Words That Define A Generation

We all come up with creative excuses for procrastinating. These days I have been telling myself that technology simply does not work for me anymore. The world's to blame, I say, for I was not born a bum.
Because writing with a keyboard somehow seems to blunt my train of thought, I decided to try my luck with pen-and-paper. That is how I ended up sitting down at a desk with a candle (another power cut that night) and flipping through the pages of my Little Oxford Dictionary.
At the very end of this book, I came across a chapter entitled 'New Words Survey'.

"Words of the Nineties- A special new supplement highlights new words of the nineties including feel-good, hyperspace, short-termism, teleshopping, and videoconference."

This made me think, if etymology is a reflection of culture and history, will not the 'Words of the Nineties' be the defining keywords of who we- the saplings of the 21st century- have and will become? So I rummaged through these few pages trying to discover a hint of something that would define what we as a generation lack: purpose, meaning. And I must say I was far from impressed. Allow me to give you a taste of it, of these 'new' words that we have created, of the proud monuments of a bygone decade, our decade.

• air bag n. safety device that fills with air or nitrogen on impact to protect the occupants of a vehicle in a collision.
• alternataive energy n. energy fueled in ways that do not harm the environment.
• bailout n.  financial assistance given to a failing business, economy, etc. to save it from collapse.
• biocide n.  1. poisonous substance, esp. a pesticide. 2. destruction of life.
• biohazard n. risk to human health or the environment arising from biological work, esp. with micro-organisms
• bird-strike n. collision between a bird and an aircraft.
• body bag n.  bag for carrying a corpse from the scene or warfare, an accident etc.
• body piercing n. piercing of holes in parts of the body other than the earlobes. 
• breakfast television n. early morning television
• carjacking n.  highjacking of a car.
• cyberspace n. notional environment in which electronic communication occurs; virtual reality.
• and the list goes on..........dark matter, date rape, dialog box, differently abled, distance learning, eco-friendly, EPROM, Euro-skeptic, fandom, fruitarian, glass ceiling, global village, hate mail, HDTV, high-five, ibuprofen, internet, laser printer, lip-sync, mobile phone, monosaturated, multitasking, out-of-body experience, paint ball, rollerblade, post-traumatic stress disorder, rainbow coalition, road rage, saturation bombing, six-pack, super model, touch screen, World Wide Web

And I wondered, what will be the words of the early 21st century? LMFAO!

It's been so long, again

I blame technology for my long absence. Even now I am using a keyboard that is falling apart- the Enter key doesn't work so bear with me please.
My life has been quite eventful in the recent months. I blame fate for that. I feel like I was whirling about in a washing machine for months before being spit out on the floor, cold and hard. I feel like I'm trying to be a teenager again. I try to keep myself busy and distracted. (I am confused and disoriented most of the time so there's little need to pretend.) But yes, as someone says at the end of every sentence, Life goes on. The clock keeps ticking and we keep walking towards the grave, never back. So I might as well as try to make the best of it!
On a positive note, the lunar eclipse on the full moon day was simply breath taking! Sri Lanka had a splendid view of it, even though the cloudiness was a slight problem. But like props on stage, the masses of grey only made the scene more dramatic, more eerie. Well, that's me, I watch, I pray and stay alive!

Rango- The Chameleon in the Wild Wild West

The creators of this movie take the Western Classic to a whole new level. When a lonely pet chameleon lands on the roadside of the Mojave Desert, he finds himself in a whole new world, a world that only existed in his imaginations. After arriving in Dirt, a dilapidated Old West town, he decides to bend his destiny and take on the role of Rango, a dangerous drifter of the West who killed seven brothers with one bullet. The townspeople are elated by his acts of bravery and crown him as the new Sheriff. Rango takes up the responsibility of bringing water and prosperity back to Dirt.
Before I go on to declare my undying love for Johnny Depp, I must say that this character, even though it is an animated non human, was undeniably created, perfectly tailored, just for him. Throughout the movie there were many allusions made to Johnny Depp's previous roles including references to movies like Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and, of course, Pirates of the Caribbean. Surreal dreams that Rango experiences and his other idiosyncrasies all reminded me of my beloved Depp. There might be other references that I missed, and I'd love to know if you spotted any I failed to catch.
Even though the animations were beautiful and the characters were appealing, I felt that the plot was somewhat predictable. But then again, I suppose there is only so much you can expect from a Nickelodeon movie.

Eve Green: a Dream, a Nightmare in the Welsh Highlands

I admit it- I took this book into my hands and I just couldn't stop reading, I was enraptured. The terrible heat of the tropics licking at my skin, clothes clinging to me, I just kept on reading till I came to the last page and heaved a sigh. It took me a little less than a day. Eve Green by Susan Fetcher is a beautiful book, simply because she creates such a magnificent back drop. She's a writer who really sticks to the rule of showing- the color of a flower, the roar of the wind- without merely telling us it is so, like so. The story itself is terrifying. It reminded me of both Ian McEwan's Child In Time and Atonement, as if both stories somehow overlapped somewhere. Spoken in a lyrical and almost childishly enchanting tone by a woman who looks back upon her life and recalls fragments of memories that gradually weave into a sad and mysterious story, it is no wonder that this book won its author the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2004.

The Rebel... The Wanderer... The Buddha of Suburbia

"My name is Karim Amir and I am an Englishman born and bred almost".
Karim is the son of an Indian migrant and his English wife, and his only dream is to escape the boredom, the oppression of the racist neighborhood of the suburbs and reap the greater pleasures of the 1970's.
Hanif Kureishi's debut autobiographical novel, The Buddha of Suburbia takes us through the narrow streets of South London and gives us a true taste of youth in revolt. Karim's story is a deliciously witty and satirical account of a third culture kid exploring the realms of art, sex and spirituality in the  turbulent waters of the 70's London. His story serves as a political and social collage of what the turn of the decade held for Britain and leaves us inspired, questioning who we are and what we it is that we want of this thing called life.
The story is scattered amongst characters we seem to know- the immigrant father who came from India two decades ago, to study law and go home with his fortune 'like Ghandi' but somehow forgot to return, the Aunt Jeeta, an Indian princess, who sells groceries, and her daughter, the rebellious Jamila who reads Silvia Plath and is forcefully betrothed to the crippled Changez from India.
The Buddha of Suburbia is a rich and inspiring story, one that forms an interesting comparison to the next generation of youths who stand at the turn of a millennium unable to conceive what is expected of them and wonder what they expect of themselves.