The Generation Gap

Today flipping through the newspaper and sipping the cool coffee at a coffee shop in the afternoon....sound of young giggles made me lower my paper and look up.

I saw a young girl and boy, dressed in school dress enter the coffee shop. As they stood at the counter ordering muffins, I amusedly thought...they must have stopped via their way home to take a bite before heading home...

The sight made me nostalgic for a while....as I remembered the good old school days when we used to walk home from school and often spend our pocket money on ice-creams and sundaes in summers...and dig into hot chocolate in winters!!

However, as they turned towards one of the tables...the girl's low slung short skirt caught my eye...winging on her hips as she cat-walked to the table. I looked over her and noticed the eyes highlighted by Kajal...and lips by gloss...her hair were cut in the latest Katrina style...and she was tossing them around quite adeptly!
The boy was tall and lanky... around 15-16 years of age...with new hairs covering his face...that had not yet grown so much that they could have been shaved...his school trousers was as also as low-slung as the girl's skirt... Smiling to myself, I remembered our plain grey tunics... that made us look like nuns!

Chiding myself for staring, I was about to go back to the newspaper...when I saw the boy's hand going around the girl's shoulder...In a minute, both were kissing...right there...in the coffee shop...among the crowded tables...with the muffin sitting on the table between them!

For a moment, I was shocked...not because I had never seen anyone kiss before...or have never kissed myself...!

I just couldn't believe that what I thought as an innocent muffin-eating visit...was aimed at something else ...and that at the age of 15-16?????

For even a person as liberal as me this sudden bold gesture by two school kids in public...was a bit too much...Its not that I never had crushes in school or never heard of such things going on..in school...but somehow...today's incident just shook me...

I couldn't stop myself from thinking about their parents...innocently waiting for them to return home from school...not really knowing ...what they are up to...

The girl's eye caught mine....and uncomfortably I looked away...even more surprised...that she looked so normal and quite comfortable...and not at all bothered about the looks that quite a number of people were giving both of them!
They just calmly tucked into the muffin...kissed once more, paid the bill, picked up their cell phones...and their school bags... and left the cafe, holding hands...

I was left thinking....have i turned into a conservative prude or is this what is called the Generation Gap?