Our First Telephone

India is the second fastest growing country in the world. According to IMF, India will be the second largest economy on this planet by the mid of this century. No doubt, the GenNext will enjoy all the privileges that now west do. Though, it will be interesting to see how the contemporary generation will react to the paradigm shift in their lifestyle. However, till today, they have been adaptive to the drastic change in the last two decades. For example, the emergence of telephone in our country has played a big role in defining new India, that some call, ‘Shining India’.

There was time when if you had applied for a telephone (Landline); you would have to wait for long time to get a connection. I mean about 5-10 years and this is not long before, just 15 years back. I remember when my dad had applied for a telephone connection in around mid 97. At that time, I had no idea what it could possibly do except talking. I had never dialed a number before. My dad 1000 miles away from us used to communicate with us through postal letters, which means 10-15 days.
My uncle was the first person in our village who got a connection after waiting 8 years, in 1999. It was a remarkable achievement by the villagers. Everyone was so excited. That was the time I realized for the first time that telephone could be a necessity. It was like the whole world is connected to the village. His number became the public number which could be given to your friends and relatives but only for making important calls. Nevertheless, he was quite happy with this recognition. It was not long when he realized that it was getting a headache with 4-5 messages to be delivered everyday.

I have never bought a lottery ticket, but it was no less than winning a lottery when we got our own telephone number. It was exhilarating, like we have a new born baby. I was desperate to hear the ring. And there it goes! , ring ring! Our first call, my dad picked the phone, it was from the telephone department congratulating us on our new connection. The whole next week was like a big event.
That was my first Telephone.

But, then happened the unfortunate event, it stopped working, which they were calling 'it is Dead.’ For a day or two, I literally thought, it was dead and we have to again wait for next 8 years. My dad said he had made a complaint and they would soon fix it. It was like you have come alive, through a deadly disease. The next whole month was gloomy, waiting for the lineman every day. He was at the lowest rank in the telecom department. Nonetheless, the most respected person as if he was a very high government official. Every time he would visit he was offered tea and sweets, much respected job.

Let's take a jump to the present. Now, every second person in the village is having a Mobile phone, forget about a landline telephone. If you have 20 bucks, you can get a mobile handset with lifetime connection, all this in 10 minutes of procedure, compare it with 8 years we had waited. How does this sound to you? Well, it is not surprising to me, because I have seen the transition and expect more revolutionary developments to come in future. Though, the amusing fact is that after a surge in the telephone connection with around 35 connections, in the village, within 6 years, 1997-2003, it has gone back to its solitary period with just two connections at present.

Moreover, my grandma, who doesn't even know 'E' of English uses a Nokia handset. Astonishingly, she can make a call, though, she can’t count. But, this is just the trailer of the movie that we are going to see in next 30 years. But for me, I still love the ringing of my mobile the same way I used to do with my first telephone. However, I miss the excitement of the first ring. Anyways, the world relies on change and who knows even the mobile phones would be obsolete some time.

What is Education all about?

I still remember the day,when one of our teachers asked each one of
us, what u want to be in your life. I was in 5th standard. Everyone
was coming up with 'Doctor' or 'Engineer'.I wanted to say something different. At first, I thought pilot, but just then somebody else said,
'Pilot mam'.' damn it!, I said to myself. Recently, I had watched a
program on Discovery about some scientific discovery and then
came the idea to my mind. It was my turn. " I want to be a
scientist mam," I said. " Why do you want to be a scientist?"
she asked ,surprisingly. Wait a second, can I have one more
chance, I asked myself.

Well, it is hard for a 11 year old child to figure out what he or
she wants to be in life. But , that is the age when the important
path of your life is decided upon. Unfortunately, our education
system is not designed for such a decision making. I am a victim
of CBSE or NCERT, whatever you say, they are both sisters.
The exams are based on 'What' and 'How.' And the guy who
crams the last night, is the first in the class(It is the case
most of the time, I am not talking about you). The general
pattern is like the more you eat , the more you vomit the
next day and the more marks you get.

If I get 65% , I am an average guy. But if you get 95% ,
you are an intelligent. So, the very definition of intelligence
in based on how many marks you get or I should say cram.
The recent report of the Kendriya vidhayala (KVs) education
system has shown that when it comes to application questions,
you see a waterfall curve.

Lets take my example, the marks obtained by me (average guy ,70%)
in class 10 ,helped me to get into 11th with science(Non-medical) ,
after that nobody asked,how well I did in my last class. Then
came the semifinal, I mean,12th , again the poor guy scored
an average 70%. But I was happy this time,at least they(JEE/IIT/AIEEE)were treating me in the same manner as the guy with 95%,hurray!!. However,I got into a REC,doing things which
I didn't have any interest. But I had to do for a blue-collar job.

After four years of intense Engineering, I made it into an IT
company ,where they had an entrance exam based on 10th
level Maths and general English. No differential equations,
integrals, chemical compounds, Newton's Laws, nothing that
I had been reading for the whole of my life, is asked, other
than one alphabet of English language,'C.' If you know it ,
you are in.

Anyways,it sounds good getting 20K/month, sitting on a
bench(no work) and getting promotion ,sitting on a bench
again. Suddenly, the global market goes down.Guess what?
I got an email from the company" You are laid off." My first
reaction, 'WTF.' After taking some time to digest things,
I wondered, if I had found the answer to my teacher's
question(Why), I would have been doing something ,
which I would be interested in. I studied all the 'Whats'
and 'Hows' but forgot to study 'Whys', Which could have
decided my future, my career. The career , I could say,
yes, this is what I am and I always wanted to be.