GREEN DAY
Popular punk rock band Green Day had a song in their Kerplunk album titled Who Wrote Holden Caulfield? Apart from the title, lyrics like “There’s a boy who fogs his world and now he's getting lazy. There’s no motivation and frustration makes him crazy,”

The film 3 Idiots is admired because it touched the core of many hearts. It reminded people of their college life, first love and more importantly highlighted the fallacies in our education system. Even though bookworms could score well, the one who applied his concepts did even better. Aamir’s character in the film didn’t believe in mugging from books and he succeeded because he was focused and passionate.

I did my graduation from Kirori Mal College in commerce. I was not a very bright student and was an average scorer in college. However, I always knew that I wanted to become an actor.

The Average Teenager’s Manual, fact of life #162, I get ready to wake up to the side-effects of the generation gap for the next 10 years. We hesitatingly face it, bear and tackle it, only to face it all over again the very next day. But this gap sticks out like a sore thumb before our every plan of action.

Move over Gen X, Y, Z and even Next. Teens today belong to a whole new cult —  Generation M2. A new international research has revealed that youngsters between the ages of eight and 18, who are the harbingers of ‘Generation Multimedia,’ spend more than seven-and-a-half hours a day “chilling out” with computers, TV, iPods, game consoles and other electronic media. Closer home too, the scenario is no different. Young tech-addicts have bid the real world goodbye and spend more than 53 weeks a year lost in the digital world.

While your boyfriend seems to have all the fun with his friends, are you sulking over a fight or cancelling plans with your group of friends? Does your relationship leave you with little time to even drop a text message to your friend? This may be true for some girls, as they find it difficult to balance "friendship and a relationship". 

I pursued my bachelor of music from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. It was a beautiful campus and the three years I spent there were memorable. 

Pranks, bunking classes, crushes, fresher parties and college fests, that’s exactly how one can describe the life of a college student these days, but besides having fun, students leave no stone unturned to make use of their precious college time in a way that helps them in the future. 

The first Grand Slam of the year is on and tennis-crazy teenagers are hooked on to it. With upsets, surprises and disappointments having been part of the Australian Open, the Grand Slam is truly a thrilling one.

Says 15-year-old Bengalurean student Sumanth PS, "I’m a supporter of Rafael Nadal and I hope he wins the title this year. He’s got amazing stamina and I love how he is both right-handed and left-handed."

The Australian Open has already seen upsets like Maria Sharapova’s shocking defeat in the first round when she lost to fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko. The other upset was when Belgian player Kim Clijsters was sent packing in 52 minutes by world number 19 Nadia Petrova. "These two defeats were so surprising," adds Sumanth.

On the other hand, 18-year-old Harshita Sontha is rooting for Roger Federer. "He is someone who can win even when it looks like he is going to lose the game. From the women, Justin Henin has chances of clinching the title and so does Serena Williams," she says.

Tennis fan Nikitha Gupta too is rooting for Federer. Among the other players, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick have chances of reaching the semi-finals, she says. "As for the women, I have a feeling it will be an all-William final with sisters Serena and Venus battling it out for the trophy," she adds.

But the ousting of Indian players from the Grand Slam has left these tennis buffs disappointed. While Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza had to pull out of the Oz Open due to Bhupathi’s injury, Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj have crashed out of the men’s doubles. "Sania too has crashed out of the women’s doubles. The only hope we have now is Leander Paes and his partner who have reached the third round of men’s doubles," adds Sumanth.

Echoes student Sumit J, "Peas is the only Indian player who we can expect a win from. As for the men’s singles, I’m rooting for world number one Roger Federer. There’s no one like him!"

Will it be another Nadal-Federer face-off in the finals? Will the Williams sisters have another battle in the final or will Kirilenko and Henin shine in the next rounds?

Get set for more exhilarating games.

By Ikyatha Yerasala

The Asian Age

Lead actors Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart