Today when I was talking with my amma I was reminded of a much simpler time. Her experiences are so very different from mine and mine would be so very different from my kid's :).When she was relating her experiences I couldn't help musing where has that world gone?
Simplicity was the word of the day then. Today I see around me the expression has become a rarity. There was a time when social occasions like marriages were a chance to let go of reins and swap life stories. At that time even a distant relative was treated as a comrade in arms-literally. But today even filial bonds don’t hold weight and marriages now have just become a social formality. Back then, it was so easy to talk to a relative/friend or a next door neighbor. Inhibitions existed then, they exist now too but the only difference is there was no fear of acceptance then. People had the freedom to be themselves and get away with it. Today however, we surround ourselves with concrete walls - just like the world we live in. People today pride themselves for their tolerance levels. I find the idea laughable. Yes, there are cases where we have changed for the better – definitely and I am proud to be a member of such a society but I still maintain that our ancestors were more tolerant towards life. Compromise-something which comes under “why me?” category today- was commonplace because people were more mature.
They were a much resilient as a result a much happier lot. We on the other hand are much vulnerable. The emotional veils that we hide under now-a-days were non-existent then. Back then people found it so easy to compliment or comment someone because people were mature enough to accept either but today I see that even a genuine compliment is treated with suspicion simply because an honest one is an oddity. An honest person today feels out of place and has to disguise himself just to fit in because his honesty is considered to be naivety!
Why and how then has this change come about?
People today confuse individuality with modernism and compromise with conservatism. People fail to realize that individualistic people can also be conservative and that conservatism doesn’t necessarily mean narrow-mindedness. Sadly the society is now divided into these two groups of extreme thought and the intersection bears the brunt as each of these two groups considers the other deplorable. The elements that divide the two generations were and are prevalent in both the generations. It is only now that we want to attribute adjectives to characterize each generation that these have come into limelight.
Who said people weren’t knowledgeable back then? Who would you trust with financial advice-a Fresh finance graduate who has no practical experience whatsoever or a housewife in a joint family who has handled two generations of wages? But very few people sit back and appreciate the lessons life has taught.
The younger generation treats their ancestors as a bunch of old fools who SO do not understand their line of thought- they ignore the wisdom of experience. The older generation on the other hand has become all the more protective of their off-springs – to shield them from the pain that life has subjected them to – they fail to see through the curtain of inexperience or realize that some lessons are to be learnt practically.
Adding to this are our unbelievably tight schedules which prevent us from bridging this gap. A power cut now-a-days is proving to be such a blessing in disguise. It has probably become the only period of time where the whole family sits in one single room and talk – albeit forcibly. Such is the story of today where we need to depend on something like a power cut to bring us together. I somehow can’t help wishing the world today was as simple as back then with all the wonderful blessings of today.
This is me signing off in the wait for the next power cut J
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