Every government scheme, every newspaper editorial, every college debate was an exercise in competitive sanskritisation. The more syllables you could add from Sanskrit, the more serious you sounded.
“Rashtriya Ekta Ka Sankalp”, “Antyodaya Se Sarvodaya”, and “Garib Kalyan Aur Utthan Yojana”.
If you couldn’t pronounce it in one breath, it must be important.
That era is over. It didn’t end with a notification. It ended with a 19-year-old on Instagram saying “I’m so delulu”.
Welcome to the Great Lexicon Flip: The old words wanted respect. The new words want relatability. For 70 years, our public language was designed to make you feel small. Politicians, editors, professors spoke in shuddh Hindi, heavy Sanskrit, and clipped English — language that said: I know more than you, so listen.
The scheme is not for poor people, it’s for “Antyodaya”. You are not poor, you are “Alp-aay varg”. You didn’t fail, you are “Asafal”. The words were curtains, meant to keep you at a respectful distance. Then Gen Z came and tore the curtains.
Delulu. No cap. Slay. Rizz. Ick. Vibe check. Main character energy. Touch grass. These words are not trying to impress you. They are trying to include you. They are three seconds long, they are feelings, not definitions. You don’t need a dictionary, you need a mood.
Delulu is the best example. What does delulu mean? Delusional. But saying “delusional” sounds clinical, like a doctor is about to show up. Saying “I’m delulu” sounds cute, self-aware, funny. I know I’m being unrealistic about my crush, my career, my life, but I’m enjoying it. It’s delusion with a wink.
In one word, an entire generation has turned self-awareness into a joke, and the joke into a coping mechanism. No Sanskrit word could ever do that. “Aatm-mugdh bhram” will never trend.
Basically, Sanskrit words told you what to do. Gen Z words tell you how you feel. This is the core shift. The old lexicon was imperative, moral, top-down. Karya, kartavya, nishtha, sankalp, anushasan. Do your duty. Take a pledge. Be disciplined.
The new lexicon is emotional, diagnostic, sideways. I have the ick. He has no rizz. That gave me anxiety. I’m in my flop era.
Old language told you how to behave in society. New language tells you how to name what society did to you. We have moved from a nation of do-ers to a nation of feel-ers. And the words had to change.
A boy in 1985 who liked a girl would be told “Sanyam rakho”. A boy in 2025 says, “I’m so down bad for her, I’m full delulu, but she has rizz.”
Same emotion, completely different processing. The first one represses, the second one posts a story.
Why is Sanskrit losing out? Because it can’t be abbreviated. This is a technical problem. Internet language is built for speed. You can’t shorten “Sarvabhaumikaran” but you can shorten “delusional” to “delulu”. You can’t shorten “Sahridayata” but you can say “that’s so wholesome”. You can’t type “Atmanirbhar” quickly, but you can type “slay”.
Gen Z language is made for thumbs. Sanskritised language was made for tongues that had time. It needed a stage, a mic, an audience that would wait. Gen Z language needs seven seconds on a reel before you swipe.
And more importantly, Gen Z words are remixable. You can be delulu. You can have delulu is the solulu — delusion is the solution. You can be in delulu land. Try doing that with “Aatm-nirbharta”. “Aatm-nirbharta is the solulu”? It dies on your lips.
Delulu works because it can become a meme, a sticker, a caption, a T-shirt. Sanskrit words could only become a slogan on a government wall. Sanskritised Hindi wanted to make India sound ancient and serious. Delulu language wants to make India sound young and not-so-serious, because being serious has not helped anyway. Embrace “skibidi” a word with multiple meanings: It can mean “cool”, “bad”, or just be used as a joke. You will be hearing a lot of it in the days ahead.
And honestly? It’s more honest. Saying “I’m delulu but I have main character energy” is a more accurate description of middle-class Indian life right now than “Mera sankalp viksit Bharat hai”.
We are a nation that is delusional about many things — jobs, love, Canada visa, crypto — and the only solution is indeed delusion. Delulu is the solulu. At least the kids have named it right.
The writer is chairman, Rediffusion.
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