"GOOD" OLD DAYS....?                         

                           This has been one of the most debatable topics ever- 'Are we happier than are forefathers?'

                          It is a common sight nowadays and I am sure most of you must have had a first had a firsthand experience of it at least once, people grumbling about how different (rather 'in'different) modern children are today than they were during their childhood. The GEN Y is ever busy in computers (now i pads!) , they prefer angry birds to street games and much more lands up in the List Of Laments!

                               I would like to raise just one question. A seemingly simple one though. Whenever you invest in any kind of a developmental scheme always what you get is mere profit? The answer, of course is a rebounding NO!! Just because that is virtually impossible. Nature has not made things in a way that the consequences are strictly profitable always! Then I would like to ask the “lamenting people” how do you expect everything goody goody when you have already marched your children to the path of development? A mere (yes, now a mere) 80-85% in school was considered too great a performance in the “good old days” and today the highest marks go up to 98.6%!! People with 99.9 percentile in CAT get into top most IIMs with difficulty, over 12lakh children compete for 28,000 seats in AIEEE and I remember Sapan Parekh an all India rank 6 in CLAT (entrance exam for Law) that “Bangalore Law school milna mushkil hai”(it is difficult to get into Bangalore law school). With so much of cut throat competition people still expect to see children whiling away their time in gilli danda and lagori? I do not, dare not say that these games were useless but, I do strongly agree that the aptness of a thing lies in the time! Buying books were meaningful at an earlier time and not now because now a reader can download any book he wants at the click of a button!

          

                            

                                    Loads and loads of people complain about their killer jobs and how peaceful life was at an earlier time. To such people all I would say is you can conveniently go back to a peaceful village. But wait. Will they? Will I? NO! Why? Because all of us have been so accustomed to the technological comfort of the cities that the mere idea of shifting to a village itself is revolting! People in villages are happy no doubt, more satisfied than us because they have been just there forever. They are not running behind development like us all. We complain about the same advances to which on one side we are thankful for the comforts it has provided. We humans cannot have it both ways because for everything there is a price to pay.                                   

                                       Many of you might remember that not so long ago Sunday mornings were booked for vegetable market trips spending a few hours searching for fresh vegetables among the immobile cows and stuffy by lanes and returning home all drenched and exhausted. If those were the good old days then what about the comfort of fully air conditioned Reliance Fresh outlets you visit today where you get every exotic fruit and vegetable? Now I know advocates of “we are not happier than our forefathers”  will spring up and quote the earlier ‘regard’ of vendors’ livelihood and getting fresher vegetables but haven’t they heard of a much older theory by Charles Darwin “survival of the fittest”. Dominoes saw the upcoming class of techno freak, lazy brats who wouldn’t ever want to deal with a messy kitchen after chasing targets all day long in the office and hence came up the ‘dial a number order a pizza’ trend which made the owner a multi millionaire! Everything changes, only a change is constant and those who do not change cripple and fall!                         

                    I do not refuse to accept that modernization has its own drawbacks but then name the things which have absolutely no drawbacks? Not even a simple sand glass! One part of it has to empty itself in order to fill the other! I agree there has been a rise in murders, thefts, molestation and rape cases, bribes etc. but hasen’t there been a rise in GDP. literacy rate, turnover per annum and most importantly your income.

                  A grocery shop owner had a regular customer in an 80 year old man who, every time he came to buy ghee complained about its cost quoting “hamare pitaji ke zamane mein 1 sikke ka 1 kilo ghee mil jaata tha” (In my dad’s time I could buy I kilogram of ghee in 1 coin). The patient shopkeeper after a long time  respectfully told the old man- “baba. mujhe us zamane ka 1 sikka la dijiye mai apko 2 kilo ghee dunga”. (Sir, get me a coin of that time I will give you 2 kilograms of ghee) Surprised? Don’t be. The old man and the shopkeeper both knew that the coins of that time were made of silver which today costs Rs.56,210 per kg!!

                           This escapist attitude will really take us nowhere. We should learn to adjust with the drawbacks if we are so greedy about development. All I would say is if we want to develop, we have to bear the consequences too. So lets muster courage to stand up and fight back.

“Always pray for a stronger back. Not a lighter load!”                                                                           

                                                                                   Signing off.....

                                                                                       palak :)