Watched this episode on Netflix just now. This entire original series of Star Trek brings back old memories of childhood when these were used to be aired on Doordarshan on Sundays. I remember going up to our neighbours place (we did not have television in our house until 1991), to watch these. It was so exciting for me and my sister.
Thinking of those times, would it have ever occurred to me that one day I would be watching these sitting in the house, but now on a MacBook and a thick broadband connection. I didn't even know about computers then and to acquire one was certainly out of question. Owning a landline phone connection from MTNL used to be a very big deal in those times. I remember we got our landline phone in 1997. Some couple of years ago, we got that phone disconnected since that was becoming pretty redundant and most of the time unusable. We don't care about linemen these days.
Apart from the financial angle of owning such devices, technology has become affordable too. Technology has really come in and played a very big role in our lives. Nowadays not being able to contact your near ones after trying for 10 minutes is a big cause of concern. Why is he/she not answering my call? Why no response to my Whatsapp pings? Earlier the expectation of people reaching home would be on approximate time based on daily routine. Nowadays it is a text message, "Stuck in traffic near Chattarpur", or better still just share your location along with the traffic layer on, as a whatsapp message. Also I remember that my father would make sure to go to the bank and withdraw money, so that we had sufficient cash for the shopping to do during Durga puja. No cash meant deferring the shopping until next time. And look at it now. I just sit on my bed and touch a few areas of my phone with my fingertips and order a sari for my mother or a cycle for my son!
So much is the power of ones fingertips that we in India even decide our governments by pressing a button. Our generation is very fortunate to have witnessed these revolutions first hand. So we have the experience of the "old way" and also the "new way" now. It would really be good if I get a change to observe the next revolution in technology. God know from where it will come.
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