This morning, I got a wish from a friend…
“Today
is 12 - 12 - 12. A similar date will occur only in
the next century. Most of us won’t be there to see that.
Let’s make this a Special Day”
True..none
of the people of my generation will be there, for sure.
But we saw
1999 and 2000! Then we saw 1-1-11, 10- 10 -10, 11-11-11, 12-12-12!!!
And why should we wish to see
more of this, as we are a generation who saw almost everything!
We are a few people lived on
planet Earth, who witnessed two Centuries and two Millenniums. Youngsters may
ask us, “so what?”
How to explain? But at least
let me try to.
When we were born, India had
a few radios, a few telephones, and a few record players.
The radios stood high on a
radio stand, which was luxurious furniture in some homes. If not run by
electricity, it was called a transistor, which would run with batteries.
The telephones were black
and bulky, except for some rich banglaws which had one, looking so posh and
stylish. The dial of the telephones, we had to rotate each number a half
circle, in order to dial, and each rotation would make a ‘dring’ sound, quite
interesting.
The records were as big as a
plate and there was a surface for it to rotate, with a sharp pin touching it
from the side.
A few were blessed with one
or two toys, but we played with anything and everything from nature. We created
our own toys and our court yards were safe to play.
Games were plenty and many
are extinct now, and I cannot explain them here.
Books were everyone’s
friends and our parents and grandparents, our story tellers. Friends were few,
but no one got bored, as families were close knit.
We saw our grand parents’
houses made fully of wood and craft works, some of its floor was polished by
cow dung. Many houses were thatched roofed, in the neighbourhood. Our houses
were mostly cemented, with cement floors or polished with red oxide. There were
no show cases and no show pieces.
Our clothes were few and
most of them, cotton or silk. Our vessels were made of brass, copper, iron and aluminium.
Vessels and pots made of clay were mainly used for cooking and polished coconut
shell served as spoons, with the handle made of the wood of the coconut tree. Our
grand parents’ generation used only ceramic plates and bowls to have their
food, where as we had steel plates and tumblers.
Our grandparents wore
traditional dresses of the state and religion, and it is our parent’s
generation who started wearing saris and pants and shirts. Kids had shorts and
shirt, or frocks.
Water was drawn from wells, and
we took bath in the river or in bathrooms which were outside the houses.
Fruits and vegetables mostly
came from our trees and garden, and food was cooked either using firewood, kerosene
stove or an electric hotplate.
Verandas accommodated the
visitors and people could visit anyone, anytime.
Schools and colleges were
far, and buses very few, cars very rare and we used to walk or cycle miles. The
main vehicle for transporting goods was the bullock cart.
Milk came from the cows
grown in our homes, oil from the coconut trees or other seeds, and most of the
ailments were cured by the parts of the plants that were grown all around us.
There were houses with and
some without electricity, petrol max or kerosene lanterns or lamps were common.
There was no calling bells
for homes and there was enough silence to hear if anyone calls from outside.
Food was cooked and served
at homes and restaurants were meant for travellers. Our outings were limited to
Churches or temples or Mosques, and at the maximum it reached a cinema theatre.
Rarely there were plays and concerts performed on special occasions.
Thus it goes, my list..which
will have no end…
Then, slowly our generation
saw many things. Cooking gas stove, Television, Tape recorder, Audio and Video Cassettes,
Toys, Computers, Cell Phones, etc. etc…
Finally we moved on to a
life style with new things and our world was filled with plastic and electronic
stuff.
The dresses and the foot
wears that we saw in pictures and films from other states and countries came to
our homes too. The new stuff and word called “Synthetic” came to the scene. The
hair styles changed, cycles were replaced by bikes and cars.
Our houses got show cases
and food was eaten sometimes in restaurants.
The roads started flooding
with buses and trucks and bullock carts were pushed out by animal activists.
Dogs and cats which remained
outdoors started coming in and became available in all breeds. Birds were caged
and fishes moved in to aquariums.
Slates and slate pencils
disappeared and notebooks and fountain and ball point pens came in to class
rooms.
The new things that came in,
we called them “Modern” and that too was a Modern word!
We saw the transition of
many things, yet we remained stable without losing our past. The ones who
invented the modern gadgets, many belong to our generation. They work in all
fields, holds all posts, in India and abroad. Even in less than 50 years, many
of us celebrated the transition of the Millennium and welcomed the 21st
Century! From our parents we have heard the stories of British rule as they
have seen Gandhiji and witnessed the year of independence. Our grandparents
studies in schools started by English and their brain could calculate anything
without calculators. We knew from them the stories of their childhood days and
how the world existed without plastic and paper!
We used everything that was
introduced on our journey through this world, and most of us are well informed
and updated about the modern gadgets and use it well.
This journey through the
transitions has made us special in some way. I find most of us content in their
lives and not scared of changing scenes in life. We all say this in common…“We
are fortunate to have lived with and without, and we have seen it all.”
At the end of this wonderful
day 12-12-12, I would say…. I definitely don’t regret that I wouldn't be here
to see this date when it repeats…but I am eternally grateful to God that I was
chosen to be born in my generation, a generation which earned a lot of wisdom
from their journey, a generation which has a lot of tales to tell.
Hope my fellow folks would
agree with me and I wish you all contentment about our great lifetime.
Before this day ends, let me
post this blog…I may not find such a fancy date again!
