Would they step out of home after 9pm? Eighty per cent of girls in Cuttack said they wouldn’t dare to do so. Bhubaneswar girls appear to be only slightly braver though 73 per cent admitted to feeling insecure about stepping out after sunset. Interestingly, seven per cent of Cuttack boys said they dread going out after darkness falls.

HOME SWEET HOME

Social value systems appear to be strikingly different among the youth of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, the former being more bound to traditions. The erstwhile capital of Odisha is still a close-knit society where the neighbourhood (sahi) culture is still held in high esteem.

No surprise then that an overwhelming majority of Cuttack youths prefer to live in joint families and a remarkable 79 per cent of them are boys. But 59 per cent of Bhubaneswar girls prefer nuclear families.

Once they start working, half of them, mostly Cuttack youths, would like to stay with their parents and over 42 per cent youths want to be based in Odisha itself. While 22 per cent of Cuttack males said they would like to work in a metro city, twice the number of girls in Cuttack indicated their choice for metropolitan cities.

Bhubaneswar boys, too, seem less attached to their state as far as job choice is concerned. Nearly 62 per cent of them want to settle in a metro or abroad.

The youths of the two cities have vastly different opinions on taking care of parents and in-laws. Here, too, their attitudes reflect the different cultural milieus that they come from. While 85 per cent are willing to bring their parents over to their place in old age or in the case of illness, the percentage drops to 72.5 in the case of in-laws. In this, once again, Cuttack youths appear to be more caring, with 90 per cent girls and 77 per cent boys from the city ready to tend to their parents.

Only a handful of the youngsters in the twin cities would want to send money to their old parents and want relatives or a domestic help to look after them.

How would they take care of their in-laws, specially if their spouse is an only child? A much bigger chunk of these youths would like to place this responsibility in the hands of relatives or a domestic help, even if they have to sign regular cheques for their maintenance.

KNOTTY ISSUES

The legal age for men and women to marry in India may be 21 and 18 respectively, but not many people seem to be looking at that as a yardstick anymore. For 62.5 per cent youngsters, the 25-28 age bracket is the perfect time to enter wedlock as by that age, most of them would have completed their education and be well-settled in life.

Ten per cent girls in both cities would prefer to marry by the time they are 21 while a considerable number (18.75 per cent) feels 29-32 years would be a good time to settle down in life as they would have completed their higher education and become professionally stable.

More than half of them would prefer love marriages, with nearly 69 per cent of Bhubaneswar youths believing in romance before entering matrimony. Girls in the capital seem to be in favour of love marriages.

However, Cuttack boys and girls seem to be a bit traditional with over 50 per cent of them opting for arranged marriage.

More than half of the respondents would like to marry someone from their own state. For 38 per cent, region is no bar for choosing a partner. Six girls and 14 boys fancy having a foreigner for spouse.

The preference for choosing a partner who is divorced or widowed, or have kids from a previous marriage is quite low among the youngsters, especially girls. Only one girl from Cuttack said she would agree to marry a divorcee with kids. Boys, however, are broader in their outlook and sensitive towards the plight of widows in a dominantly patriarchal society and could consider marrying them, but not if they have children.

Ditching registered marriages that are more convenient and economical, over 81 per cent youths would like their wedding to be an ostentatious affair and solemnised as per traditional rites and rituals. Among these, 88 per cent boys from Bhubaneswar believe a wedding is supposed to be grand and a day to remember not just for themselves but also for their friends and relatives.

Having to live away from one’s spouse is not uncommon in present times. Many married couples live away from each other in different cities either because of respective careers and financial responsibilities or for pursuing higher education. But only 31.5 per cent youngsters are willing to accept this.

In contrast to 73 per cent of Bhubaneswar boys, who would not like to live away from their respective partners, 62 per cent of Bhubaneswar girls said they would understand if their partner has to relocate to a different city for professional or personal compulsions.

As far as responsibility of children is concerned, more than half of them, especially girls, feel both husband and wife must be equally involved. Only a handful of boys said the husband should take the lead in looking after kids.

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, goes the saying but women are looking at a whole new dimension of kitchen affairs. More than 50 per cent girls in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack expect their partners to cook for them. Nearly 85 per cent boys in the twin cities, however, consider the hearth to be the prime responsibility of women.

Of the total respondents in the survey, 23 per cent said busy lifestyles might leave them no choice but to hire a cook. More than half of them relish traditional Odia food more in comparison to North Indian and South Indian cuisine.

SWEAR BY GOD... BUT JUMP AT THE MENTION OF GHOSTS

Youngsters live in a world of their own, half real, half imaginary. Ask them not to talk to strangers, they won’t heed the advice. But tell them once that wearing an armlet can ward off the evil eye or giving up on non-vegetarian food can help them get through an exam, they will fall for it.

Civilisation’s forward march and the inroads made by education appear to have had done little to enlighten the young minds which remain steeped in superstition.

Almost every second youth surveyed was found to believe in ghosts and a host of other myths. Stretching the limits of credulity, a majority of them believe that bad luck will befall them if a cat crosses their path or if they hear an owl screeching at night.

For quite a large number of them, even the howling of dogs is a bad omen, which they believe will result in the death of a near one. The level of superstition is particularly high in Bhubaneswar, specially among girls.

While more than 52 per cent, mostly girls, are scared of death, a 57 per cent believe in life after death. However, 63 per cent denied having supernatural experiences.

Most of them subscribe to the Einsteinian view that “science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind”, a belief which permeates their thinking and actions.

The youths of today might not wear religion on their sleeves but an overwhelming majority said that they believe in the concept of Almighty. And 87 per cent of them in the twin cities admitted that they pray, invariably everyday.

Around 85 per cent of boys in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar could be called spiritual. However, for a section of them, religion remains a matter of convenience, a support system they turn to at the time of crisis, major or minor. This section of the youths admitted that they resort to prayers only when they want something or when they are in trouble.

An overwhelming 88 per cent of the respondents, mostly Bhubaneswar boys and Cuttack girls, said they visited places of worship, even if the frequency was as low as once a month.

Among the devout, over 66 per cent youths have idols of gods and goddesses in their rooms. The survey reveals that most boys are convinced that god is male while most girls believe god to be a woman. Some others said the Almighty was above gender.