Nostalgic Dilemmas of Youth in 30s!
The change is unbearable…
The world has changed dramatically during the last 20–25 years or so. The technological advancements beyond limits have changed every sphere of a human life. A lot of comforts and conveniences have been brought to the countless human lives on earth.
But the other side of the picture is really gloomy for the people especially in their mid or late 30s like me. We have been an eye witness to the unwanted changes for a long time silently. Let me explain things for you.
I am not talking about a pre historic era. To me it was very much fine till 1995–2000. People like me have become a victim of nostalgia about the lost happiness we had some twenty or thirty years ago. Since then our world has left a lot of genuine traits.
We are brought up with books as our considerate fellows. I could remember how I used to place a book on my chest before into a peaceful dream. How imaginative it was then!
We were made to write a lot on school copies in the name of school work and home work. We had a vivid sharp memory and could do even very tricky mathematical calculations very easily without the help of calculators.
Teachers-students relationship was very sound. I remember even a combined class of Mathematics of more than three hundred pupils at my college voiceless. We had a very focused attention and concentration.
People were early risers. ‘ A Morning Walk’ was my favourite short essay which I remembered for years. Play grounds and city streets were full of children playing different games with the assistance of our elders who did not use to be senile as they are seen now due to loneliness in their old age.
…Environment was clean. We had plenty of rain. Rainbow appeared after rainfall even in the busy urban life . I used to distinguish its colours with the help of what I learnt in my course of science about them.
Media was very calm then. News casters and anchors were very polite. Criticism was bitter but not corrosive. Music was melodious and soothing. Literary principles were commonly followed in the production of movies and dramas. Top position on screen was secured after tireless efforts. Appearances were devoid of layers of cosmetics.
We had enough time to watch the names of film cast and crew before its start and end. We used to arrange informal gatherings with friends and our elders to see movies, live sports. Discussions were continued for hours with reasonable servings of eatables. Women of neighbourhood were respected cordially.
A simple television set we used to have with no entanglements of wires all around the house.
There were few cars on the roads then. Only distinguished people who really needed a private vehicle could afford it. Cars were not very roomy and luxurious but had a powerful body and structure. Public transport was used by all and sundry.
We enjoyed comparatively pure and simple food. The junk food was not a trend instead considered a waste of wealth.
Ostentation, pomp and show was scarce. People had desires but under control. Uncontrolled materialistic desires were few and far between.
Family gatherings were very common. Joys and sorrows were all shared among family members.
Hypocrisy and pretence were less appreciated by the society. Jealousy, grudge, and malice were totally unknown to us. Enmity in the name of Professional jealousy was not rampant.
Parents and elders had enough time for the moral upbringing of children and juniors. Selflessness was the key to prevalent tranquillity then. Family integration was a feature of our society.
Let me tell you an important thing before concluding my discussion. Though the things I have mentioned above belong to my own specific time and region but I suppose it valid for the whole world of that particular time as per my observations. The turn of the century has brought a lot new and novel but drastic.
I never thought of an Utopian world. We also had a number of problems those days. One may consider my ‘nostalgia’ a matter of essential generation gap. Time has to change. Life goes on. But leaving noble ways of living and adopting venomous traits of living in the name of change is not ‘progress’ or ‘modernity’ in my humble opinion.
Technology is a must now and I acknowledge this fact whole heatedly. It is not the fault of technology itself. It is how we use it, no doubt. But regretfully, technology in its recent shape is so tempting and intriguing that keeping pace with the modern world without the support of immoralities and transgression is almost impossible and the world cannot be the same now as it was before the progress of technology twenty or twenty five years ago.