By gone are the days when the elders are were held in high regard and the old were considered as the treasure house of wisdom. Our country known for its value system, that would take care of the old people in the family, till their last day, has undergone a tremendous change by now. What now galore are the old age homes, with ‘lonely’ elders, looking forward to their final demise and death, in an ungrateful way or else if not lucky enough even for this fate, they end up on the streets as beggars.  The question is, why so much of an unwarranted change had come about in our environs? What had happened, in the last few decades that had brought about this metamorphosis?  Firstly, the changes imposed on us in the form of the market economy, have begun to put up unforeseen demands on the ‘generation new.’ This new generation of youngsters were brought up in a culture, which perpetually compares them, with their peers and the siblings, in matters of academic excellence. Not just this once they enter the arena of life i.e. either into a job or else some other enterprise of their own, the rat race is intensifying in the name of ‘success.’ In this age of individualism, each one of us is unto himself or herself; and thus has to strive alone on the path of career, without any social support systems to fall back upon. This does breed insecurities, stress and anxieties in us.  In this predicament, our elderly look like as an impediment, in our journey that demands us to ‘become something of worth’ in our life time. Moreover, with the nuclear families abounding and both partners employed, things would become much difficult, if the care of the elderly was added to this complex scenario. In addition, the culture of living and measuring everything in life by the norm of ’comparison,’ sometimes makes the generation new, to even compare their elders, with that of the parents of those friends or the relatives; who provided their children with a better starting point in life.  The movie that was released about a decade and a half back i.e. ‘Subha Lagnam,’ has depicted the plight of a family, in which a wife compares her husband with that of the husbands of her neighbours and keeps on demanding for more of the luxuries of life. In that case, the husband, who is an ordinary employee, turns out to be a ‘failure’ in fulfilling all the demands his pestering wife. Then, on one fine day, the wife sells the guy, to his very bosses’ daughter, who is in love with him and thus is prepared to even to buy him with the money.  The above story of the movie may look like being too odd, to turn up a reality in the social life. But, it would certainly highlight the ‘consumerist’ culture that thrives on the mindset of comparison and competition. Such a culture is perpetually putting demands on the youth of today, to prove their worth, by becoming more and more successful and never to stop and look back. If one fails in this endeavour, S/He is being considered unworthy or not fit for respect.  That is it. There begin our woes and the woes of our elders, who are all caught up in this vicious circle. The elders too end up as being the objects of comparison or else as shackles, in the race of the youngsters to the ‘top. ‘  There is a popular saying that ‘You reap what you sow.’ Thus the older generation, has unwittingly planted the seeds of all that is going wrong now, along with that of all that is better off now. Thus let us not blame any single generation for the plight; we are all caught up as of now. Let us better stop and think, why we are running at all and where does this race take us...is it not into our old age tomorrow... where in we to do end up caught in the vicious circle of this rat race, which we as the generation new too are perpetuating and continuing, only in order to end up in the loneliness of the old age and all its ordeals in the time future...