Little serious note in context of (so called) Indian Society, cultural values and of course, subsequent generation gaps as far as I could figure out till my age.
Always heard about this phrase called Generation Gap since childhood and always thought that this is something which relates to generation of ours with the coming generation.
As you grow up, you realize that it has more to take with our generation and the previous generation, then the challenges will have to be faced, the compromises will have to be made and struggle had to be done for bringing the understanding, an understanding which is more difficult to bring in different generations than bringing it in any typical relation.
As far as I have realized, as we grow up, we are implicitly loaded with some of the responsibilities by our society which we can neither ignore nor get rid of, no matter how harder we try. These are the responsibilities of filling the generation gap and realizing that we have to start thinking maturely for some aspects of life. The responsibilities to make decisions in harmony of both generations without hurting any of them.
As soon as we get into school, previous gen start planning about the career path we should be following based on our study graph and growth opportunities. There come conflicts like [subjects of interests and better growth areas], [career options and financial availability], [early and late start of career for better outcome ] etc. etc.
As soon as we get into grad, previous gen expects us to find a suitable job. State of misunderstanding develops on [how different the education and grade system is as compared to theirs] and [how difficult it is to make a decision nowadays of weather to start working or go for further study].
As soon as we get a good job, previous gen expects us to get financially independent. There is clash of thoughts on [how different the job opportunities and the employment sector (public vs private) is as compared to their gen], [how competitive and cut-throat market it is today], [the source of job opportunities/employers are different as compared to old times] and [the work timing & work cultures have changed upside down] though at present scenario, a person becomes financially independent as soon as s/he lands with a job in a productive sector.
As soon as we become financially independent, previous gen expects us to get married according to the the bride or groom of their choice. Gap comes up on [how much the culture and social values have changed around us]. Disagreements start coming up on [time lack to bring understanding after the marriage as compared to previous generations], [how important it is to have stable path for both sides than just marrying] and [definition of social inequalities has totally changed for both of the generations].
TG in my case, there were very few contradictions in above mentioned illustrations and at most of the places, either one or other gen understood very well, never needed to make any sacrifices or compromises. For larger part, I credit loyalty, trust and belief of both gens towards values and ethics of each other for those successful decisions. But wherever those gaps aroused, most of the times they never got filled and at this stage, am really worried if they will ever be because if they are not, one day we are also going to belong to previous gen and we will have no clue how we are going to deal with such gaps or what is the right approach to think towards such differences.