Growing up – then and now!
The other day I was remenacing my childhood. How we used to be very content and happy with what was handed down to us. It could be the scratched bicycle handed down from your brother or the EnidBlyton super 7 collection.
I grew up in a joint family. We were 15 members of which 8 were children of varying ages. The hierarchy was always followed. The eldest kid in the house often decided what to play. No arguments. The same was for music and cinemas.
We had a Murphy radio in the main living room inside a glass case. The case would be opened twice a day. At 8 AM & at 7 PM, by my grandfather to listen to AIR news in English. After 7:15 PM, if he was in a good mood, he would allow us to listen to music. Which station to tune to was decided by either my grandmother’s sister, who came from Bombay; in which case it would be Binaca Geethmala with Mohamed Raffi, Kishore Kumar and the likes rattling out the melodies of yester years. Or it would be decided by eldest cousin sister, who would want Ceylon radio for some Tamil extravaganza. What ever station, the radio had to be switched off at sharp 8 PM in time for supper.
Now I see the new generation of kids, who have grown up or growing up in nuclear families and seldom understand the give and take mentality of yester years! These kids get very upset at the slightest turn of events in our today’s ever changing and fast lifestyle.
The youth of today are always distracted by the mobile phones and tabs. The expectations of employers and the college curriculum has not changed in line with today’s youth who hold their mobiles close to them as if they were their un-implanted ‘pace makers’; without which they cannot survive!