What Millennials Want: Decoding the Largest Generation in the World

by Vivan Marwaha

That means that the choices and trajectory of this generation have pivotal consequences on local, regional, and global politics and economics. So the important question is: What do Indian millennials want? What are their economic aspirations and their social views? Most importantly, what makes them tick?



It's 2021 and more than 84% of them reported having an arranged marriage, and 65% listed a government job as their top priority. So are millennials really any different from previous generations?



In What Millennials Want, Vivan Marwaha documents the aspirations and anxieties of these young people scattered across more than 30,000 kilometers in 13 Indian states. Combining an expansive dataset along with personal anecdotes, he narrates an intimate biography of India's millennials, investigating their attitudes towards sex, marriage, employment, religion, and politics.

Genres: India, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2021

Reviews

[Aritri Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Millennials, as a generation, have experienced the major chunk of transformation the world has been through in the recent times including the move to Digital Age. While we were growing from pre-teens to adults, the drastic difference in lifestyles had an enormous impact in our educational backgrounds, work lives, personal relationships and the way we look at the world in general. While the Baby Boomers or the Gen Zs might protest that almost every generation goes through similar changes, reading Marwaha’s book will give the readers a deep understanding about what makes the circumstances of Millennials so different. Vivan is a millennial too and that has helped him comprehend the situations he writes about. While this book talks about grave issues faced by Indian millennials, such as lack of employment or flawed education system that favors the privileged, the writing is effortless and doesn’t need you to be an economic or educational expert to understand. The book makes us rethink about certain aspects of our lives and contemplate the effect that macro trends have had on us as a generation.
Vivan Marwaha’s latest book “What Millennials Want” is a piece of work that needs to be read by every Indian Millennial. It is an extremely well-researched book as a result of conducting in-depth interviews, having open-ended honest conversations and traveling through suburbs as well as metro cities of India. There are real life examples of people who face many challenges and make the most out of them, people who live with their biased beliefs and, in some cases, work their way out of their narrow-minded, impoverished upbringing to a healthier environment. Yet nothing about the book is difficult to grasp. Reading this will help you have those much-needed debates and healthy arguments with people around you. After all, isn’t that the entire purpose of reading good non-fiction: the opportunity to have a constructive conversation and widen our perspective to bring change?

[Navya Sri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a research guide to who are millennials and what do they aspire for? This lists the interview mode i.e. qualitative methodology of research on around 900 millennials based on the CSDS (Centre for the Study in Developing Societies) survey findings. The book demonstrates the millennial mindset and what holds them different under the chapter titled, Education, Economic Aspirations, Technology and Social Media, Marriage and Social Views, Political Attitudes.


The book presents interesting case studies about millennials and how they differ in terms of cultural choices, political inclinations and how has thinking ability differ being a part of economic liberalization. It gives a glimpse of indispensable thoughts and view points of millennials. The case studies are mostly questionnaire style which focus on the above mentioned core aspects. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this research articles and recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about them. 

[Vikrama Dhiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spectacular

Most books about India leave you even more confused than before you start reading them - India is deep. Vivan's book avoids the usual tropes - it is not bloated and uses a free flowing narrative technique to keep the material accessible. With stats, stories, folklore and news - Vivan weaves an eminently readable window into India's millennials.

Vivan's book is an important one. This is also a well researched and compiled book. It is fairly well edited too. There are some sparks of optimism (the story of the Gulf returnee who started her own beauty salon in Hyderabad for instance). The coverage on marriage, social attitudes and Modi are very interestingly put together.

I am sure there is more to world's largest generation beyond jobs, respect, Modi, Hindutva! Vivan started to scratch some parts in do not want to be masters, enterpreneurship and the Kerala model - maybe there is scope to expand the book a bit more to make it even better. I would love to read more stories from Punjab, Himachal, North East, Goa, Tamil Nadu among other states which need more fleshing out - Maharashtra, Bihar.

In the end, India is many things - I hope this book has more in the second edition.

[Devyani Mathur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Study of generations is interesting as each generation is expected to develop its own identity based on the extant socio-cultural-political milieu of that period. This is likely to bring new challenges to interpersonal and family relationships, communities, associations, workplace as also governments. The formative years of the generation termed as that of millennials, have been years of technological change, globalization and economic disruption to the extent never witnessed earlier. It is the first generation of digital natives.

Vivan Marwaha has in this book, undertaken upon himself the arduous task of tracking the beliefs, convictions and expectations of the Millenials in a country as big as ours with its diversities of language, caste and religion, that is not an easy task by any standards. The impact of our education system coupled with the effect of technology and social media on this generation's socio-political ethos and the efforts to harness this ‘demographic dividend’ for the future of India, make for a compelling reading. What is notable is that not only is the author’s mission admirable, so are the meta methods employed for the study. The sample size of the survey undertaken is commendable that generates conviction on the outcomes as detailed in the book.

Suffice to say, What Millenials Want is not just a thorough and thought-provoking, evidence-based page-turner, it encourages curiosity and introspection. It gently captures the attention of the reader and walks them through real life examples. All of this is rendered with the paradoxical combination of empathy and irony. Part of the experience may have been told before, but never with so much of freshness, power and intensity.

It is the author’s first book but he reveals a complete control over the subject and shares his knowledge and understanding with maturity. The narrative is almost conversational that makes the book easy to read. All in all, it is a highly captivating debut by the young author.

[Amit Dua · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had very high expectations from this book. I thought it will give me insights into what millennials think, do and choose in all the arenas of daily life.

Insights into how millennials choose to shop their groceries, their clothes, their gadgets. Why they choose one thing over the other? Similarly, do they shop more online or at the malls/ departmental stores or prefer traditional retail shops.

Similarly, what are their hobbies and what do they prefer for entertainment- in terms of do they like to go for movies or watch them on ott or watch them on cable? Do they like hanging out with friends at restaurants? What kind of restaurants/ coffee shops/ pubs? Do they want to own a music system? Do they like reading? If yes, then paper books or eBooks?

Do they like to travel alone or with family or with friends?

What is their view/ idea of working life? Do they want to keep professional and personal lives separate or are they willing to work longer hours and slog?

How and what is their mindset and emotions for socializing- how do they make friends, what kind of friendships do they have especially compared to previous generations. Are they into real close friendships or is their relationships more superficial. What is their relationships with extended families- uncles/ aunts/ cousins/ second cousins and so on.

But the book primarily focused on education and political preferences and in that too it was engaged in too much background of given education scenario and political environment etc. It goes off-topic a lot.

It gives some insights but not as expected. May be different readers will have different expectations from this book and like it but for me it was just average.

[Craartology · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Millennials Want by Vivan Marwaha is an excellent account that documents the aspirations, ideologies, fears and hurdles that are omnipresent in the life of every Indian millennial in varying degrees in terms of their intensity.

A combination of interviews, anecdotes and research stats, this book brings forth those facets that lack quality and are scarce in presence and functioning, hindering the growth of the youth in this country. Through candid conversations for perspectives and opinions on politics, education, marriage, employment the data highlights a true picture of a generation that’s young, striving and hopeful.

As someone who has experienced the unfairness in the system very closely, made compromises and survived on plan B for the better part of my life, I found myself resonating with a lot that this book showcases. If you are looking for a fresh and insightful collation of figures and perspectives on the Indian youth of today. Read this book, it’s intriguing, crisp and gives a peek into what’s achieved and what needs to be achieved to become the “successful” largest labour force and market of good and services in the world.

[Prerna Maynil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book which is the need of the hour! What Millennials Want perfectly summarises the needs of today's youth and is a brilliant insight into the minds of the millennials. What stands out is that the author Vivan Marwaha conducted more than 900 interviews across different cities which makes the book authentic and true to its theme. The book explores different themes like education, economy, social media, etc., and highlights the core issues with them along with how the young Indians are adapting to or rather creating solutions to these issues.
The millennials should definitely read this book to revisit their thoughts and constructively contribute to the 're'-development of this country right from its roots of the education system.

[Yogesh Somani · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is very well written and gives the readers a broad idea on how the millennials think about various factors like education , marriage , politics , employment (most importantly ) , the book further focusses on the ground level reality of the Indian education system and the current economic scenario where unemployment is at its peak . The book also gives the readers a broad idea about what millennials think of politics and what are the political issues which are significant according to the milelnials.

It would say it's a must read .

[Vivek Gaurav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vivan Marwaha very succinctly captures the pulse of Indian millennials in this book. The books takes its readers on the journey of the universe of life, dreams, thoughts and actions of the millennials. India is a diverse and divided nation and its millennials are no different however one thing still sets them apart. They are uniquely placed in the vortex of transitions and transformations. Despite all the differences they are united in many ways.

[Soumitro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an Indian millennial myself, this book was an interesting mirror, adding depth and broader context to how I perceive myself as an individual and our collective identity as well.

I also liked how the author weaved quantitative data from different sources and qualitative data from interviews into a cohesive narrative. I'd like to learn to write like this someday!

[Zuvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book that shares stories we don't often hear in the media. It goes beyond the headlines to discuss how millennials from small town India view their future and the world - a must read for anyone interested in the people who are going to determine India's trajectory.

[Pratap Padode · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read book by every Indian. In today's times, narratives are being shaped by inadequate information and skewed facts. Manipulated perceptions and impressions can dominate when India's demographic dividend is facing an educational deficit. For India to progress we need Indians to take an informed decision about its future based on facts not based on doctored blue prints. Today what appears to be a good thing going for India could potentially lead it to a ruinous road to disaster. Like climate control is beeping red for the globe, education is bleeding red for India.

[Richa Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Millennials Want is one of the reads that the need of the hour. The book is a comprehensively researched and presented account on the Millennials aspirations and struggles. With anecdotes and honest narration, the book highlights the Millennials economic, social and emotional needs and most importantly what makes them tick!

The title in itself is attention grabbing and when I read the book I was totally engrossed. The author has used simple yet exciting anecdotes that make the book all the more interesting. This is a book that should be read by not only millennials but also the other generations, it's not always that the authors write such a masterful piece of work. The book goes through a plethora of topics with an ease of skillful narration.

Read this if you wish to understand the Millennials and how they are similar yet not so similar to the other generations!