particularly the set of do’s and don’ts both at home and in the open. Questioning the youth of the day on their conduct amounts to blasphemy. The land’s saints and scholars of a distant past have spelt that complying with dharma, that which sustains the people, nurtures the society. In contrast, adharma, ruling the present times, ruins the society. The choice between the two paths in life determines its quality.
