– Satyakam Ray
The Family Man, a web series, has recently gained popularity on the Indian OTT platform. The spy thriller, starring Manoj Bajpayee, has become the talk of the town. Apart from the terrorists, Srikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee) has to deal with his family members, specifically his daughter Dhriti. The teenager is adamant and typically speaks verbatim, which is incomprehensible to Srikant.
When Dhriti was kidnapped, Srikant questioned her classmates and friends to elicit vital information about the kidnapper. He faced a precarious yet funny situation. The generation gap between the father and daughter was visible. Srikant’s astonishment and bewilderment were written all over his face. The puzzled look he gave as he listened to the teenagers’ English said it all.
During Srikant’s interaction with Dhriti’s classmates, one adjective stood out: “capitalistic baboon.” Of course, Srikant was puzzled as hell! While watching the show, the author also got confused. After googling the meaning of the capitalist baboon, the author didn’t understand anything. The explanation was unclear to them.
According to the author’s limited intellect, the baboon is a specific monkey in Africa and Asia. Baboon also means jerk in urban jargon. Capitalism is around the corner whenever anyone buys petrol for the bike! But what does the capitalist baboon mean combined? The jerk who brags about materialistic achievements or believes in capitalism in general? It’s tough to find out, though; finding a Gen-Zer to chat with and get to the true meaning is possible!
The boys and girls aged 15-16 engage in discussions about capitalism, socialism, misogyny, patriarchy, and ideological differences. To people from the 30+ age range, this sounds odd. The smart-ass behavior often comes across as patronizing to an indifferent older onlooker. The concepts are excellent, but understanding them requires much practical, real-life experience. The theoretical knowledge of the terms may seem alluring and intelligent. Yet, real-life experience truly builds actual knowledge.
It’s funny, considering the dilemma faced by ’90s kids when they hear such verbatim in adulthood. In the ’90s, kids fought over remote controls or video games. The hi-fi words were alien to many youngsters, and many adults still feel the same way upon hearing such tongue-twisters. The new world of tech-savvy parentage requires adults to work hard to keep up. It’s challenging for them to stay up to date with the kids nowadays.
Psychologically, the new generation’s mindset has changed drastically over the past few years. Things have become very fast-paced. Those who can’t keep up in the rat race are often discarded as left-out late boomers. The boomer generation, belonging to that old-fashioned notion of things, usually lags behind its offspring. The English-speaking style and choice of words have undergone drastic changes. Many calling out the F word has become a status symbol for the English-speaking learned aristocracy.
The augmentation of liberalism has gone beyond its actual territorial influence. It has missed the subtle nuances of polish and gentleness.
In the Popular TVF parody of Roadies, a bald guy who mimics Raghu keeps roasting the contestant. He accuses him of being sexist, capitalist, and racist. He even calls him an exorcist! The capitalistic baboon was playing in the head of the bald Raghu! Another noteworthy point in the show was the guy’s address, which mimicked Ran Vijay’s. RanVijay told the contestant that he didn’t know he was a racist! He was heard saying, “Tujhe pata nahi, but tu hai.”
After observing the conversation verbatim, the author decided to stay calm when talking to Gen Z people the next time. With a pocket notebook ready, you might be tempted to note down some new urban jargon. This jargon is spoken by a bunch of baboons. Oops! Did the author say baboons? It’s not an ideal way to end an article. Yet, it seems Fworthy to mention the magical word. This is for people with an 8-second attention span!
The Witty Stride 