The Butterfly Generation: A Personal Journey Into the Passions and Follies of India's Technicolour Youth

by Palash Krishna Mehrotra

Mehrotra paints a vivid and compelling portrait of young urban Indians today. His memories and experiences of a socialist India in the past are contrasted with the sights and sounds of a contemporary Americanised India. The book tells the story of one man and one country laid bare, a no hold's barred journey through the call centres, technological business parks and the nightclubs of a nation on the meteoric rise. How do young Indians in the age group of 25 to 35 reconcile these disparate worlds? How does he reconcile them? Part memoir, part-travelogue, The Butterfly Generation is the first book about India to be written from an internal perspective, and also the first to focus on the youth of India; a portrait of a generation that is the first of its kind in India. Free to flirt with the west and take on their dreams, The Butterfly Generation flits back and forth from Hindi to English, Bollywood to Hollywood without batting an eyelid. As Mehrotra says, they are old enough to remember the steam train but young enough to appreciate broadband.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rakhi Rajani · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good description of youth in India today. Slightly lame in terms of the focus on the 'bad boy' image because it tried to hard to be controversial. A mix of fiction and non fiction.

[Sachin Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Objective rating for this book falls between a 2 and a 3.

But since I'm reading NON-Fiction after like ages, I feel generous enough :P
So this was an impulse buy during the 2014 Bangalore Lit Fest - after being fired up listening to some panels argue about navel-gazing, shooting-the-breeze and male protagonists among other things on-stage, I thought maybe I should dip into whats currently hip among the high-brow literati ( all the puffed up folks walking around in thier nehru jackets and fab-india kurtas and of course, the ladies of the glittering sarees, perfectly coiffured hair with that single lock playing hide-seek with the wind and large bindis and generally genial smiles reserved only for the camera or the press hounding them...Phew..I realize I get carried away by the amount of "poise" on offer at such events and the stuffed-shirt attitude thrown around in oodles all around.

I swagger into the book-store like I belong here - but I quickly have to watch my step from being trodden on by six-inch blade-heels of the kitty-party aunties thronging that place looking for that "self-image booster" best-selling book on display. In my hurry to get away from murder by heels ( it was that or be suffocated from all that heady concoction of chanel perfumes!), I picked up Butterfly Generation - a bold subtitle claiming it to be a "personal journey into the PASSIONS and FOLLIES of India’s Technicolor Youth”. I should have paid heed to the capitals. PASSIONS and FOLLIES. Dang!

So to get a feeler, braving the aromas of passion all around me and hoping from one foot to the other while juggling the book, I managed to read the beginning chapter. It was funny. And no, I don’t mean like a Comedy with Kapil Night funny – this was genuinely good humorous writing and Palash seemed to know a thing or two about getting a reader hooked on. Took the chance and along came the Butterfly Generation bundled with a set of other “serious” fiction ( my wife’s impulse buys and ONE thriller book, called Emperor’s riddles)

My enthusiasm reached a peak by the mid of the first chapter buoyed by some clever fictionalized writing depicting writer’s “living in a rented house” episode featuring the middle-class house-owner Khosla and his wife obsessed with hunting down the imaginary “rat in the house”.

But the enthu soon nosedives as the author swings into territories of the quintessential “bad boy” – the psychedelic drug scene, non-stop parties, call-centre culture, finally dipping into “boring” nadir with an account of his psychosomatic pilot friend in search of his personal nirvana flying across the skies. But I plodded on – versova scriptwriters got things moving again. The author has a great knack for explaining things in a neutral fashion without really coloring things up by his own opinion. It’s like the life is playing on a seventy mm screen in front of him without really affecting him in any manner. But for a lot of topics, like the Yellow Umbrella that details the author’s fling with a upwardly mobile self-confident young woman who draws her line at what ensues for a romantic relationship, the disconnected narrative really threw me off. It works for painting a realistic neutral picture about other’s lives – that mainly forms 80% of the narrative anyways – but dipping into his own life experiences without really that lens of emotion, for me it fell flat and boring. But maybe it is just me.

Like I said, it works like magic for accounts of others’ lives that talks about the revolution that say, Cassette brought into the music industry. Democratizing music scene in India. Or the gradual evolution of TV Programming in India – from the black and white concentric circles of Doordarshan to the nonsensical reality shows rampant in today’s cable TV. There was a lot to like – in the manner in which the author slowly reveals the long hands of cable TV content that has encroached our lives – and I completely agree with him on the couple of points raised – in terms of Indians being nosy by nature = starting from the days of a joint family – and also being “insensitive” towards one another in general, getting a sick sadistic kick out of seeing the abject misery on other’s face. The pure gold basis for the reality shows being so bloody popular.

In the middle of the book though – the author sashays down the path of exploring and exposing the sexual frustration of a generation who didn’t know otherwise and now with post-economic liberalization landing them a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – know nothing better than to fuck like beavers and make rug-rats after groping sweatily in night clubs of Gurgaon and Mumbai. Wow. I never knew this side, frankly. And I consider myself a part of this generation being in my early 30’s who has seen this change affect India. Sigh.
Part-3 that was part autobiographical history of the evolution of the author’s choice and taste in music was interesting enough for me – especially the last parts around the emerging metal-head culture in India – buoyed on by high-speed bandwidth and mostly influenced by the Scandinavian and Japanese Speed-Metal scene – being a music junkie myself – was a revelation and a good, if not compelling read.

But overall, the book is a disappointment. Sometimes tinged sepia with some nostalgic longing moments that really bring alive my own childhood and teenage, most of the other times the book just nose dives expounding and giving us a superficial account of misguided youth in India. Ragging, Gay Parades, Drugs and wanton sexual encounters. I could only shake my head and smirk thinking, wow! This fellow really had a trip of his lifetime on speed.
Was this really an account of the entire generation that watched ek chidiya and Mahabharats at Sunday mornings and later were enamoured by Madonna on MTV? Nope, no sir. I disagree.

[Kameswari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Insight into today's youth? If by insight you mean that the youth of India has a whole is pretty much into psychotropic drugs ,this is the book to pick up. If you are a little more informed ,then you know this isn't the book for you.

[Supriya · Rating 1 out of 5]

Please.

[Srinath Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Butterfly Generation - Palash Krishna Mehrotra – Review by V Y Sarma

Young India as we call it, is not due to six decades of its independence but the young population of nearly 50 percent Indians below the age of 25 and more than 65 percent below the age of 35. India with its ever growing urbanisation is tempting these young Indians from all corners to be a part of it.

Palash Krishna Mehrotra’s Butterfly generation focuses on lives of the youth in urban India and their colours unknown to our naked eyes. Appropriately tagged “A personal journey into the passions and follies of India’s Technicolour Youth” palash narrates his personal experiences on a frazzled way across various paths such as late night parties and jobs, sex, live-in relationships, drugs, ragging, homosexuality, Television, Music, Rock Bands and daily survivors of unparalleled Bollywood. The book is divided into three parts, Part1: One-on-One [short stories of eight individuals in his life], Part: 2 Wide Angle [collective issues overgrowing in the current generation], Part 3: Here We Are Now, Entertain Us [Swing in the entertainment from 80’s to current date].

1. In Mid-Thirties : Making up for lost time:
There has been a generation shift in India, but is the shift completed? We could definitely say a NO. Indians are captured by the colours of west but still are strangled with the cultural strings of India which they are trying to break free from. Yes there are people who are in mid-thirties who are trying to make up for the time and enjoyment they have lost during their young age because of the restrictions placed on them by parents and society.

2. Call Centre Experiences:
The bobby brown story is a clear example of the happenings of call centre culture, regular shifting of jobs, infested by weed and drugs and sex, yet I wouldn’t say this is the case of each and every call centre employees, while some learn sooner or later that call centres wouldn’t take them any further in life, while others like bobby brown drown in it.

3. Gear Shift of Bollywood:
Partner - Hitch, Sarkar – The God Father, Love Story 2050 – The Time machine, Omkara - Othello, Aitraaz – Disclosure, Chori Chori – House sitter, Murder – Unfaithful, Taxi No.9211 – Changing Lanes, Kaante – Reservoir Dogs, Race – Bad Lovers and list goes on for the of remakes of English movies in to the Bollywood, the chapter on Versova Scriptwriters is about the struggling scriptwriters in Bollywood who try to convert the scripts of English movies to match the wavelength of Indian audience and explains how the scripts are originally converted to English language and then translated to Hindi.

4. The Uneducated
In Wheeler Dealer palash explores into the life of an auto rickshaw driver who not only involves in transport of human cargo but extends his business horizons to weed, porn and junk food to the world weary boarding school boys. Speaking about his love for Kolkata and how struggled life he has been through and how he wants his children to grown up and lead a better life told in his words “I want to go back to big city and live in style. I want my Calcutta relatives to say: look at Nandu. He’s finally made a man of himself”.

5. The English Speaking Population
The increase in English Speaking population has led to a new generation of working Indians who don’t care of the working hours and are in dire need to get a job. Seeing this the MNC’s entered India to utilise this immense man power to make the most out of it, this may have bought in investment to India and increased the employment rate, but this to have its side effects in the form of long working hours leading to no personal time, destroying the relationships, frustration as the compensation is too low for the work taken and despite all this the generation tends to love this for the freedom they get out of it. I Love My McJob of Part:2 Wide Angle, is more into this angle of young Indians.

6. Gay Parades
Gay Ho! Confers about the raise of homosexuality in India who are amongst us, some hiding and some declaring it openly, days have come wherein parents to have to start begging their children to marry the opposite sex.

7. Growth story of Indian Music and Television
The third section, ‘Here We Are Now, Entertain Us’, is more self-assured. An analyses of popular culture, particularly the underground/alternative music scene and the creative output of new Indi bands, cover less well-known ground, and hence are more interesting. This part offers a preserved history of the birth and evolution of Western popular music in India since the 1970s, beginning with the cassette-tape revolution, which democratised and decentralised music production and consumption in the country.

The story of Indian television started with the swirling ball of the doordarshan logo take shape accompanied by a mournful jingle in the black and white, the whole country used to stick to Friday evening movies, the republic day parade and the independence day speeches, the days have changed subsequently in 90’s with MTV, HBO, VH 1, CNN, ESPN and others entering this arena along with few local players. The world’s youngest nation had never really invested in programming for its young and these new channels filled that gap. These channels in way have influenced the Bollywood too making their fight, song and dance sequences starting to resemble the American way. but this was not enough for our entertainment hungry young generation, then came the reality shows, starting with Kaun Banega Crorepati the Indian version of Who wants to be a Millionaire and many came on the way, though dance and song competitions remained to be safe bets MTV Roadies, Splitsvilla, Big Boss, Dadagiri showed that the young India likes it nasty too. From the days of black & white to LED, Idiot Box I & II covers them all.

Goes through his own musical journey through the decades — beginning as an eleven-year-old in small-town Allahabad and Dehradun in love with synthesised bubble-gum pop — encapsulates the revolution in popular musical taste in urban India. He tells us why Indians are into heavy metal and explains the significance of the Money Song celebrating the making of the fast buck in Hindi films.

Palash has successfully managed to draw parallels and compare between the Soviet Union influenced India to the Americanised India; moving further on to the India which is now inculcating the best of all that the world has to offer while still maintaining its own individuality. If you were born in the 70s or 80s and have grown up in the 90s this book is about you. It is about a generation that is not afraid to call a spade a spade; a generation not afraid to make mistakes; a generation which has the vigour to start over again and again despite all odds.

Palash didn’t want us to just read this book but absorb in it so that we could feel the heart of the youth. He doesn’t give any conclusion, but he has left it the readers to derive the meaning out of it. We may come across a question when reading it, that whether some these are really happening? Well I could say it is happening in India, whether we would have come across any of them or not.

Some say it is not the past we have to see in a person but his future which beholds him. The same way an unpleasant caterpillar which is in a cocoon stage breaks itself free to become stunning butterfly. This generation is coming out to be that butterflies in innumerable colours and that generation is called “The Butterfly Generation”

[Ish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully nostalgic. The way he speaks about the journey of metal and rock music for the millennials is spot on. The writing is a bit simple and that adds on to the charm.

[Samir Dhond · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up "The Butterfly Generation" because it claimed to provide an insight into the young adults of India. Well, the book was boring to read. I mean, it did not provide anything insightful as far as the young India is concenred. It definitely talked about topics that are an integral part of today's youth. The book talks about Sex, Relationships, Money, Homosexuality, Education, Ragging on Campuses and many more but they were talked about in a superficial manner.

The book might be interesting to someone who has only heard about these topics but has had no exposure to these issues surrounding the youth. However, if you are in the konw of these issues and if you have studied these issues while trying to understand today's youth, the book would turn out to be disappointing for sure.

While I am not recommending this book to anyone at all, it is not a book that can be just thrown away in one corner.

[Rajesh S Shirali · Rating 2 out of 5]

This purports to be an insightful take on the lives of the youngsters that constitute our demographic dividend in the next 5 years to come. But from page one it is a degenerate compendium of juvenile anecdotes and the author's "I'm so cool...I am always the offbeat guy" opinions or observations. To grab eyeballs there is an overdue emphasis on sex n drugs and such stuff. That's it! The only thing that struck a chord was the chapter on piracy...which reminded me of the struggle and evolution that folks like me had to face and go through while coming of age as musically inclined adults. Advice to Mr Palash...stop pretending to be a sociologist when you know you lack the tools n the intellect,

[Urvashi Rustomfram · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the generation I belong to, but it gave me an insight into a world that I have never come in contact with. It was an interesting read, but I think it focused more on the author's own interests, which seem to be drugs and metal, than maybe a more wider look at this generation.

[Divakar · Rating 2 out of 5]

A colorful walk thru of the lives of the young and cool in India. Their dreams, aspirations and frustrations. Palash is a regular writer for various magazines. Racy, irreverent and tongue in cheek. At times, the book gets you worried if you have growing up children in their teens/early adulthood

[Sukhamaya Swain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Appreciated the way the author goes on with the narration of those yester years. Some of the facts were relieved. But did not like at all the boldness with which some rather bold topics were dealt.
Maybe someone else would like it.

[Suvidutt Sundaram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candid, funny & interesting.

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent observations on a generation that is so diverse and difficult to understand. The insides are fantastic, the book sometimes a little too discriptive.

[Manish · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun to read

[Anmol]

Good book

[Dipu Darko · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all you kids who grew up in the nineties, this book is absolutely vital for your existence!