Generation Next does not believe in the Laila-Majnu variety of love any more. Nitya Alwani-Satyani wonders why

Remember that immortal love saga of two lovers killing themselves so that they could be together, in death, if not in life? Remember the buckets you cried over their death scene and wished for such unconditional love in your own life?

Now try getting your teenager to watch it with you. Five minutes into this blockbuster of its time, you’ll hear her snicker and ask, “Are they crazy? What’s the big deal if they couldn’t get married?”

“Who knows, if Laila-Majnu or Romeo and Juliet had actually married, they might just have eventually divorced. They must have been a little unbalanced and impulsive to end their lives,” shares the worldly-wise Karan, all of 16.

That’s today’s generation for you. Gone are the days when love was a sacred, unadulterated emotion. Love was when you dreamt of finding that perfect someone and when you did, you fell in love, got married and had his babies. Those were times when lust, ego, ambition, standard of living and equality were not issues to be confused with your relationship. Parental pressure, family feuds, caste distinctions, status disparities were minor hurdles in the path of true love and true lovers could single-handedly take on the world to preserve their love.

And then they lived to tell the tale of their hardships with a smile on their lips and love in their hearts, till death did them apart.