I grew up listening to childhood tales of my parents and grandparents. Very often, my grand mom used to say, “You are so lucky to be born amidst all the comforts. Yet, an irresponsible little creature you are… did you know that even on my wedding day, I walked kilometers to reach home?!” And I used to wonder, “Just that you were unfortunate to be born in a non-Maruti & Fiat era, unlike me. But, what is my fault in it?” My parents however, were better as they had a decorated ambassador car to take them home on their wedding day. So, they couldn’t crib much on the same. But, don’t think that they were out of ideas to emotionally blackmail us; my dad and mom have narrated the same ‘cycling uphill and downhill’ to school story, at least a thousand times! My mother would say, “You have ironed uniform, polished shoes, yummy breakfast and school bus waiting for you. In spite of all the luxury, you are always late! Are you not ashamed?” Then, she would continue, “When I was a kid….” And that used to be the motivation to get ready soon and rush to school…!!
I have promised myself several times that I will not torture the next generation with my hardships purana!
But… But… Now that I have crossed the silver jubilee of life, looking at teenagers, I realize that growing up is so easy for them; every damn thing is at their finger tips, just a mouse click away! I hate to say, but I cannot help it, “Bloody hell… you guys have got the best while we had to struggle to grow up!”
We did not have video CDs to learn Humpy Dumpty and Chubby Cheeks. To watch Tom and Jerry for half an hour, we waited for Sunday evenings. We eagerly looked forward to weekly Mahabharata, Chitrahar & Malgudi Days on Doordarshan. And if missed, no Youtube existed for re-telecast! When I had to know about tropical rain forests, I went to the library, picked book by book, flipped page by page, read line by line to gather information. And today, through google, so quickly and effortlessly, everything is served on their platter! I had waited for hours for my friends under the banyan tree near our school, not knowing where they were; while today SMS speak minds even before the memo is sent to their brain! We had only stamps and inland letters to keep in touch; while today, boys & girls are available on emails, facebook and twitter round the clock! Nobody knew what I did on a holiday, while today the whole world knows what one is up to! “Woke up late; stomach upset. Oh, what a terrible Saturday Morning!”, reads many gtalk status! To choreograph a dance performance, we had to eject, play, rewind, play, stop, fast forward and play cassettes. To find the track, we used to visit every possible music store in town. And today, they sleep on ipods and downloaded MP3s! We grew up playing ludo, caroms and snakes & ladders while these brats are glued to X-Box!
If I don’t stop here, the list is only gonna get longer! Hmmm …and for sure, my parents and grandparents were definitely better; they did not crib so much!!!!
However, even though we were born before the internet revolution, Better late than never… we don’t anyways belong to the computer-ignorant generation! Hence, the moral of the story is, “Compare yourself with the less-fortunate ones to become more content in life!” So, I pacify myself, “My poor granny… she died even without having an orkut profile …while I have a blog too!”
So, do you wanna share with us, any tales inherited from your parents or ancestors?