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CTRL + Z

. Wednesday, May 6, 2009

There was this forwarded mail by one of less know friend, and I thought may be I could put it here. Looks more coherent than embedded images on a mail. As I was reading through this mail it occurred to me. Lets sail back through the time and remember some old facets that used to be backbone then. So I thought I will publish it.

And I guess by the end some of you will find at least a percent of truth in my point. I am not making any kind of assurances or trying to re-enforce my idea, it’s just what I discovered after a score of minutes that I devoted to that mail.

Tell me if you didn’t have your laptop or  your cell phone, how many of you will survive? Answer that honestly. As of speaking of me I definitely would have landed myself in some kind of asylum. 10 hours of the allotted 24 by the creator are spent on these gadgets. (I am addressing to the community that I relate to)

I remember one of my professor remarked “We are addicted to technology”. And I guess she was true. Laptops were no less and now we have iPods and iPhone and other smart stuff. These entities are making life more like it was ever imagine. No doubt they are easing out the entire process of living. But aren’t these taking away the genuine essence of life. Or am I mistaken. I guess the definition of life’s essence is changing discreetly. May be I need to reconsider my statement.

For example how many of us get carried away by the soothing, cold breeze in the evening. How many feel like chasing around the wind.

Cricket is still the craziest thing that ever happened to India. Though it still continues to make people mad, Counter Strike is another asset that has inflicted people. Head shot is no less than Dhoni  hitting a six over the mid-wicket region. (I do not intend to defame the game. It’s just a feeling)

Well the mail remembered me some of the old things of my own life. World has changes and we also changed for the world

Are you missing those days? And I promise you as you wheel your mouse you will smile.

 



Remember this. India’s national channel there was no cable Tv then as it is in abundance today. The most famous Screensaver of Doordarshan. I remember it had a beep sound in the back ground.




Surely there was no 'Prison Break' then and surely no one knew 'How I Met your Mother', I made sure I watched at least above two, until the reason for missing them was a power cut. Yes we had power cuts then too.A couple of them like above are still cherished till date.



As the title goes World Most viewed Mythological series. I remember it was 90’s when this series was aired. The Sundays were days to be awaited for. “mile sur mera tumhara". A song aired on DD to strengthen national Integrity. Though we have some hip version of it today, I still prefer the older one and the original one. Did I say that 'Original'. That's a rare word these days.


The classic advertisement of Indian television. Though the recent version has some more 'names' to it.

Sometimes I wonder how someone grew up in 70’s, 80’s. We had no cell phones in abundance. We had no seatbelts and no airbags. Cycling was like a breath of fresh air. No safety helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, with plenty of cardboards between spokes to make it sound like a motorbike.

When we were thirsty we drank only tap water; bottled water was still a mystery.

We kept busy collecting bits & pieces, all sort of trivial things, thrashes that practically were illogical; so that we could build all sort of things … and we were fearless on our bicycles even when the brakes failed going downhill. We were showing off how tough we are, by how high we could climb trees & then jumping down. It was great fun.

We could stay out to play for hours, as long as we got back before dark, in time for dinner. We used to bicycle to our schools and no one ever feared. Neither the parents, nor did we. It was so much fun to enjoy the restricted liberty.

We had no mobile phones, no Gmail accounts, no chat programs but we always managed to find each other.

We lost teeth, broke arms & legs, we got cuts and bruises and bloody noses. Nobody complained as we had so much fun, it wasn't anybody's fault, only ours. No one else’s. We ate everything in sight, cakes, bread, chocolate, ice-cream, sweet sugary drinks, fruits; all kind of junks yet, we stayed skinny by fooling around. And if one of us was lucky to find a 1 litre coca cola bottle we all had a swig from it & guess what? Nobody picked up any germs, no infections.

We did not have Play Stations, Xbox MP3, Nintendo's, I-Pods, Video games, 299 Cable TV channels on Tata Sky, DVD's, Home Theatres’, Personal Computers, Laptops. We heard about internet and thought it to be a free world on a dial up connection.

We called on friends to come out to play, never rang the doorbell, and just went around the backdoor, and no one ever complained.

We played with cricket bats, sticks and stones, played cowboys and Indians, doctors and nurses, hide and seek soccer games, cricket run over places we never knew ... over and over again … and still we were never bored. When we failed our exams we were given a second chance by simply repeating the same grade … without visiting psychiatrists, psychologists or counselors. Such were the days, reckless. We had freedom, success, disappointments and responsibilities.

And above all we loved to respect.

The only purpose of me writing this to bring out a curve on the faces, forget the stress that surrounds us these days, and just for a few moments puts a smile to the faces as we remember what life was really like in the good old days.

Hope we all could make a CTRL + Z to life editor.


(Adapted from a forwarded mail)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

chalo kuch too likhe!!

Anonymous said...

& ya it does bring bak some old memories...of simpler times...

anuj said...

really man, i appreciate your thoughts on this topic. seriously yaar we have bcme slaves of todays technology.. say it mobiles, laptops , internet , nethng ..

as i was reading thru your blog, i was taken back to my childhood . i remember my old tv which had only 13 channels. nd nw even 300 is thought to be as just da minm requirement. nd those days when i used to play outside till twas dark . and yes, ramayan nd later mahabharata was never a miss. those are really the cherished days of our life , ma frnd.

but maybe we'll hav to accept the fact that times have really changed and most important , our priorities. whatever we do now is bcoz of what priorities we hav setup befre ourselves. so its not bad to change with the time, but in dis process one must not forget the basic elements frm which one derives the actual happiness and satisfaction.

so , i once again appreciate your efforts in bring up this matter and frankly speaking , even today when i watch that video of " mile sur mera tumhara"( coz i hav it in ma lappy ), i get the same feeling which i used to get while watchng it on tv. so u see, even to get back to your old times, u need to use todays available technology. nd to stay in touch with those people with whom you hav spent the most amazing moments of your life, u are again depended upon the internet nd other related stuff. so it totally depends upon you as to how much dependent you feel towards it.

maxxx said...

nice detailed blog.... first example i see is myself becomin a gamer from a decent athelete :P ,
but its obvious things change, though it doesnt necessarily means that old is gold,wen u didnt have it, like in case of cable tv, every 1 was crazy to get espn and starsports on thr sets, technology is good but not an overdose ,however the choice is always yours , how u wanna be happy, follow the herd ur follow ur heart, doesnt matter whether its your laptop or playin cricket in the sun...neways good blog

pik.priya said...

tell u what,just 2 days ago,i was singing "mile sur mera tumhara"and other songs that were aired on dd1..i liked what u got to say.honestly,i m still the kind who would enjoy a cool breeze in the evening,and know much less of tech gizmos than u do.i guess that saves my life!100 percent agree with u.i think that is the first time it is hapenning,huh!

 

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