Decade of Change

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     "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.

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