The whole gamut of experiences
The whole gamut of experiences
The whole gamut of experiences
- March 30, 2021
- Posted by: MAYURI
- Category: Articles
The whole gamut of experiences
Those born around the 1946 to 1964 … We are the baby boomers… according to the Americans. No other generation might have seen the gamut of changes in life styles like our generation. Here is a list I could gather from my experience of everyday life:
- From 5 to 10 children in a family to two children in a family
- From homes with central skylights to homes with air conditioning
- From drawing water from a well to 24 hours tap water
- From sleeping and sitting on floor to using stylish furniture
- From homes in gardens to gardens in homes
- From greenery all around to concrete all around
- From grinding grains and spices to packaged grains ,flours and spices
- From firewood chullas and coal stoves to gas cylinders stoves and hot plates
- From fresh food at every meal to packaged food at many meals
- From cooking and grinding reeta nuts , shikakai to sweet aroma shampoos in fancy bottles
- From kumkum on forehead to fancy stickers as bindis
- From turmeric, oil and flour scrub to exfoliating creams in a range of base ingredients and flavours
- From sarees at 16 years to no saree even at 60 years too!
- From handmade clothes to readymade clothes
- From walking barefoot to fancy high heels, sketchers and reeboks
- From one dress on self and another on the clothes line to 3 cupboards full of clothes
- From listening to grandparents and parents tell stories to watching the television endlessly
- From slates to desktops, lap tops, tabs
- From listening to teachers talk with black board, to power point presentation on webinars
- From printed books to kindle, audio books
- From radio music to online music
- From no phone, landline to cell phones
- From listening news twice a day on Radio to 24 hours news on a dozen news channels on television
- From a movie once in 6 months in a tent to 60 movies a day on television
- From 100 days run of a film to 100 crores revenue of a film
- From reading books to watching series on OTT platforms as a major form on indoor entertainment
- From white uniformed 5 day cricket matches to colourful uniforms half day matches
- From running outdoors to slouching indoors
- From cooking and serving food to kin and kith to consuming stranger served food by ordering
- From seasonal foods to all foods all seasons
- From season visits to flying visits
- From walking everywhere to driving everywhere
- From doing all household cleaning by hand to devices such as washing machines, dishwashers
- From exercising all through the day to exercising specifically for an hour everyday
- From home remedies for ailments to antibiotics for every discomfort
- From silently and respectfully listening to elders to shutting elders out completely
- From polite , respectful language to free for all abusive language
- From Jane Austen to ‘every day a new celebrity writer’
- From festival activities at home to festival jamborees in public
- From soothing poetry to ill concealed obscene lyrics
- From other – oriented to kin – oriented to self – oriented
- From ‘I might be wrong ‘ to ‘ you are always wrong’
- From most things being under cover to most things been in the glare
- From ‘no information’ to ‘some salient information’ to ‘information explosion’ to ‘misinformation’
- From shopping in crowded markets to ordering online, sitting at home
- From ceremonial personal invitations to relatives, friends and colleagues for family functions to Whatsapp messages
- From not even having a single childhood picture to scores of pictures and selfies clicked every day
- From having few personal friends to having scores on the social media
- From an occasional family member in America to all children of the family in other countries
- From personal meetings to online clubs
- From travel in slow passenger trains to travel in flights
- From gold rate at Rs. 100 per 10 grams in 1950 to gold rate at Rs. 50,000 per 10 grams in 2021!
- From incurable optimism to hopeless pessimism and cynicism
- From using copious paper and notebooks for writing to using personal laptops
- From creating one’s own games and toys to buying hundreds of games and toys online and off line
And ……..
- From endlessly waiting for two decades at least to getting a vaccine in one year !!!
We have seen it all…there might never be another generation like ours ever again.
Mayuri so right. You took me down memory lane
Also from gate crashing to friends and relatives’ homes to telephoning and asking if it’s ok to visit!
Beautifully and aptly written Mayuri !
Well compiled comparative n progressive data. Change is the name of game. Change is inevitable. Change only brings progress. This is an era of Industry 4.0 – Automation, Innovation and Digitalization!.
BTW everything changes except the in-built human nature!!
Wow akka! Took me down memory lane. I wasn’t born during the time you mentioned, but, at the cusp. I have experienced many from the list you mentioned. Enjoyed reading and looking back.
Teacher talking to chalkboard brought brought a smile onto my face. I don’t talk to board. I practiced writing on the board looking at my students. They are amazed I could do that. But, things have changed. I switched to document camera and now to drawing pad. No issues with black board, even though I miss the chalk board.
And, many memories… guests at home without announcements, and we are always ready to receive them. To some extent, I still have the same rule. We don’t believe in giving appointments to people who want to visit us. Any time, any day! Like how we loved, back then…
Greatest mistake all of us make is to think that any change is an improvement. It need not be, and very often it is not.
Changes from 60 s to present well articulated akka
What a great summary of experiences through the decades! Walking down the memory lane, one feels while we have progressed a little, we have lost a lot of good things and habits on our way here. Nice to reflect on them and change if possible
From simplicity to complexity. Very well compiled making us travel from then to now.
Got me thinking of the simple pleasures of life we used to enjoy:
Epic outstation train trips with “holdall and trunk” …
The coal-fired boiler water baths … and years of carbon lining of our lungs to show for it
The ridiculous 5-day cricket with a “rest day” …
The adventure and sense of triumph of successfully tuning to Radio Ceylon to listen to Binaca Geet Mala …
Try explaining this to your kids (and grandkids) and delight in the strange looks they give you.
Good line of experiences from with people to without people madam. It is time to realize the need of off line emotional bonding.