One of the traits of the Millennial and the Gen Z ( include X and Y too ) is their gradual breakaway from the literary activities like ‘writing’ and ‘reading’, which are now mainly confined to academic exercises prescribed in school curriculums. There being no real technology in realm of ‘chalk and talk’ teaching methods in days of yore, predominance of app-based studies has brought a sea-change in the way young students think and act.
Most friends, associates and peers from our time of 1970s, would recall our penchant for visiting libraries & of borrowing books and notes from friends and even gifting a perfect ‘classic’ novel to someone who was precious ! How could then films be left behind ? In a famous old Lucknow based movie ‘Mere Mehboob’ (1963), the young lead pair collide, their books lie scattered on the college hallway – it’s quintessentially ‘love at first sight’ !
Having said that, paradoxically the book-stores with dwindling business and few buyers of books and literature lovers left till just few years back, have suddenly got a new lease of life with the emergence of writers of all genres. Today anyone can think of becoming a popular pulp fiction writer or ace biographer, an author or a poet with a little talent for wordplay and lucid expression, unlimited access to information on the public domain for drawing on ideas & publishers, not fussy about quality of writing or of plagiarism !
The urge that our famed celebrities (including politicians, statesmen, leaders, business honchos, sportsmen and yes, superstars !) have to let their life (success) stories be told through their memoirs and autobiographies (mostly ghost written) has flavours to it – they draw on people’s fascination to know about their private lives, struggles, setbacks & victories but many are written to set the record straight and give a new twist to accepted facts. A few like the iconic ‘Big ‘B’ have yet not relented to being chronicled into a book !
Let me add that not all from our Gen-next and Next-next are averse to literary pursuits in their leisure time while following their academic & other pursuits. Many teenagers I’ve known (progeny of relatives & friends) have turned writers with published books at a very young age, creating new genres. There’s also a noticeable shift in wrapped gifts our young reward us with. Of late, I’ve become truly ‘gifted’ to get a bound copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’ and a bound compilation of the ‘World’s Greatest Speeches’! A way of exhibiting their literary-sensitive side in expressing appreciation and love for books !
Working on Living 