There was a time when the ultimate Indian parental threat was beautifully simple: “Sharma Ji ke bete ke 95% aaye hain.” Now, Sharma Ji's son has apparently evolved. He gets better grades, wakes up at 5 AM, plays three sports, has perfect skin, knows coding, plays the guitar, has 20 certificates and somehow already knows what he wants to do with his life. Meanwhile, the actual child is sitting there wondering if getting an 82 is now a family scandal. The joke is familiar, but the comparison behind it is not always harmless. In today's hyper-connected world, children are no longer compared only with the neighbour's kid. They are constantly exposed to classmates, cousins, toppers, influencers and seemingly perfect teenagers online. And that changes what “doing well” can mean.
