Oh! Colombo

Colombo’s society is such fun to observe.

As we grow older a new generation is coming up.  It is a pleasure to see new faces in the Colombo cocktail circuit. Lots of young male business tycoons, with some posing off as big business magnates and a generation of female business entrepreneurs too looking radiant at these functions. Some older women seem to be getting quite ruffled about these up-and-coming young women and make it a point to be either downright rude to them or viciously attack them.

Trixie has noticed this behaviour at many an occasion. Trixie herself is not perturbed by these young ladies. She is happy to see a new generation of intelligent successful women emerging.  “These women who work hard and become successful, rather than being dependant on their husband or some other for financial benefits, is such a joy to see”, is what Trixie said to me the other day. Though she did giggle and tell me that being a dependant may be easier than having to use one’s brain, given the number of married financially successful men who love to have their porcupines.

The up and coming woman  wonders why she has become the target of many an elderly woman’s tongue.  At a recent cocktail an older woman got quite abusive towards one of them accusing the young lass of despicable behaviour merely because she was mingling around and enjoying herself. The victim, who was later told that the woman was high on spirits, was quite taken aback.

Hiding behind the guise of high spirits was no excuse since this woman’s diatribe was quite hurtful. The young woman, I am sure, could have stood her ground but being brought up with good manners and being tolerant, she decided to respect the older abuser and ignore the entire incident and move on. It is so sad that some of the ageing and fading cannot bear to see young women rising up in society and the business world.

What is quite amazing is that the up-and-coming young men are note treated similarly. Trixie’s take on this is that some of these women have daughters who they would love to marry off to these financially secure men; what they do not want are confident daughters-in-law, who would not tolerate being bullied and pushed around. 

In this rapidly changing world many peoples’ lifestyles are changing too, especially the younger generations. The older lot will have to learn to come to terms with it, and stop trying to put them down at any given turn.