How much has changed?

75 Years of India and its a Monday. For the last 4 weeks, I have been sharing some thoughts with you every week on a Monday. So, decided that today we shall take 5 mins out of our special day and look at how much has changed for us in these 75 years. There are so many things that we have started taking lightly. Especially now then ever due to information overload and the need by brands & media to make us look beyond what is to what we can be, to what we have achieved to what we could get. All this has done one major damage to our thinking. We have stopped valuing what we have and are always in the “need for more” mode. So let us see how much of this can be reset today with this short read from me.

75 years ago

• We could finally become a member in a Gym (Gymkhana)
• We had 1 airline (AirIndia)
• Rupee 1 was 16 Annas and each Anna was 4 Paise
• We had 100,000 landlines in the whole country
• We had 338 long distance calling offices in the nation
• Sending a post card (the only way to communicate) costed half an anna
• Highest Government Job’s Salary was Rs.2,000/- and lowest Rs.55/-
• Rupee 1 = USD 1
• 1 Gram of Gold costed Rs.88/- and 1 Acre of land was Rs.17,000/-
• All cars were imported and the cheapest car costed Rs.2,500/-
• 300 kids died for every 1 lakh births
• Life expectancy was 32 years, mid-life crises would be around 20 years
• We had 350,000 kilometres of road across the nation

These above, very few facts give you an understanding of the progress that we have made as a society, as a nation. It is unfair to take things lightly.

• Communications – We don’t have to be so angry and negative on things that we share with the world. Imagine just 7-8 decades ago, there was no way to remove our frustrations on to others, to dump our opinions, to pass judgements, to bring down someone else, even if we did not know them personally, to believe that posting on social media, whatsapp or even picking a phone to scream at someone is just a small thing is wrong in so many levels. We as a generation that is alive today are blessed to have what we have and it is our responsibility to do it right. To protect the basics of being humans, being a society, a nation and one in every form.
• Transportation – It literally takes 3 clicks on your mobiles to have a car standing outside your door. Today, we judge people’s status with the kind of vehicle they own. This in itself is so wrong. We are people who are children of those who could not even think about owning a car, that does not mean they were unhappy or not worthy enough. I remember in my childhood times, traveling to Chennai would mean changing 2 trains or 3 busses and recently I read some news that with the new expressway, it would take us 2 hours to drive to Chennai from Bangalore. That is where we are today.
• Life – As you read above, 30s is as far as we could live or were expected to live. I am myself 52 and active enough to beat a 20 year old in the gym. So, let us value this additional time that has been gifted to us. Choosing an healthy options for your meals, stepping out for a run, not abusing your body with substances or alcohol, sleeping for 7 hours and being positive about life is as simple and basic it can be. Question is, “what is keeping you away from it?”
• Relationships – The last year, I have put in a huge part of myself to create healthy relationships. Frankly, I am still on it and I know it is a “Work in Progress” till the end of line. But it is very important to have healthy relationships. Not relationships with labels as per the society. Like a parent, spouse, sibling, neighbour, relative, these names do not matter if they are unhealthy. So focus on healthy relationships, person who respects the other, is fair and not judgemental when it comes to actions and is able to put oneself in the other’s place and react accordingly.

Hope the coming 75 years, we all work towards leaving a world that has more progress made on people’s thinking, the openness in a thought process, the acceptance of other’s thinking and a life expectancy double to what it is now & just because we as humans are healthier, happier and more giving than what we are today. Value what we have and learn to share with no expectations.A very special Independence Day to all of you reading this and with tons of love, pride and dreams filled in my heart for this Power Nation, for all the Indians across the world, I end this here but hey, you know you can always discuss more with me though [email protected] or [email protected]