Decade of Change

-
     "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." ~Anatole France

     10 years back. Seems like yesterday. Even more like a couple of hours back. I just returned from watching a movie at a multiplex for Rs. 300. The pepsi and popcorn weren't free, so had to pay for that as well. During the movie, my mind did a quick arithmetic flashback.
     D Udaya Kumar was just another 21 year old who had just completed his engineering degree. The world will forever remember him as the individual who designed India's money symbol. But, what else  has changed in the last 10 years?
     The beginning of 2000, depicted to be the end of the world and computers (remember Y2K) started off with a lot of expectations. To be a part of a new century, milennium was heralded as something great. It also evoked the dawn of a new era in India. One that echoed with a solitary term "outsourcing."
     For a 15 year old, all this seemed to hardly matter. My routine was pretty consistent. I would wake up in the morning to the sound of the radio broadcasting regional news. It would take me close to an hour to get ready for school. We would either have to walk or cycle 10 mins to the nearest bus stop. There, we would be greeted by a group of villagers out to discuss the newspaper at the local tea stall (there's an age-old joke that when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, he was shocked to see a Malayali tea-stall). The bus trip was pretty merry. Everyone knew everyone else. The student's concession pass would allow us to travel at Re 1/- to our destination.
     In the evening, we would reach the bus stand a little past 4 PM. Our everyday snack included a lime juice and a samosa for Rs 5/-. Once in a while, the vendor would give us an extra samosa as well. Another Rupee would get us home.
Total expenditure for a day = Rs 7/-.
     I could live for a month with what I spent earlier tonight. Not that I regret watching the movie at this cost, but I sometimes wonder the pace at which life travels, and our attempts to outrun it. The best part of my life was for about 10 seconds when we would cross a bridge. The breeze would always be the same, cool and soothing. Now I hardly feel anything. I don't have the time to enjoy life as it was.
Pattambi bridge in summer

Rainy times
P.S: Sand mining in recent times has lead to soil erosion. The water hardly stays during summer time, and there is no respite from the heat.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time and Tide – Sorry, I’m late

-
Image
     “Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.” - Evelyn Waugh.      Someone once remarked that IST was originally an acronym for Indian Stretchable Time. Are we Indians so bad when it comes to respecting (more likely disrespecting) the value of time? Read on to unveil the greatest myth of the new era.      The discovery of time was the biggest mistake. Why do we need a device to measure (and magnify) our slowness? A large sect of today’s population has the notion that if you're there before it's over, you're well on time. And it’s true to a large extent. The reason being that no one important is ever present to appreciate your punctuality. As a kid, my teachers emphasized on the virtues of character, punctuality, discipline and etiquettes. Strangely enough, I’ve reported to half a dozen people in my corporate life. And only one of them stressed on punctuality (do I have to provide an explanation for the rest of the...
Read more

Romancing the language

-
Image
" I know such English that I will leave the British behind. You see sir, I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English, I can run English, because English is such a funny language. Bhairo becomes Byron because their minds are very narrow. In the year 1929 when India was playing Australia at the Melbourne stadium Vijay Hazare and Vijay Merchant were at the crease. Vijay Merchant told Vijay Hazare. look Vijay Hazare Sir , this is a very prestigious match and we must consider it very prestigiously. We must take this into consideration, the consideration that this is an important match and ultimately this consideration must end in a run. In the year 1979 when Pakistan was playing against India at the Wankhede stadium Wasim Raja and Wasim Bari were at the crease and they took the same consideration. Wasim Raja told Wasim Bari, look Wasim Bari, we must consider this consideration and considering that this is an important match we must put this consideration in...
Read more

Stop and Proceed

-
Image
“When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep on walking.” - Michael King This post has been on the backburner for over 6 weeks now and the drought has no correlation with my current location, 14,305 Kms (8,888 mi, can’t disappoint my negligible reader base in the US of A) away from home. 9 months; this length of time has never been more significant in my life. Do we remember our childhoods? Yes, to a certain degree. I remember most parts of my life since the time I was 3. Not every single day, but the significant aspects of it. But do we remember how we learnt to walk, to run and perhaps, to jump? I remember my first race. I had to run to one end, put my cap on, run back and pick up my bag, and finally run to the finish line. I even remember my prize, a disposable Kodak camera. As I stood on top of the pedestal, I felt light. Over the years, my parents would joke that the wind helped me get to the finish line quicker than everyone else. In an ins...
Read more