Where's the promised success?

This is an anthem, I suppose,

For the generation that followed the rules.

We did everything that was told of us

By parents, teachers, and all other elders.

‘Just focus on your studies in 10^th standard,

Life is set afterwards’. But life wasn’t.

‘Just focus on your studies in 11^th and 12^th standards,

Life is set afterwards’. But life wasn’t.

 

‘Just toil for your entrance exams and life is set afterwards’.

But life wasn’t. ‘Just focus on your internships,

Just focus on your moot courts. Your internals. Your end sem exams.

Life is set afterwards’. Nope.

 

‘Just focus on your campus placement. Life is set-‘

No. It didn’t get set at any point of time till now.

‘Just focus on your work and be sincere at it,

The chips will fall in place’. They didn’t.

 

They didn’t tell us about toxic workplaces or coworkers

They didn’t tell us about the lack of hirings

Didn’t tell us that job security is a thing of the past

Or that stability in career exists no more, it’s all contractual.

 

So we jump, from workplace to workplace,

Sit for interviews every two years or so.

Job hunt and house hunt are now part of day to day life.

Anxiety is that friend who refuses to say goodbye.

 

So we jump, from employer to employer

Despite our expensive degrees

We rejoice in the mundane sitting in our A/C rooms

And watch reels in the hope of numbing our existential dread.

 

Followed all the rules and now we’re here

Living our lifeless lives; one meme at a time.

Stuck between a generation that has never understood us

And another for whom we never mattered anyway. Did we get a chance at life yet?