People often talk about how we have lesser and lesser time for ourselves these days. If we take more than just a moment to think about the change in our lives, the extent of this change might be a big surprise. Maybe this doesn't hold for everyone, but I was astounded when I gave it some thought.
A case in point...a typical railway crossing in Lucknow. There is this gated crossing that one comes across while traveling from Hazratganj towards Cantt. The person who operates this particular gate really enjoys closing it at least 30 minutes before the train is anywhere in the vicinity of the crossing. It seems unlikely that the same person has been operating the gate for all these years, but if somebody else took over then he/she has the same modus operandi. As a consequence if the gate closes in ur face just as ur speeding towards the crossing in desperation, u can expect a long, leisurely wait.
I remember that when I was a school-going kid (I am talking 4th/5th standard here), we used to get stuck often at this crossing. Usually this happened while returning from our (more or less) weekly family trips to Hazratganj. I distinctly recall dad killing the engine, then him or me (usually him, since I was a lazy bum even then) going to this bhel-puri wala guy (who was always there) to get us some of that awesome stuff. We would all settle down for some together time...chat and joke around till we heard the whistle, which meant the train would pass the crossing in 5 minutes or so. At this point everyone would settle down in their "passenger positions", dad would have the engine running and we would start off as soon as the gate started rising. This happened so often that I have a clear memory of those times even now.
Now what happens? Everyone (including us) takes an alternate, crossing-less route which takes u via an overbridge, though it is a couple of kilometers longer. No stopping, no pointless conversation, no bhel-puri. The alternate route was always there, but in earlier years very few would mind waiting for some 30 minutes. In fact, I believe a lot of people cherished that idle time. I know I did. How often do u get opportunities when u don't HAVE to do anything, when u can actually lie back?
Probably it is the influence of a majority of families having less time and more money, an inevitable outcome of the rat race that has been on for several generations now. As quite a few people have already observed, we as a nation (at least the relatively privileged part of it) seem to be moving towards prosperity at the cost of true happiness and satisfaction. Is it worth it? I don't know, but I hope it is...because we sure are sacrificing a lot.
