Now, in the first article, what caught my attention was the sentence “We live in the age of sinnocence where virtues are out and vices are in.” I wondered whether that was true and if it was true, then why all this anti-corruption brouhaha, after all, if vices were in, why would young people want to be anti-corruption, or was this supposed to mean that 'I, me can have all the vices, do what I want, but the people in office should not be like me'? That sentence hurt me somewhere deep and made me wonder whether those of us, who still try to teach young people ethical ways of thinking and living are a dying breed, going the way of the dodos and whether such teaching is now irrelevant.
Regarding the 'Pleasure is Good' article, it was discussing the dynamics of interpersonal relationships today and to quote "More relevant are the modern-day gradations and variations in what was the traditional man-woman coupling. One of the newer entrants to the lexicon of the way people relate to each other is the term “friend with benefits”, which the writer goes on to define as given in the Urban dictionary. Further--
"A relationship website that passes by the name of Mr Ethical Slut has a more empirical explanation. “For the most part, these two people are friends. The big difference between their other friendships is sex. Friends with benefits have the ability to go out on date-like activities. However, real dates are not initiated because there is no romantic interest between the partners. They hang out because they enjoy similar activities and each other’s company. Sex is an optional part of the relationship. If one partner has sex outside of the relationship, it does not end their friendship. Instead, the sex element is taken out of the relationship and they continue to be friends. Sex can also come back into the friendship when both parties are ready for it.” The writer goes on to say that "Friend with benefits, perhaps, is just what the doctor ordered for the fast-paced, demanding, ephemeral lifestyles in Indian cities."
What I would like to know is, if what the writer says (along with what articles in Cosmopolitan or Femina imply) is really what is happening out there; have our young people really changed their mindset so much and do both women and men accept this without negative connotations. I am also intrigued, because, again as per information from various magazines, our age-old system, of arranged marriages, is still thriving. Somehow, I just cannot reconcile the two. Can some youngsters enlighten me on these issues?
