REWINDING...

I am assuming children don't read my space (or if they do, they don't tell me). No I am not about to discuss stuff that needs parental guidance. I was just wondering how different life was in our growing up years. When life wasn't as complicated. When I was growing up, my parents used to narrate stories of how in their times, four wheelers is what the uber rich could afford and how deserted the streets of Delhi (The capital of India) used to be. Cycles were the only mode of transportation or maybe hand pulled rickshaws. How there was no electricity in those days and how they used coal to light up the kitchen fire. To make national calls, they had to book trunk calls, stand in long queues .Those calls were prohibitively expensive and were made only when required. International calling was unthought of. When I was born my grandfather sent a telegram to my dad, telling him that mother and daughter are doing fine, which my dad still possesses. I don't even know how a telegram is sent! Who would have thought in a day and time like that, that there is going to be a device which you could hold in your hand, and call whoever you want, whenever you want, wherever in the world the person might be! No waiting in lines, no burning a hole in your pocket. People communicated with those who lived far away by writing letters. Now there are emails. It used to take anything between 15 days to a month for the letter to get to it's destination. And now not even a minute. Air travel wasn't frequent. For long distances there were ships. Now there are luxury cruises. Who would have imagined this! Those were the days of joint families with everyone from the great grand parent to the great grand child living together. Today is a day of nuclear families.

Today is an age of instant gratification. The elders say that the younger generation wants everything quick. Fast money, fast food, fast success. With changing times has come a change in attitude, a change in outlook. Parents these days are their children's friends. Back then, children couldn't think of disobeying. And whatever the parents said back then was followed to the T. Children today have a mind of their own ( I am sure children back then weren't born mindless. Anyways). Kids as young at 7 or 8 have cellphones of their own, and want playstations as birthday gifts. All I wanted at that age was Barbie dolls! Jeez I sound SO jaded and old!! Children these days want accessories to match their outfits and are extremely aware of looking good. Every day of my growing up years must have been a mismatch day. With any hair clip going with any frock :-) It must have been so simple to bring up children those days, who weren't so demanding and spoilt. I have NO clue how in the world am I bringing up my own, as and when I have them. And I am sure by the time they come into this world, the world will have changed so very much that my parent's tales will sound like fairy tales to them :-)

The more things change, it's said the more they remain the same. Or atleast people fight tooth and nail to make them remain the same. Suddenly something that ages back to that time, becomes a huge hit and everyone wants to do the same, be the same. The retro look, retro music, retro virtues. The old school of thinking. The old fashioned views. People are suddenly rediscovering the benefits of living that way, eating that way, the age old remedies. Silently screaming that the more things change, the more they remain the same!