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Hobbies for today's urban
youth
Two decades back 'hobby' was a
fancy term and youth while preparing their resume
used to give some traditional leisure activity
like coin, stamp
collecting, listening to music etc as hobbies.
Nowadays there is a sea change in taking up
hobbies by youth today. Due to the revolution
in electronic media the scope for hobbies has
taken a u turn.
 Music
and dance were for the elite previously. But
today not only classical music & dance but also
light classical and even choreography for cine
music have become passion among youth which
can be noticed in ever increasing demand for
the same in visual media all over the country.
No doubt there is a spurt in learning vocal
and traditional instruments like violin and
veena, the choice of modern youth nowadays is
keyboard playing where both classical and modern
can be practiced
The other powerful media is
the electronic media. Youth have their own blogs
created
and express and exchange their views. They also
add flavour and colour by loading pictures taken
by digi camera. Photography was once a costly
hobby. Today digi camera has changed the concept
and people, especially youth, fully exploit
the use and develop their skills. They, if join
as a group, even venture to take 10 minutes
small film in the form of a documentary.
We now see colleges having
their own FM audio channels and communicate
widely with others. They show enormous interest
in all aspects like comparing, writing, scripting,
acting and also conducting programmes. Innovative
events are conducted with some social cause
which vouches for their independent thinking
and self confidence

Due to advent of multimedia the age old arts
like drawing and painting have touched different
heights. Youth nowadays can design anything
through different multimedia softwares. They
do dress/costume designing and also jewellery
designing apart from their own web sites designing.
Sports, the other side of
development in youth has seen a manifold growth
in the recent times. Coaching classes for indoor
games like carom, chess, table tennis, billiards
and even bridge are available throughout the
year apart from outdoor games like cricket and
football. Youth today have become fitness conscious
and so they frequent gyms and also take up swimming
coaching.
Now
we move on to gardening and cooking. Sounds like
feminine hobbies? No, men show equal interest as
there is awareness among youth to have quality food
and so maintaining kitchen gardens, and preparing
low calorie high fibrous food.
We sometimes hear a murmur that
book reading habit among youth
has decreased. But we see serpentine queues
in front of bookstall when Harry Potter new
volume is released. We also see overwhelming
response to books exhibitions conducted in the
city. Today youth use the internet to read new
books and also research materials.
Those who have a flair for teaching
take on-line tuition to students in UK and USA,
and that gives them a different kind of experience
and it also fetches money. Further some even take
pleasure in reading books for the blind as a service.
People with expertise in software
come out with innovative ideas and do extensive
research in all walks of life. Those who want to
be away from their PC for sometime and relax take
up other skills like carpentry as their hobby and
create beautiful artifacts.
We also see a recent trend of
volunteering local events by youth. They get a hand
on training in event management. Those who can interact
freely with others can even develop their socializing
talents by doing service in their leisure time in
hospitality sectors.
Youth is the right phase of life
when anything of interest can be learnt with ease.
Hence it is advisable to learn as many things as
possible. Who knows one among the varied hobbies
may one day become the career of the individual.
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