Joy's Musings There is a lot of talk about the risk taking capabilities of the youth but what we forget is that youth is about challenges and at every stage of time the young ones have been doing the same .Looking back at the generation that began their careers around independence they were pathbreakers .They left the comfortable coocons of joint family and travelled to metropolitan cities .At that time with very slow means of transport and almost no means of communication except the post cards it was very daring to come to the cities .Their roots were in Aligarh ,Rohtak .Meerut ,Kanpur .It was a mammoth effort to maintain two establishments and also to adjust to the pressures of urbanization.It was basically Roti and Kapda for them .The next in line were the ones who were born in the decade after independence .They had it a little easy in the sense that there was a feeling of belonging .They had opportunities for education .Though with large families and very low incomes it was a struggle alright .So the elder sibling more often than not took on the first job available so as to contribute to the family .Also in seventies the job situation due to economic policies was pathetic .No one had the luxury of choice .The first job and you had to grasp it .But still like I said it is a linear progression ,Makaan was added to Roti and Kapda . The families became smaller and it became possible to give good education to the children and to offer them the independence to choose and decide their own future .The three basic needs of life taken care of and with new job opportunities the young can and do broaden their horizons The remarkable progress in communications has changed the world .There are lots of oppotunities to be taken advantage of .Since it is linear progress let us remember that at each stage of growth there were challenges to be faced and so let us not look down upon the people who carved the steps on which we climb further coz we will be the stepping stones for the next generation .