Look around - there's huge DATA

It is my humble opinion, the one indispensable attribute to acquire knowledge is to analyse the ‘data’ around - if one does this over years, he/she will realise what knowledge is all about !!!

The intent of this post is just doing some groundwork - gathering and putting forth some data for further analysis and references. Hence, this post will be referred in the future posts.

Having made the above statement, I will just put ahead several, random observations which need no eagle’s eye - even a common man engrossed in his deadly ‘routine’ can have them. These observations are, seemingly, insipid account of events occurring around us and there is no intention(NOT IN THIS POST)to give a verdict about these.

1. There was a time once when people used to cry, even commit suicides, if due to some god-forbidden situations in their lives, they had to sell their(possibly ancestral) lands, houses. It was considered a responsibility, a moral duty to maintain the ancestral lands and related occupations. Today, lands are sold everyday for ‘money’, are seen as liabilities due to their use only for ‘obsolete’ tasks and occupation.Moreover, selling lands and becoming ‘rich’ is looked upon and envied. They are bought with a view to generate more ‘money’ in the coming times by again selling it
2. There was a time when festivals were celebrated with at most simplicity(rather simplicity was the very fabric of life) - during Ganesh-Visarjan, people used to recite ‘aratis’ and walk peacefully to the sites of Visarjan.During Diwali, it was a routine of people visiting each other homes and spending a lot time together, even friends of ‘young’ ages were involved. I remember several occasions where we visited our friend’s places during Id, with the only sign of ‘celebration’ was greeting, embracing and feeding the guests with delicacies. Today, people block traffic, dance(?) on cheap tunes played on deafening stack of loudspeakers - be it Ganesh Visarjan or Shiv Jayanti. During Id, people block roads for Namaaj.
3. There was a time when teenage friends met, they had loads of things to share, discuss about the events in their lives(as well as of others :P). True, they used to argue over ‘national’, ‘social’ stuff about which they could do little. Each one had a bicycle. If that was not the case, the strongest guys use to ride the bicycle while the weaker sat pillion. Today, when teenagers meet, most of them are busy sharing stuff on expensive cell-phones, chatting on it, riding two-wheelers at dangerous speeds
4. There was a time when mothers - either housewives or working, felt restless when their children weren’t at home for long. The fathers had enforced a strict code of conduct - from food to spending, from rising in the morning to sleeping at night. The grandparents were the supreme mentors and observers, also served as knowledge repositories. There is no need to quote how these things have changed now(nuclear families, high rate of migration), not to mention how they will change in immediate future
5. There was a time when even in late twenties, men used to be slim and sturdy. Going to gym, playing, riding, walking etc. weren’t ‘leisure’, ‘special’ activities but an embedded, routine activity. Today, even the school kids, teenagers are out-of-shape, obese. Exercise has become ‘daunting’, ‘requires special attention’
6. There was a time when mom cooked vegetables, it’s aroma itself used to suggest the vegetable’s name. The taste was authentic and vegetables, grocery etc. came cheap. Today, there is no limit left on the ever-rising prices of food commodities. The vegetables are so tasteless, toxicated and dull, I wonder about their nutritional values !!!

I suddenly realised that I had summarised numerous such things before and again listing them would be a mere redundancy !