THE MUDGUARD AND THE GENERATION X

It was still a drowsy morning, the day had not yet unclasped itself from the rain clouds of the previous night. I was on a mission to get things set for a programme to be held later that day. Riding a two wheeler, towards a destination roughly 10 kms away, after a couple of kilometers my peaceful ride was shaken with a jolt. A young lad whiffed past me in one of the latest model motor bikes. The noise and the speed that shook me were nothing when compared to what came next. He went over a puddle of muddy water created by the rain the previous night... before I could realise he had changed my plain shirt into dotted designer wear. There was mud all over me, in dots and florals and stars on my mild green kurtha. For a second I was furious with that biker but the very next moment my mind took off on another tangent! 

That bike had such a small mudguard that it would prevent the splash only for the rider himself. I wondered whether that mudguard reflected the mindset of the present generation. The older bikes have a mudguard big enough to prevent the dust or the mud being sprayed or splashed on the rest of the vehicles on the road, while the new generation bikes have such fancy small mudguards that serve only the rider himself. Does it in any way hint at the self centered and insensitive lifestyle of a generation that cares only about its own fun and thrill and nothing about what the others think or feel? 

I have never before thought about the connection between the mudguard and the generation X. Have you?