The days of education have come to an end for most of us, barring a few who are opting for higher studies. It has been quite a long (and happy) journey from LKG or PreKG to final year graduation. Nearly everyone is troubled about parting ways with college friends. It is difficult, but life has to move on. The closest of friends will definitely keep in touch for the longest of times. Almost all of us have decided what our future paths will be. Now it might be wise to decide how we are going to progress through those paths.
Either we can rush through day and night without caring for anything else in pursuit of our ambition and be the happiest person for two days after achieving it (before running behind the next challenge) or progress steadily towards the goal while giving due respect to worldly duties,relations and friends and at the same time being happy everyday. Yes, I do agree that winners chase their dreams relentlessly but even those people get their greatest ideas when their mind is at peace and out of work.
Some of my friends keep calculating how much money they need, how much they have to earn, where to save them and when to invest them. Planning ahead is important, but in the case of money, when does satisfaction come? 3 lakhs for a village house to 40 lakhs for a house in the heart of the city or 1 crore for a bungalow, the ranges vary for every need and everybody’s demand is more than their current status. One day we will have to realise that no amount of money will make us happy or secure. Ultimately, happiness is in the mind. Money is essential to life. But we earn to live and not live to earn.
Instead of spending so much energy in developing our children’s wealth, we can spend that time equipping them to develop what they want, themselves. I have always been impressed with the old Indian economic model which was praised by every traveler to this land. There weren’t many poor people nor weren’t the aggressive multimillionaires. Contention is the key to such a system. Money wasn’t distributed perfectly evenly, but money wasn’t everybody’s goal. There was more than a fair amount of sharing and charity and the society was happy as a whole (according to all the historians). When we have become more individualistic and self-ambitious, we have lost the ability to appreciate the value of neighbourhood, society and relations. For every minute spent in non-personal activity is assumed to be one minute lost in the race to become the richest and the most famous person in the country (or the world for some).
What were once routine things that people did in the olden days have now become social services worth a medal. There aren’t anybody to take responsibility even to push a stone off the road, for it might cost them valuable seconds. I request all those who read this to view one of my favorite videos that i have added below. You can also share your views on this topic and argue against it. I hope that you will all take responsibility in the society when it matters, for I always believe that if people with ability and values do not take responsibility, then it falls into the hands of those who lack either or both of these which is good for nobody.
so basically u make the people readin tis post to either revert back to the olden days or to live responsible in tis world[as of now] wat ever others may be or do. . anyways its a nice content. .
1 idea. . since the video is from youtube u can go edit this post. . at the end of the post add the video
on the top right corner of ur edit window u have an option called add media. . in tat u can add videos also. . .
jus give the link in tat and save the post. .. the video will run in ur blog itself. .
By: arvindponniah on April 9, 2008
at 5:52 pm
also align the post with justify da. . .
its odd to read. .
By: arvindponniah on April 9, 2008
at 5:53 pm
Hmmm…The only permanent thing on this world is change.Times are changing and so are people.If you want people to revert back to olden days,will anyone be satisfied with just a dhothi or a piece of land as in olden times?All of us have moved to next level-everyone has an ambition and is working for it.True,we have landed ourselves on the moon but don’t know our neighbours.Yet I consider going back to olden practices and reforms quite absurd.The solution would be to balance things around you.Grow rich and the same time generous.Our culture still teaches us to love our parents and everyone related to us.It is not like eveyone has become a zombie with no feelings.Probably we have to accept the change because we are the reasons for the change too:)
By: subs on April 9, 2008
at 10:00 pm
Thanks subs… that was pretty insightful. Our culture has ensured family connections till now, but it remains doubtful how long it will sustain against persistent attacks in the name of individual liberty. What has this unending quest for bigger money resulted in is lesser values. Once showing duplicate medical bills is an exception, now it has become the norm. Even in our politics, old timers and people who are driven by passions other than money (like say Narendra Modi, Advani, etc) have proved to be incorruptible and strong executives. Many communists also believe in communism more than making money.
Yes, we cant go back and we need to find a balance. But how do we find that balance? I think we need to inculcate our value-system into school and college syllabus and ensure that our children know that there are things other than money in life. In olden days, it was spirituality; now, there might be some other solution.
By: aravindang on April 10, 2008
at 7:47 am
really cool video da. . . i liked it very much . . . tought of tis a lot of times wen i got caught in traffic near kasi arcade t-nagar. . . the signals there will not function at all. .. n also no police man available. . . hope every1 who uses tat road should c tis video. .
and also subha stated a piece of land in those days. . who had a piece of land. . . at rs.10 per acre was the highest price of a land. . . every1 would have had atleast 1acre atleast. .
By: Arvind G Ponniah on April 10, 2008
at 9:04 pm
basically if the children are allowed to take up r choose their own interests then everything would be fine. . most of the schools n colleges r insistin on subjects tat r not even needed for a day’s life. . instead the staff n parents of the children should take intense care on the children n also monitor as close as possible to find wat best qualities he/she has n develop tat accordingly. . many people n 2day’s india dont choose there study group[ atleast upto the UG level]. . wen a time comes to choose their own study n also wen they develop their skills n their areas of interest then money would not be their concentration. . .they’ll work on their specific track. . .
By: Arvind G Ponniah on April 10, 2008
at 9:12 pm
Rs.10 at that time was a huge amount man. Remember, they dealt in half anas(3 paise) in those days. Also land and real estate’s importance wasn’t realised then. Only those interested in agriculture bought lands.
Yes, the students should be allowed to choose their field of interest at least after twelfth. Then our country can become a talent ocean rather than being a machine producing engineers. It will take more education and time for parents to realise this. Until then every child has to bear the brunt of competitive pressure.
By: aravindang on April 10, 2008
at 9:28 pm
Worthy Post! I once got a forwarded mail which had a photograph of the letter written by some British lord (guess its Macaulay) to Brit Queen regarding the introduction of education system in India. The gist of it was that India has no beggars and every body has wealth and the only way to spoil them is to develop a passion for Foreign language and culture. He was a visionary and here we are! the result sets. I am not able to find that mail in my mail box.
But you can view about what Macaulay system did to us here:
http://www.geocities.com/ifihhome/articles/kbn001.html
Apart from schools, even the parents have the greatest responsibility in this. Nowadays, a person getting a low sal gets married after a frustrating search. this applies to both the gender. you get the picture right.
@subs: Of course, you cannot go back to olden days but you can bring back them. Not as a revolution but slowly in years. You instill these qualities in your kith and kin and let it propagate from there. After all history repeats itself, at least in the name of fashion. The best example is the dressing. Hope our culture repeats itself.
By: sampath on April 11, 2008
at 7:24 am
1acre = 100 cents da. ..
5.5 cents = 1 ground or 2400 sqft
if u can build a large house in a ground then think of the amount of grains they can grow in tat area. . in those days agriculture was the major occupation for all. . . only a very few became merchants. . .
so every1 would have had lands for sure. . . not an acre. .. but atleast some. . still many places in tamil nadu have waste lands n also lands tat belong to nobody. .
some local people and also some wel known politicians, with the help of the VAO[village administrative officer] and Thalayari[ assistant of the VAO] transfer those lands in their name. . . subsequently the registration s also done. . .
In those days wen population was so less and the lands being numerous jus think any1 can capture and claim that its their land. . .so basically it becomes a free of cost land for them. .
Only in 1971 wen a rule came tat no more than 5 acres can be had by a single person n a land ceiling operation was done, many lands came in to the govt hands. . . it is those lands tat the govt s still distributin as 2 acres per head to the needy. .
By: Arvind G Ponniah on April 11, 2008
at 11:52 am
Nice post. Though money is not everything, and the mad persuit of money seems to be the only goal of thr young, at some point oflife they would come to know about the impotence of money in major issues. I hope it is not too late by then.
Destination Infinity.
By: destination infinity on April 13, 2008
at 3:35 pm