Gone are the days when as tots we played with old tins (the forerunner of rattles?) and the odd, rare toy.

Today they play with several such complex and expensive toys.

Gone are the days when as students we would seriously pore over and study from our notebooks and textbooks.

Today they study from the Internet. Can you beat that? And don’t think I don’t notice that little screen in the centre of the so-called “study page” – from which beams a movie.

Gone are the days when our jeans were decently wrapped around our waists: well above our belly buttons.

Today they wear their jeans so low that it literally takes your breath away. You actually find yourself reaching out to catch them (the jeans, I mean) before they fall, and then you pull yourself back in the nick of time.

Gone are the days when we used to hang out at a coffee shop or an icecream parlour.

Today they hang out at pubs guzzling beer and … (let’s keep it at that). [Plus they always feel so let down that there is always someone much younger than them there.]

Gone are the days when we would just listen dutifully to what our parents told us to do.

Today they prefer to experience things for themselves; the good thing though is that they are super cool about learning things the hard way (and are fine with it: no regrets whatsoever).

This is the youth of today. A whole new breed: refreshing but exasperating; rude at times but with a heart when it matters.