Days of yore
My 88-year-old grandfather called me out of the blue an hour ago.I feel lonely,he says.Although you don't talk to me much when you're at home,I feel kind of comforted.But when you're gone,the place feels very silent and empty. He's hardly ever called me before and the skeptic in me wonders if he needs help with something:P I tell myself to be more trusting and try to make conversation.
We have nothing much to talk about and therefore,after a couple of minutes he starts drifting off to stories of his childhood and youth,as is customary of old people:D I've heard all of them a gazillion times before though.I still can't find the heart to cut him off in the middle.I see his predicament.The only geriatric in a house where everyone else is working or studying.Which translates to no company.Just the idiot box and a tiny feature phone.This phone call is an attempt to ward off some of that solitude infused sorrow.I don't think I can cheer him up,but I can at least be a distraction for 30 minutes.
I listen to all his rants patiently.At the end of an hour he says,I don't know what the world has come to.During my times,it was one big family.The women used to stay at home and take care of everyone.I know,I know.You want to study and earn too.You want to be independent.All that is fine,but we used to be happy,you know.I can't say that looking at this generation.They're so lost in their phones and laptops.They earn in lakhs,but still don't have the happiness we did in our youth.
It strikes me that is a very generic complaint that every generation has about the next.Yet,it is not without truth.My great-grandfather would have probably said:Everything has changed today--with electricity and telegrams and vehicles.Life is so fast-paced now.In our days we only used to travel by bullock-carts.Now there are these weird smokey trains and no-one bothers to enjoy the journey.It's all about getting there. :D You get my point--but one thing is true.As time progresses,we're less happier in life.
Recall some of the happiest moments of your life.I bet they're from early childhood.Although we're relatively young,we're no different from the oldies.We too,in our minds,think about how things have changed and about how a decade ago was better than now.
A small digression here--At times,I think this is a bias.I have a weird vague theory about the past and how it appears to you as time passes.When things fade,you start seeing them differently.It has opposite effects on opposite ends of the spectrum though.What I mean is this:Recall the things that you were really worried about--they seem trivial now,don't they? Recall a simple event like your birthday from five years ago--It seems wonderful now,doesn't it?I bet you didn't feel it was that great then.What I'm getting at is this--this whole emotion-time continuum is very subjective.You feel something now,you felt something then.You believe that what you feel now is right because you're in this time frame.A year later,it all changes.So it could well be that all of this is circular nonsense:D
Still for the sake of writing,I will assume for the moment that what I feel now is the truth.Under that assumption,I too feel that we(as a race) are less happier than we were.I don't know if technology is to blame entirely though.Granted it has created an alternate world for us,an entire virtual universe where you can create a new identity and live in that bubble.Yet,I feel somewhat hesitant to make technology the villain.It is we who use it thereby giving it a good or a bad name,
My own memories from childhood are very fragrant.Among the myriad stories I was told,I remember one.It was about a tradition of going to a river(Ganges,I think) on a particular full moon night in the year.A family outing of sorts--with no GST:P. Every family would bring three to four varieties of flavored rice--lemon,tamarind,curd,mango etc.Dessert would also abound.And then they would all sit on the banks of the river and share food with their relatives and talk for hours on end.The waves would recede and arrive and the moonlight would shine bright on them.
How picturesque this sounds right? I was around 8 at this time.I was so enthralled by the idea that I wanted to re-create it.Alas,where in Bangalore would I find a river?:P Also,my family was very,very limited,so to speak.Nevertheless,children have an enthusiasm that refuses to see practicality.I decided that my terrace would be the modern equivalent of the river bank.I picked the nearest full moon night as the day of the feast-to-be and pestered my mother to cook all the dishes I had in mind.My enthusiasm wore her out and she yielded but refused to take any further responsibility.
So,on the designated evening,I carried out chairs and a tiny table two floors up to the terrace(all by myself because the adults in my family refused to be carried away by my foolish plan).My mom cooked as promised and then headed off to work after assuring me that she would be there for dinner.I carried casseroles and plates and switched on the incandescent lights while staring dreamily at the moon :D
Alas,half an hour before dinner-time,it started raining.Immediately,these donkeys who were supposed to turn up took it as an excuse not to.(I know,it makes more sense to sit in a well-lit cozy room and eat your dinner peacefully.:P)I was forced to carry all the food back downstairs and hand it over to them.Thereafter,I quietly slunk up to the terrace with just my plate of food and sat under the overhead tank(where it wouldn't rain directly on me) and ate.(I never had a problem eating alone because inside my head thrives an entire world with complicated plot-lines and I could easily lose myself there anywhere,anytime.My equivalent of Sherlock's mind palace:P)
My version of the moonlit-river-bank dinner did not have the cheer that conversation brings.Or the wonderful waves lapping at my feet.It didn't even have people or a river.It just had a dreamy kid sitting in the rain eating dinner and pretending it was the fairy-tale she wanted.:D
Still,it happens to be one of my fondest memories of childhood.It was not what I had imagined it to be,but something that I still cherish. :)
P.S:I don't have that sort of thing today.So maybe we are going towards a sadder tomorrow?I don't know and I don't care:P Who said that the writer has to answer questions that he/she proposes? I'll leave them open-ended and you,Dear Reader,can answer them any which way you want to.
Honestly,I'm not answering this one because I don't want to.If I say yes,things are getting sadder,then it leaves no hope for the days to come.On the other hand,I don't really think that things are looking up.Unanswered this shall remain.Would love to hear any thoughts on this:)
We have nothing much to talk about and therefore,after a couple of minutes he starts drifting off to stories of his childhood and youth,as is customary of old people:D I've heard all of them a gazillion times before though.I still can't find the heart to cut him off in the middle.I see his predicament.The only geriatric in a house where everyone else is working or studying.Which translates to no company.Just the idiot box and a tiny feature phone.This phone call is an attempt to ward off some of that solitude infused sorrow.I don't think I can cheer him up,but I can at least be a distraction for 30 minutes.
I listen to all his rants patiently.At the end of an hour he says,I don't know what the world has come to.During my times,it was one big family.The women used to stay at home and take care of everyone.I know,I know.You want to study and earn too.You want to be independent.All that is fine,but we used to be happy,you know.I can't say that looking at this generation.They're so lost in their phones and laptops.They earn in lakhs,but still don't have the happiness we did in our youth.
It strikes me that is a very generic complaint that every generation has about the next.Yet,it is not without truth.My great-grandfather would have probably said:Everything has changed today--with electricity and telegrams and vehicles.Life is so fast-paced now.In our days we only used to travel by bullock-carts.Now there are these weird smokey trains and no-one bothers to enjoy the journey.It's all about getting there. :D You get my point--but one thing is true.As time progresses,we're less happier in life.
Recall some of the happiest moments of your life.I bet they're from early childhood.Although we're relatively young,we're no different from the oldies.We too,in our minds,think about how things have changed and about how a decade ago was better than now.
A small digression here--At times,I think this is a bias.I have a weird vague theory about the past and how it appears to you as time passes.When things fade,you start seeing them differently.It has opposite effects on opposite ends of the spectrum though.What I mean is this:Recall the things that you were really worried about--they seem trivial now,don't they? Recall a simple event like your birthday from five years ago--It seems wonderful now,doesn't it?I bet you didn't feel it was that great then.What I'm getting at is this--this whole emotion-time continuum is very subjective.You feel something now,you felt something then.You believe that what you feel now is right because you're in this time frame.A year later,it all changes.So it could well be that all of this is circular nonsense:D
Still for the sake of writing,I will assume for the moment that what I feel now is the truth.Under that assumption,I too feel that we(as a race) are less happier than we were.I don't know if technology is to blame entirely though.Granted it has created an alternate world for us,an entire virtual universe where you can create a new identity and live in that bubble.Yet,I feel somewhat hesitant to make technology the villain.It is we who use it thereby giving it a good or a bad name,
My own memories from childhood are very fragrant.Among the myriad stories I was told,I remember one.It was about a tradition of going to a river(Ganges,I think) on a particular full moon night in the year.A family outing of sorts--with no GST:P. Every family would bring three to four varieties of flavored rice--lemon,tamarind,curd,mango etc.Dessert would also abound.And then they would all sit on the banks of the river and share food with their relatives and talk for hours on end.The waves would recede and arrive and the moonlight would shine bright on them.
So,on the designated evening,I carried out chairs and a tiny table two floors up to the terrace(all by myself because the adults in my family refused to be carried away by my foolish plan).My mom cooked as promised and then headed off to work after assuring me that she would be there for dinner.I carried casseroles and plates and switched on the incandescent lights while staring dreamily at the moon :D
Alas,half an hour before dinner-time,it started raining.Immediately,these donkeys who were supposed to turn up took it as an excuse not to.(I know,it makes more sense to sit in a well-lit cozy room and eat your dinner peacefully.:P)I was forced to carry all the food back downstairs and hand it over to them.Thereafter,I quietly slunk up to the terrace with just my plate of food and sat under the overhead tank(where it wouldn't rain directly on me) and ate.(I never had a problem eating alone because inside my head thrives an entire world with complicated plot-lines and I could easily lose myself there anywhere,anytime.My equivalent of Sherlock's mind palace:P)
My version of the moonlit-river-bank dinner did not have the cheer that conversation brings.Or the wonderful waves lapping at my feet.It didn't even have people or a river.It just had a dreamy kid sitting in the rain eating dinner and pretending it was the fairy-tale she wanted.:D
Still,it happens to be one of my fondest memories of childhood.It was not what I had imagined it to be,but something that I still cherish. :)
P.S:I don't have that sort of thing today.So maybe we are going towards a sadder tomorrow?I don't know and I don't care:P Who said that the writer has to answer questions that he/she proposes? I'll leave them open-ended and you,Dear Reader,can answer them any which way you want to.
Honestly,I'm not answering this one because I don't want to.If I say yes,things are getting sadder,then it leaves no hope for the days to come.On the other hand,I don't really think that things are looking up.Unanswered this shall remain.Would love to hear any thoughts on this:)
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