A Historical Transition

One morning while I was surfing tv channels, a thought struck me which made me think and I was so overwhelmed by the thought, that I could not stop myself from penning it down. I consider myself and people of my generation (who have grown up with me) luckier than any other generation that I can possibly think of. Please keep the history books away for a while and so should be the famous Darwin’s theory.

The reason I made the above statement is because of the fact that we could see and experience human life getting changed like never before. Yes we have been a generation of transition. Having said that I am not pointing out that the transition will stop after us. This process has always been and will continue to happen as long as there is a last trace of life left on this planet. The point is that we had (though most of us never realized it) a chance to witness transition within transition. This may sound like philosophy or thoughts of person who has had a bad day. Well not really, let’s go straight to the pointers which will prove my point of view.





1. Television: This one is really interesting and something we can easily relate to.


What the coming generations will miss:

The generation which had lived before ours witnessed an era which can be summed up as the black and white television era. With the economy slowly getting better the first time the famous Indian middle class got the idiot box was during the 1982 Asian games. It was a historical moment which would change the face of entertainment in the coming decades.
But for that moment it was just a box with a picture tube that people were trying to get some idea about.So they had a set but where are the programs, all it took were a few days for the government to come up with a makeshift studio which was primarily beaming the games. Then the studio was institutionalized and Doordarshan came into being. There was no question of a remote control as flipping channels was out of question and Doordarshan was the Soul(ahem…sole) channel. The most remarkable thing this channel did was to redefine what Sunday could mean to an Indian. Waiting for rangoli, animation, dose of mythology and finishing with a hindi movie. Elders of the family used to be glued to the sets for their dose of news at 8 o clock in the night. Not to mention the path breaking series like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Buniyaad, Karamchand et al.

What the last generation missed:

Television has gone colored. It is the same world as ours; the characters are truer to life and you have more channels then hours in a day or may be years in your life span. The most important addition and addiction was none other than the remote control. Flipping channels became the national past time and a new definition was arrived at: the person carrying the remote had the control of the family. This small and miniature piece of electronics sometimes caused families to split. I am not trying to paint a negative picture for this generation, as there are some points which made television like never before. 20-25 years ago people would have found it impossible to think that the small television set would empower them so much that court cases would be fought with common man being apprised of the minutest of the details, or for that matter political leaders would start to fear at least something in this world. International quality programs would get beamed straight into Indian households. Television became the tool which empowered common man more than any other instrument. People of the earlier generation will surely miss the thrill of Reality shows (if at all there is any) and how can I forget the “sacred relationship between saas bahu”, which made the other members of the family virtually non existent.

2. Computers: well frankly I hate to talk about this machine but I just can’t refuse the due share of glory!!


What the coming generations will miss:

In India the computer entered right after the entry of big brother the television. Those were the days when government of India had received special aid from World Bank to computerize its operations and personal computers were imported into Indian shores.
I remember visiting my father’s office once and I still have vivid memories of the first personal computer of my life. That machine had a memory of 2MB and the CPU spanned a size of a full scale cupboard. The computer during those days only had MS-DOS operating system and multimedia could only have been an insane thought. Floppies were thrice the usual size that we all have seen and were ready to loose your precious data. It was a stand alone machine as networks and internet were still in incubator. Then came the internet and along with it an all new bouquet of tools which would eventually become the pillars of information convergence.

What the last generation missed:

There is an altogether different world existing which is called the virtual world. People of the earlier generation will surely get baffled to find out that office work could be completed from right within home, or teams sitting across different geographies could talk, listen and see each other as if they were all sitting together. A computer chip half the
Size of your thumb could score 300 GB of data and yes this is not the limit I am still counting. The good old snail mail is all set for disinvestment, and up now we have emails.
lightening fast, with lot more storage capacity which comes almost free of charge. The conventional cameras have gone for a toss and so are the accessories along with the complicated procedure of developing photographs, now its just click, save and print.
The online messengers have replaced the telephones for the wired lot by using IP for sending voice packets. The list is long and there is just no stopping.


3. Automobiles: A clear indicator or in many ways trigger of the industrial revolution (if I may take a wheel to be an integral part of an automobile).


What the coming generations will miss:

“Humara bajaj”, talking about the two wheeler segment this was the street cat of Indian roads for decades. With the way India was progressing or otherwise during the Nehruvian era and subsequent socialist governments, Indian roads were either non existent or were just so dilapidated that the best way was to walk your way through. India needed a piece of mean machine which could turn things on their heads and sail across. Bajaj was the answer to millions of Indian hopes. This rugged tiger ruled the roost and as a famous commercial tells, it became member of many middle class Indian families.
Now switching to four wheeler segment, the 70’s and the 80’s saw a big shift in this segment as people started switching from fuel guzzlers like Impala and Buicks to ambassadors and premier(aka Indian Fiat). All through the 80’s, you talk about a four wheeler and the above two brands had a monopoly. The shape and size of there cars were and indication of the era that India was going through. Ambassador moved widely with the government machinery and was widely known as the power carrier and rightly so it blocked the entry of any foreign brand from entering India as that could well be suicidal for it. Well this did not last long and towards the end of 20th century the sun was setting on these brands.

What the last generation missed:

Well by now “humara bajaj” was out of steam and even the manufacturer admits it. This is the age of innovation and collaboration as the new century India saw Indian and foreign companies coming together and giving Indian what they had never seen (assuming we are not talking about movies). The family feud was at its prime as 4 stroke engine read the obituary of the elder brother the 2 stroke engine. The power of the engine was increasing every month. Cut throat competition made consumer the king and now the consumer himself was directing the R&D. Now talking about the next segment, what the last generation saw were only four wheelers as they can not be called cars. The turn of the century saw not just new companies with cars but also multiple segments and each segment had a different target market segment with differential specifications and strategies. Maruti quietly(referring to the engine noise) replaced ambassadors and fiats as far as general people were concerned. With the gulf war during the nineties and brewing tensions in the Middle East fuel prices were at an all time high and Indian for the first time had to think of fuel efficiency. With Maruti they found out that a car can deliver up to 20 Kilometers/Litre. Since then Indian consumer has not looked back. The last generation was a complete alien to terms like MPFI, VTEC,DTSI, RTR etc. These are not just mere abbreviations these are milestones (sounds perfect) in the never before research & development in the automobile industry. The list goes on with environment friendly cars from battery operated ones to concept cars and the solar energy operated vehicles.

Stay tuned for what is coming up, and dont forget to give me your valuable comments.