Changing Times
Humans are astonishingly lazy species. I have noticed that in my office people prefer to wait long periods for the lift to arrive so that they can avoid walking up (or down) just one flight of stairs. They like to order the office boy to get them a glass of water even when the dispenser is hardly 5 steps away from them. They prefer to make a call to their colleague in the next room rather than make an effort to walk to the next room and have a personal discussion.
Thor Heyerdahl aptly summarized it: Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.
I can vividly recall the times when there was no TV. Even entertainment from Radio was quite limited. I was young then but I count myself lucky to have been born before the technology boom began; lucky enough to have had the opportunity to entertain ourselves in the form of playing marbles, tops, gulli-danda, eyes-spies and an assortment of other small games. I hardly see the present generation indulging in outdoor activities with an exception being Sunday morning cricket - if you can call it that.
Entertainment was when we sang our own songs rather than pop a disc in the CD player. I still recall some of the few songs that we composed as kids. They wouldn’t fetch a Grammy award by any stretch but they certainly bring a priceless smile whenever I remember them. In my school it was compulsory to participate in at least one drama per year. It’s a shame that today’s generation is missing out on all these.
What overwhelmed was when I was shopping for second hand comics over the weekend. A mother and her child stopped by the road side shop and asked for Harry Potter. And no, they were not looking for the children’s novels, but for the audio cassettes that read out these books! I made an attempt to convince the lady that books were better and it would make a better impact on the child but she felt that books were old fashioned.
The incident was extraordinarily revealing but I guess when I come to think of it I enjoy being old fashioned and I still prefer my own reading; it’s mine for one thing.
Thor Heyerdahl aptly summarized it: Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.
I can vividly recall the times when there was no TV. Even entertainment from Radio was quite limited. I was young then but I count myself lucky to have been born before the technology boom began; lucky enough to have had the opportunity to entertain ourselves in the form of playing marbles, tops, gulli-danda, eyes-spies and an assortment of other small games. I hardly see the present generation indulging in outdoor activities with an exception being Sunday morning cricket - if you can call it that.
Entertainment was when we sang our own songs rather than pop a disc in the CD player. I still recall some of the few songs that we composed as kids. They wouldn’t fetch a Grammy award by any stretch but they certainly bring a priceless smile whenever I remember them. In my school it was compulsory to participate in at least one drama per year. It’s a shame that today’s generation is missing out on all these.
What overwhelmed was when I was shopping for second hand comics over the weekend. A mother and her child stopped by the road side shop and asked for Harry Potter. And no, they were not looking for the children’s novels, but for the audio cassettes that read out these books! I made an attempt to convince the lady that books were better and it would make a better impact on the child but she felt that books were old fashioned.
The incident was extraordinarily revealing but I guess when I come to think of it I enjoy being old fashioned and I still prefer my own reading; it’s mine for one thing.
posted by Teshu at
10:11 am
1 Comments:
I remember back in Fiji, before we moved to Australia, TV wasn't something that was always there. We never had TV. And it only came there in my last year in Fiji, and the programs were only on for a couple of hours at night. That's it. I didn't grow up watching TV at all. I used to be outside, playing with the dogs that we had, and playing hide and seek in the house and what not.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home