When we were kids

When we were kids, we didn't have a telephone in the house. Mobile phones didn't exist. The Blackberry had not been invented. Once people left the office, they were not reachable. Once dad came home, he was all ours with no distractions, no office work, no phone calls and no emails. Talk of work life balance!!!

When we were kids, there were no multiplexes, no malls, very few fancy restaurants. Weekends were spent either at home or visiting relatives. Talk of family bonding!!!

When we were kids, summer vacations meant playing in the sun all day, reading and exchanging comics with friends, cycling early in the morning and of course that journey to the native place by train for which we would count down the days for over 3 months!!! Foreign vacations were unheard of, and neither were summer camps. We hardly had to depend on the TV for entertainment.

When we were kids, joy was in sucking a popsicle (which we called 'Pepsi' and which kids of today have probably never heard or seen), joy was in owning a pencil which had an eraser at the top end, joy was in owning a pencil box with a magnetic lid. Birthday gifts were usually a pack of sketch pens or a fountain pen. We had never heard of 'return gifts' and the snacks that were served in a birthday party were usually a samosa, some wafers, a piece of monginis cake and a soft drink. There was no Pizza Hut to host parties in, no kid was driven to school in his dad's car and travelling in an auto rickshaw was a novelty allowed only when accompanied by elders.

When we were kids, we bought everything from the neighbourhood kirana store. We knew the names of everyone who worked in the shop and they knew our names. Sometimes, if money was short, we could simply ask the shopkeeper to write it down in our account and pay later. We were greeted with a smile and some friendly banter in any shop in the neighbourhood. There were no supermarkets where we could buy things forever without even knowing the names of the staff.

Life was simple. We perhaps had a lot fewer comforts. We went to a humble Govt. school. But somehow, life was a lot fuller. We took joy in little things, parents had more time for children, families actually ate meals together, people didn't have to work on their work life balance, work was never carried home, stress levels of people was far far lower. We never had to call friends to check if we could drop in.

It makes me think if change is always for the better. After so much of development, what we all ultimately strive for is to be happy in life. Is work a means to achieve this end, or is work an end in itself? For all the fancy salaries people get these days, which are way beyond comprehension for an earlier generation, what is the trade off? Do we actually enjoy being 'always connected'? Do we actually want to be reachable anywhere, anytime? Why do we always look forward to 'getting away from everything for a break'? I don't recall my father ever wanting to run away from work.

Some questions that need some serious pondering. It's sometimes funny to see the way people are clamouring for the very things that they would want to run away from in some time. But I do know that I am part of the same rat race. Does that help me? Probably not, but I guess it makes me put things in perspective sometimes.

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