Young and Restless India » Cultural Impact

Young Indian Men Shaving Off Mustaches

Raj — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:33:39 +0000

According to Washington Post article “New generation of men in India shaving off mustaches“ a survey found that 72 percent of the women who responded in Mumbai and 83 percent of those surveyed in the southern city of Chennai said they were more likely to want to kiss a cleanshaven man. The numbers were similar in New Delhi, India’s capital, and in the eastern city of Kolkata, often seen as a center of tradition.

The number of women rejecting facial hair appeared to surprise many Indian cultural commentators. Indian women’s magazines have printed letters to the editor saying how happy they are that the great Indian mustache may be trimmed, a sentiment that many young women here say they agree with. “The mustache represents all the aspects of old India — the corruption, the baddie cop in an old film, the government job for life — that the young generation want to leave behind,” said Richard McCallum a pogonologist, or student of facial hair. “Besides, no one wants to look like their parents.”

Grass Root Innovation

Raj — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:27:07 +0000

India’s databank of grass roots inventors is swelling as the nation officially marks the 2010s as a decade of innovation according to CNN article titled “India’s inventors seek markets in innovation decade“.

The country’s National Innovation Foundation (NIF) has 140,000 entries compared with 10,000 when it was set up by the federal government in 2000. But 10 years later, India acknowledges that bringing its innumerable small-scale experiments to the masses remains a challenge in an economy that is attracting businesses worldwide partly because of high-tech capabilities and a growing middle class.

According to the NIF, most geniuses on its roster are school or college dropouts with little means and access to markets. India needs to promote research and development efforts for its poor and for its massive informal economy in order to put their existing know-how to mass use. But experts regret that most Indian innovations have not hit domestic markets, let alone international.

Gen-YRI aspires to be a global citizen

Raj — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:06:05 +0000

Study overseas, acquiring new skills, and travel can be classified as ‘Indian Dream’ for the new breed of urban Indian students in a study done by TCS. You can read more about the study in the article titled “For Gen Next, it’s study overseas, skills and travel”.

Nearly one out of 10 people on the planet are under 25 years old and living in India. Hence, what this Gen-YRI does, thinks and aspires for, gives insights to all those who aim to engage them. With that in mind, TCS has conducted survey dubbed generation Web 2.0 survey reached out to 14,000 high school students in 12 cities to capture the pulse of the Indian youth with a focus on career ambitions and technology habits.

The findings by TCS survey is categorized into four buckets (read about it here)

The Globetrotter: Today’s students continue to express a strong desire to be mobile like previous generations. This generation has global ambitions and wants to study and work abroad. However, a growing confidence in the economic future in India is also reflected in the survey as many students want bring skills back to India and put them to use in India.
The Gadgetphile: Students from both metros and mini-metros who love gadgets and aspire to have the latest products available.
The Nation-Builder: Along with the career the younger Indians want to travel, learn new skills, experience interesting. They also want to branch out of the traditional career choices and going for some new options like gaming and animation. They prefer to work for Indian companies compared international MNCs.
The Social networker: Gen-YRI is getting to be a consummate Social Networker and is likely to have as many online friends as real ones. Interesting this is that these friendships go beyond the traditional boundaries of gender, caste, and geographies. The Youth is willing to communicate with anyone and everyone as long as they have the same interests.