The marvels of the present electronic age would turn out to be a visit to a fantasy land for the people of the early twentieth century. Why, as late as the 1960s, I remember the sheer wonder and amazement on the faces of the family members, when my father brought home a portable radio, which he said, was called a transistor. When we would get up in the morning, it was a ceremony, switching it on to listen to music. Anything would do, even a rural programme, or events of the day, recited by a monotonous voice.
Fast forward to half a century later. We have music all over the world at our fingertips, at the touch of a button – we have access to live programmes from all over the world through the amazing video conferencing facility. You have the music systems becoming smaller and smaller, till they fit into the palm of your hand, as you keep pace with the daily development of technology. You talk to anyone at the flick of a mobile key, exchange notes, send mail, photographs, view each other across eons of space through a webcam – the possibilities are endless.
Or are they ? Have we not become too micro-oriented ? Have we not become so ‘within’ ourselves, that the larger picture is lost ? Are we becoming so caught up in the ‘smallness’ of things that this is permeating into the other aspects of our lives ? The instruments have shrunk in size, keeping in mind convenience and portability – but so have the thoughts.
Where has gone the family get-togethers, the social visits (visits for no apparent reason, just plain good old courtesy which again is an antique phenomenon today!), or the pleasure of viewing family albums together ? Forget the act, does the word ‘together’ have any meaning at all ? Children at home are communicating with the computer in their free time, visiting chat rooms and communities and exchanging notes over the system. Couples are no longer sitting with each other over a cup of tea, exchanging notes of the day – they are busy channel surfing, or having a ‘baby’ computer (as an aunt of mine called a laptop) at their disposal, catching up on figures and targets – Or maybe, simply sending each other a mail, since they have not had time to talk ! I have very often seen people walking together on the road, but each on is holding on to one ear ! Or worse still, you have the solitary walkers, whom you find talking to themselves, till you observe closely and fine a wire trailing out of one of their ear, and you realize he is not demented or hallucinating after all, but is simply holding on a conversation with perhaps someone at the other end of the world !
I have an uneasy feeling that by the end of it all, what is going to be the casualty is the warmth of human relationships. Would not that be too great a price to pay for the conveniences and amenities of today ?
Mohana Narayanan
22/12, Roshni Apartments
1st Cross, Shastri Nagar
Adyar, Chennai- 600 020
Tel No 24469391
bhagvati8@yahoo.com
19-Oct-05
