What has gone wrong?

What  has gone  wrong?

Translated  by

P.R.Ramachander

(This great analysis was posted in mAlayalam by my friend  Smt Meena Krishnan  .Having lived almost 80 years, my mind went back to the golden days   when  we were  all together with all our friends and relatives)

None of the new   generation  of children  are obedient,

They do not know how to behave , they do not dress  properly.

They  do not have  patience  or tolerance  or even decency .

While the new generation of   boys become  slaves  to their wives,

New Generation girls   created so many    problems and quarrels

And   within no time  pushed their marriage  to the  rocks  and got divorced.

Who brought them up ?   Why have they become  like this?

Once upon a time   each family had   eight to ten children,

And the earnings were  most of the  time just sufficient   to eat and dress,

And the life of that time   taught us  to do several   things  , such as ,

Patience ,tolerance , humility , respect to elders and  value of life.

Times changed , God   showered   wealth    and grace   on each of us

Starvation and life   of wants   became  a thing of past,

The system of joint family     was completely   erased ,

And a new system of privacy  based  unitary families   took a shape.

Each parent wanted   to give each of their children,

Each and everything  they dreamt and never got in their life,

And   they went on sacrificing    all their needs  ,

And saw to it that their dreams were realized by their children.

But very unfortunately    they did not bother   to give,

Their  children   what   they  got in plenty   and  ,

Over change   of time  , along with greater  facilities,

They  swam in to the future    without  bothering about direction.

Once upon a time    it was  impossible    for us  ,

To live    without taking loans   from neighbours and friends,

And due to that give and take they built  a civilization ,

Of neighbourliness  and they  we simply cannot afford to  ask our   friend.

With the new developments    for   killing time   , we felt bad,

If our friend or relation ever   visited us   to find out how we are?

The civilization and culture of families  visiting   each other  ,

At times  of sickness  and crisis became  almost nil.

Families  of the streets  or even villages   helping   other families,

During celebrations   and sharing the joy  got banished altogather ,

Because    there were   contractors   and event managers  ,

Easily available, if we  can   throw sufficient   money at them.

When we  were celebrating  in great style   celebrations,

AS well as feasts , A feeling   came   that  , it was ,

Beneath our dignity   to  take it the poor and starving,

And we  started  preferring  to  bury the excess  remaining food.

Once upon a time   it was a  great joy     for the   elderly ,

To  do small   talks in case of torrential rains and in darkness ,

But in our palace like houses  where  nothing   should be moved ,

From its place and when our heart  is  filled   by  snobbishness ,

And pride   rather than joy  , we have a generation  who do not,

Want to see   good for nothing troublesome grandpas  and grandmas.