Yesterday I was just glancing through some old documents and I found the registration documents of our land line phone. Because of curiosity I read it and I came to know that we had applied for the connection of land line phone in 1983 and we finally got connection in 1994. It took almost 11 years to get a simple land line connection. I was amazed, though I had heard and read about that era of socialist economy when everything you want you get only after waiting for a long time in a queue.
Not just a land line connection, in the decades of 60s and 70s if you apply for purchasing a Bajaj scooter today, you will get the delivery after 17 years. Not just these two things, everything was slow at that time. Long queue on Rationing shop, long queue for admissions in schools, colleges, theaters and hospitals were regular scenes for the eyes of people living in those times. Even the love stories of that time were also slow. In the decades of 60’s and 70’s if a boy liked a girl in college, he could not gather courage to even talk with her let alone saying I Love you or giving rose to her. In five years of college life they could hardly reach farther than occasional eye contacts and shy smiles or at the max if they are fortunate enough than their relation could reach to exchange of notes and occasional hi-hello. Most of the time the girl used to get married before the college education ended and with that their nonstarter love story also used to end.
Many generation of India wasted their half life in standing in those long queues. Finally in 1993 Narsimha Rao introduced policy of Liberalization, privatization and globalization. With this licenses, quotas, limits, ceilings and permits were done away with and suddenly the Indian economy which was crawling slowly like a tortoise started running like a rabbit. Our economic growth rate is 8% per anum. In terms of GDP India is 4th largest country after U.S, china and Japan. Few decades ago India used to be considered as country of snake charmers and ring masters, which is now recognised as potential superpower.
Not only our country’s economic performance has improved but our life style and social ethos have also changed. Now we don’t need to wait for years to get a silly land line or mobile connection. Now we get everything instantly from instant coffee to instant girlfriend. We get instant loans, instant friends, instant success, instant food, instant money . Not only that we instantly fall in love and breakups and patch ups are also done instantly. Instant marriage and instant divorce are also becoming part of our life. Love stories have not remain slow like the days of 60s, now Girls and boys instantly fall in love (love at first site) and within few days hot kisses, tight hugs, expensive gifts, evening dates and night parties everything become acceptable and before the relation reaches to the age of month or so it finally culminates in sharing a bed. Communication technology has become so much advanced that now a person residing in one part of world can communicate with person at the other end of world within a fraction of seconds with emails, mobile, Face book, Twitter.
In the history of human evolution humankind has never lived life with such a rapid speed. 21st century has become a synonym of speed. But don’t you think so that now we have reached to a dead end where if we don’t keep the speed in check very soon we will reach to a stage where neither it will be possible to reduce the speed nor to control the speed. Although communication process has become as fast as never before but today we don’t have time to communicate with our family. Parents doesn’t know those things about their child which a Face book friend knows since children likes to share more on Face book than with their parents. In spite of having all the luxuries, facilities and tools to live life comfortably we don’t have time, since everybody is busy here in a race to stay ahead of others.
Nowadays children get mobile, bike, computer, video games and whatever else they demand they get it instantly, because the present generation of parents think that by doing this we are fulfilling our duty of being a good parent. But this madness of getting everything instantly has snatched our patient, persistence and ability to accept failure as a part and parcel of life. People are not happy even if they get so many things in so less time because now they can’t feel that happiness or sense of achievement which you fell when you achieve anything after persistent effort for long time.
Just imagine 20-30 years ago if a child demands bicycle from parents, their first reply to this demand was “NO”. After that child used to start throwing tantrums such as going on hunger strike for few days, doing promises that if you get me a bicycle I will regularly complete my homework, will not show any hesitation for drinking milk and will not do any mischief. After all this melodrama parents used to agree to get bicycle for their child but that agreement used to be in the form of post dated assurance that right now budget is tight but after six months I will get Diwali bonus from that we will get you a bicycle and when the parents get him a bicycle he was the world’s most happiest person of that time since he had waited long and put lot of effort to get that small thing. Because of this child could understand the value of every small thing in life and this training in the childhood also help to cultivate patient in the life to achieve anything. Most important thing in this is not all the demands of a child used to be completed most of them used to be rejected and hence child could learn to digest failures and rejections.
Today Thousands of young boys and girls are doing suicides in small matters such as failing in exams or getting few marks less than expected. Because when parents fulfill all the demands of their children instantly it creates a notion in child’s mind that it’s my birth right to get everything instantly and if I don’t get it, it’s injustice with me and world is not fair. I know this is not a sole reason behind student’s suicides, there are many more but this is also one important reason behind growing suicide rates and mental disorders in young generation. Just few decades ago divorce was a rare case in Indian society but now rate of divorce has gone very high and thousands of couples are taking divorce in trivial matters, because now we have lost our ability to do adjustments to sustain the relationship. When both the tires of car run with different speed naturally the car will breakdown. Today we are not ready to adjust our speed for our partner or beloved one. I am not saying that like old times people should keep weighing those unbearable marriages even though there is no future of it. If there is no chance of reconciliation in a marriage than its better that couple gets separated but being apart without giving any chance to survive a marriage and that too in minor issues is something harmful for our family system.
It’s high time that we wake up and try to reduce the speed with which we are living otherwise very soon it will become uncontrollable. Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t mean that we should revert back to those old times when half of the life of people used to pass away in standing queues for kerosene and palm oil. It’s good that we have moved on from that time because everything in excess is harmful whether it is lack of speed or obsession of excessive speed, but the speed at which we are destroying our environment, social ethos and family values will not give us second chance to survive if we don’t wake up now. Remember the life is like a highway where too much or too less a speed can cause a serious accident.
I agree with you. Development, in any form should be for the betterment - in all aspect - for the human kind. But it is not so. Our present style of development adds lot of stress. Moreover, when one gets almost everything easily,his/her tolerance capacity reduces. Such person, when not gets something wanted, gets easily confused and depressed to any level. Increasing suicide cases amongst the younger generation is result of this reduction in fighting spirit. Parents, however rich they may be, must deprive their children from some of their demands. This will lead the children to understand that all is not going to happen as per their wish.
ReplyDeleteSo far speed is concerned, one must first check the power of breaks available. Otherwise accident is guaranteed !