Only a few could remain as they are. A seed sown in one generation never remains as it is. It grows becomes a plant and tree in another generation and begins to bear fruit, provides shade and oxygen and prevents pollution. We become proud at its growth. We enjoy its growth. It is not enough if changes take place around. One has to adapt to them. Nature itself undergoes changes from season to season. Changes are visible to naked eye. They are necessary too. Every season is beautiful . Our nature too undergoes changes. We are not what we were.Numerous changes take place in our nature with or without our knowledge.What our children and grand children would see, we might not be able to see. What we have seen, they may not be able to see in their life too. We are past. They are the future. This is what I feel. Past we say they listen. Future they say,we listen.That is how generation to generation movement takes place.
If we retract our life, it is a long eventful journey backwards consisting of incidents which are either joyful and good or bad and sorrowful .Some have such an excellent memory that they remember even trifle incidents of their life. Some are blessed with such an astounding narrating skill that they give us an account of the past events in such a beautiful manner as if those events have taken place only recently. Now-a-days people want to know more and more about their family. Numerous questions like where was the origin of our ancestors,what were they doing etc haunt them . They have started keeping a record of their family tree. As far as we are concerned, we have our own web page.
Yesterday is not like to day.Changes cannot be described. They are to be felt.Day by day, standard of living is improving so much and so fast that yesterday luxuries have become to-day's necessities. Day in and out,a new product enters the market that we might not have even dreamed. In a modern house you generally find television, computer ,cassette player, DVD player, refrigerators ,cell phones ,digital cameras, micro oven, cooking gas,washing machine,dish washer, air conditioners, vacuum cleaner twenty four hour hot and cold water supply. Gramophone, radio, and Kodak camera etc have become stale. Kodak Film company which was making huge profits is now incurring losses because digital cameras do not require films rolls at all. Old order changes yielding place to new.
If we say to our children that we were using firewood charcoal,kerosene for cooking,they may believe but not to our grand children.who would definitely think that grandpa is narrating a tale.In India sari sales have come down drastically ,most of the ladies have switched over to jeans,T - shirts ,chudidhar ,midis etc. Similarly, dhotis, lungis, pyjamas, etc which were once traditional dresses of we Indians have become outdated and their place have been slowly occupied by Bermudas, jeans,T-shirts.half pants etc. In major cities,horse carriages, carts driven by horses, cycle rickshaws driven by human beings, taxis, trains and buses were some of the modes of transport. In Bombay and Calcutta there were trams. Now metro trains,auto-rickshaws,double Decker buses, air-conditioned luxury buses , air-conditioned taxis and such other modern modes of transports could be found in our major cities in large numbers. Similarly ,salaried and other middle class people ply their own two wheeler or four wheeler instead of bicycles. Fly -overs, grade separators etc could also be seen in our cities too. Cycle rickshaws, bullock carts, carts driven by horses and such other modes of out dated modes of transport are dwindling in numbers and vanishing from the scene.
Formerly, millionaires were a few. To-day,why millionaires, there are a large number of billionaires. Pay packets have swelled.by leaps and bounds. These days, there are people who draw five to six digit salaries per month or even more whereas a four digit salary was once a rare one. Every where development is visible.However, value of money has been continuously on the decline. .Inflation has been on the rise uninterruptedly. Deficit financing has been continuing for a long period. In our childhood days, we used to get two seers of rice per rupee , four coconuts per rupee and my mother used to say that a mudi of rice( 42 seers) was costing her only two rupees in her younger days. I remember to have bought two bags full of vegetables for Rs 10/-only.
There were no sufficient number of schools or colleges until the middle of twentieth century. There were less number of secondary schools in a district than required . There were insufficient number of colleges in a state too. In the absence of bridges, we had to cross two or more ferries to cover a small distance of about 25 miles to reach our college by bus and the time required in this connection exceeded even two hours. Some people had to traverse five to six miles or sometimes even more than that too by walk on a rugged terrain because there were not even proper roads at that time .Thus educated people were less in those days. Only a small number of graduates were there in a district. Secondary school education was quite adequate to secure a decent job. What a transformation now in these fifty years.There are now hundreds of professional colleges in the very same state and number of unemployed graduates and under graduates is alarming.The plight of people who have completed secondary school education is inexplicable. If we communicate all these facts to our children, they would simply view it as a generation gap. But my grand children would definitely call it as grandpa's cock and bull story. They are born in ultra modern air conditioned hospitals. They have access to all kind of modern amenities like dresses, toys, diapers, cribs, diaper table, bouncer, kickpad, gym etc.which are easily available, at Babes- Urs, Kids- Urs, and Toys-Urs
There is a sea of change in every sphere of life even in our country. What were school/ college fees only a few years ago?. To-day,fees structures have been completely so much modified in our country that there is not even scope for comparison with previous fee structures.The fees have been hiked manifolds Besides educational institutions have been demanding donations.for admission starting from kindergarten classes.. Apart from this private tuitions from eminent teachers/lecturers or tutorials to enable the children to score more marks drain the pockets of parents. The educational system has been more or less fully commercialized. The reservation and quota system on the basis of castes,backward communities, minority communities etc are still prevailing in the allotment of seats to professional courses like engineering,medical, dental . Again,even while filling up the vacancies in government and semi government jobs reservation and quota system on the basis of caste and communities raise their ugly head. However, number of inter caste and marriages without dowry are on the increase especially among the educated .Now-a- days, you find this perceptible change in social gatherings where irrespective of caste or religion people mingle ,dine and dance together.Untouchables among people are not at all there. Scavengers are rarely found. At least a few principles of Mahatma Gandhi are deeply rooted in the minds of our people. But the influence of western culture on our life styles is quite apparent and has been increasing day by day.
Fifty years ago,there were a few dams and reservoirs and canals in our country. Our agriculture was predominantly depending upon monsoon. There was hardly any farm mechanization or irrigation. Local manures were being used to a large extent in those days. Generally , a single cropping pattern was being followed in most parts of the country. There was a shortage of essential food grains. We had to import food grains from various countries to meet the needs of our population which was around 300 million at that time. Now,days are changed. A green revolution has taken place.Numerous dams and irrigation projects have come into existence . Multiple cropping pattern is being followed all over the country. Tractors and tillers could be found even in our remotest villages. Lift irrigation, sprinkler irrigation and such other types of modern irrigation system have spread all over our country. High yielding variety of seeds are being used. Chemical fertilizers like urea, potash etc are extensively used.Whenever and wherever required pesticides and other disinfectants are also made use of. As a result of all these modern techniques not only the country has been able to produce sufficient quantity of food grains to meet the demand of over 100 crore people which is our population at present but also we have been exporting surplus food grains. What a transformation is this.! Even with regard to diary development also we are not lagging behind . We have made rapid strides and to- day, we are one of the highest producers of diary milk in the world.
About five to six decades ago our transport and communication systems were lacking so much improvement that we could have easily rated them as very poor.. After two to three days of tedious and hectic journey only we used to reach a place which was 1000 kilometers apart. To-day the same distance is covered by express trains in less than sixteen hours. An hour and odd is more than sufficient to reach by air the same place. Steam railway engines, radios etc have become deadwood .All major cities in our country are now linked by air to one another. We can reach any nook and corner of our country or any other country in the world at the earliest. We used to receive letters posted from even nearby places only after a couple of days. Now courier post delivers letters or parcels at our door within twenty four hours.. We had to wait from morning to evening to get a trunk call connected even about fifteen to twenty years back.Telephones with STD and ISD connections are now available all over the country at stones throw and instantaneously one could converse or pass on the message to another . A day will not be far off when every house in our country will have a telephone connection.. Mobile phones have made the communication very handy. Internet and emails have enabled us to communicate or deal with the anybody situated at any part of the world at anytime of the day. Televisions relay the news from all parts of the world through out the day. Only He knows what further inventions would take place in the world and what would be the lifestyle of coming generations for we had never imagined that whatever we have now come across . Without referring to computers and internet world modern day life is indeed incomplete.
The Internet has brought about a substantial change in our lifestyle. The world has benefited a great deal as a result of invention of computer and the innumerable uses to which computer technology could be put to use in our day to day life. Computer technology has changed our life style appreciably in a short period of time.Computers have become now almost a part and parcel of our life. A mouse click can do wonders. Now we could attend to many of our important work without moving from our desk with speed and precision which we might have not dreamt even with least amount of stress and strain. Online air ticket booking and purchase of tickets,railway seat reservation and purchase of tickets, bus seat reservation and purchase of tickets,why even purchase of cinema tickets in advance ,besides all types of enquiries and information could be had with the help of computers with ease. All types of bill payments like, electricity bill, telephone bill,water bill, etc could be easily effected through a computer with internet connection. Any photograph could be scanned and stored in our computer. Similarly every kind of musical CDs, DVDs etc could be copied and stored in our computer. A computer could be used as a copier as well as a printer. We could also chat with our friends, relatives or anybody stationed anywhere in the world through computer with internet connection. We could utilize a computer to send emails,greetings. This is considered as one of the fastest modes of communication. A television screen could also be connected to a computer and make it dance according to our tune.
Manual accounting only a few people follow these days.Number of people knowing multiplication table by heart is only a handful. A calculator does everything. Entire banking industry is being fully computerized in our country. Online banking, anytime and anywhere banking have all come into existence. The use of A.T.M to draw cash from our accounts at any time of the day is really blessing in disguise.Slowly everywhere accounting and other work are being computerized .Computer is becoming really a necessity Shopping and advertising have made their way into internet.Credits cards are becoming more and more popular and are widely accepted as a mode of payment. As a result we carry less cash or no money at all. These inventions of man are creative and have made our life easy and pleasant. God has created a lamb and the same God has created a tiger too.In the same way a man who has invented all these comforts of life and has created nuclear and chemical weapons, missiles, rockets, supersonic jets etc which could destroy entire human kind in no moment of time. This reminds me the lines of poet Mr. William Blake in poem called"Tiger " where he asks the tiger "Did he who made the lamb make thee.? "