is future better or was past

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mujhko yaqeen hai sach kahti thi, jo bhi ammi kahti thi -2 jab mere bachpan ke din the, ,chaand mein pariyaan rahti thi

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ye daulat bhii le lo, ye shoharat bhii le lobhale chhiin lo mujhase merii javaanii, magar mujhako lautaa do bachapan kaa saavan, vo kaagaz kii kashtii, vo baarish kaa paanii.

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Two ghazals, sung by the same legend, remembering the past, but, in such different ways. One is fondly recollecting past (childhood) without complaining about the present, other is truly unhappy with the present day reality. The latter one, I must admit with my limited knowledge, is quite a popular theme amongst poets. :-)

Why is it so? Primarily, I think, Poets who write about how life was much better earlier usually are old folks. It resonates with how my grandparents would talk about their lives. As one grows old, there is tendency to dislike the present and romanticize the past. Nothing wrong with that, but I think it tends to get overdone. Broader question, however, requires a more careful introspection. Civilizations that believe that their “peak” has already past tend to encourage this theme of writing quite a bit. A classic example is India. We have grown up being told that India was a "sone ki chidiya" and what we have now is all rut. That the “best has already happened”. It affects today’s' generations’ outlook to future in a profound way. It forces evaluation to today’s development with hazy benchmarks of past. It blinds you to absorb all the traditions/customs as they seem to be belonging to the much coveted glorious historical era. Old practices, social norms etc get un-reasoned acceptance.

Compare this to a country like America. They, obviously, can’t claim to have had a grand history like us. However, what this does is that at a sociological level citizens are trying to reach to their peak. They believe "the best is yet to happen". It is a lot more positive thought than of "the best has already happened" thought.

Well, in the end it boils down to, like everything, a “definitional issue” :-) . How do you define development. How do you !!

Change the Game

Mukesh Ambani's RIL is worth 3,36,000 crores. Dont even know what that number means, but it looks very very large. Especially in comparison to the 12,000 crore Indian TV industry :-)

Last year, RIL bought rights for 4G in 22 circles through a relatively un-known company from Punjab - Infotel.

This plan of un-related diversification came days after the two brothers signing on the closure of non-compete agreements. This plan has obviously not got Mr Ambani's attention to increase 3.36 mentioned above to 3.76 :-). Not incremental plan, change the orbit plan.

RIL has always been about changing the orbit and thats what seems to be cooking in their minds.

Like I mentioned in my post a few days back, I have personally been surprised by average Indian's ability to take up technology. Data and Analysis on English speaking population, literacy rate being barriers to technology is misleading.

Whatever you do, trust me on"Sheila Ki Jawani" . It will reach everywhere and everyone :-)..

Whatever happened to train travel !

The Train ride,back from home, this time around was very different. Different because it beat my expectations on the speed of change.

To me train journey was about sitting on the aisle seat looking at the landscape, Reading a book, Chatting with fellow passengers, Observing the chai walla and letting the thoughts meander . I did exactly the same this time around only to realise that I was the only romantic :-).

Gadgets had taken over the my coach, cutting across pyshcographics as well as demographics.

Private screenings of movies on laptops, music on iphone, Continous phone calls and beat this !!... a 70 year old grandmom doing aarti from her phone ring tone!

It seemed like there was a pressure to get oneself entertained. Not even a minute should go by without it. With 100% mobile connectivity and power connections in the trains what else was I expecting !!!

The other interesting observation was the change in profile of travellers in the 2nd AC compartment. for general information, the ticket cost was 1400 Rs. Cheap airlines would cost around 3 to 3.5 K. Who are these people who are wanting to save 1500 Rs for extra 16 hours of travel ! have a think and let me know:-)