THE CHANGES IN OUR GENERATION

I am tempted to write after seeing the blog of my friend , Rajesh Bijlani- SHARE TO DOUBLE.

I will attempt to pen my thoughts on something which keeps bothering me a lot.

I am talking about our generation.To be more precise on people in the 40 - 55 age group.

The time we were born is probably one of the most difficult times. I have reason to believe so.

I say this because i feel that this is one generation who have seen change. Lots of it.

Our Parents, Grand Parents, Great Grand parents & Great Great Grand parents had all lived in an age where change was not the order. Life remained the same. The same old Radio, Newspaper, Office, Exchange of ideas with neighbours,etc.

There was the ODD Phone, somewhere and all the neighbours would have given that number to all their relatives and friends.People use to call and then somebody would rush to the called partys house and the talk would happen.People used to book trunck calls, lightning calls and urgent calls.

You used to have deals with the operator to get our calls. That was life.The instruments were different.But for all our fore- parents all these things remained the same.

We SAY CHANGE. We saw push button telephones. We Saw a concept called STD and then ISD etc.We then saw pagers and were wondering what all can happen when Mobiles with Rs 32/- per minute came. It occupied centrestage. It took all of us over.

I still remember that our Father/ Grand Father used to tune in to Radio for the news.It could not be missed. We had LP for music. Then tapes came and then many more things.

ASIAD was held in NEW DELHI and the city changed. The TV came.I remember that the entire family of neighbours used to go to the house where TV was procured to watch the program.HUM LOG, YEH JO HAI..., THE TWO EPICS etc Will all be remebered. We still remember the welcome music on DD.We were subject to change.

The Computer came in a big way. I remember that there was a huge building which was housing tapes to store data for Super Mini computers. Things changed with PC and the came the Internet.

The good old banking was different. if the Clerk/manager knew you your work was quickly done with. We have the net banking etc.

Coming to trains we had the Steam Engine which was only existent. We had three classes of travel 1ST, 2ND AND 3RD.We would loose lot of our locour by the time we reached our destination.Then came Diesel engines. electrification, AC coached and what not. Things changed.

We had time to play, make friends , spend time. Going to a movie was a much awaited festivity. Festivals used to be enjoyed with freinds and relatives.

We used to read a lot

I could go on and on with many more examples.

I AM NOT SAYING THAT CHANGES ARE NOT GOOD. THEY ARE PROBABLY FOR GOOD.BUT I WOULD LIKE TO ASK GOD WHY SO MANY IN ONLY OUR GENERATION.

Our children have come when many things had already changed. They look at me with a blank face when i talk about the Old phones, NO STD, NO TV thinking probably that i have gone nuts.

WHY SHOULD ONLY our generation take so much change.Is it good for our system, Our psyche,Our nerves?

MAYBE the next three - four generations will not see so many change.It didnt happen in past and may not happen at such a pace in the future but we are probably the only witness to the change.

Oh boy i do miss those days