In 1980s, in Bangalore at least, we used to freely go to our neighbour’s home, sit with them, watch their programmes on tv with them and not really expect anything from them but sheer company of each other was all that was.
Come 1990s, city expanded, law of the land started allowing construction in unheard layouts. Banks started giving loans and middle class families could afford BDA sites, Banks started letting go of it’s employees through voluntary retirement programme/scheme. What it meant was a normal man had a bulk amount of money and there was an opportunity to buy a house! The 1980s luxuries of Color TV, Washing machine, own house, two wheeler or even fancy a maruthi 800 which were all status symbols of 1980s rich people. The society started gravitating towards defining these things as Baseline to show that their family has progressed. People who were not in banks and where they were working didn’t see the necessity of letting go of people and hence felt left out in the wave! Despondent these people started feeling that they should make bulk money atleast when they retired. That is when LIC schemes, PPF, Mutual Funds, Post office schemes and all became famous. By the time it was 1995, software industry started becoming a rage. It was paying obscene amount of money for its employees. Families which lost out on the wave of rich luxuries of 1980s started seeing this is an opportunity – never too late in the life. Now, what changed in the societal interaction was the same set of families which were going all very well with whatever they had started worrying about the future. Every other neighbour had a story that their relatives bought a plot and have invited them for a house warming ceremony. People stopped sending their kids to Ajji-Thatha mane (Grandfather/Grand mothers homes) during summer vacation but asked them to gain some skills so that it might give them an edge over others. Entire society was now anxious, nervous about the future at the end of 1990s. At the same time, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia opened it’s arms for foreign nationals to go and their lands. Some went to Gulf in search of jobs and more money. Some said Good bye to India by deciding to start a new life in some other land!! A normal family witnessed all of these in the forms of relatives/neighbours! It was no war, but a war like situation in the human minds! Value based programs on Doordarshan had lost it’s charm by the end of 1990s. Cricket made rich people out of normal men who made it to national team. Cable wars started – youngsters started watching 1970/1980s UK/USA sitcoms, Cartoon Network became famous. Video Games started becoming affordable and Chinese goods were dumped into cities and there were so many National markets which sold chinese goods. Death of Government jobs. Vivid Bharathi was soon to be replaced by FM which had young RJs. Politics was becoming more and more non-value based.
Come early 2000s, atleast these two things our society witnessed – one, the obscene amount of salary paying IT industry started sending it’s employees to USA/Japan/Korea/Germany/France etc., Which put a sort of question marks over the ability of a normal middle class family. Not just for normal middle class family but for anybody “Why can’t our sons and daughters go for foreign assignments??!!” “We don’t want our sons/daughters to sweat like us in factories, We want them to lead a comfortable life, AC office, computer, good salary, foreign trips!!” A normal family which was earning 8K by head of the family started seeing their kids pocket 35k to even 50K per month in a matter of a decade!! It was phenomenal. At the same time, people who had joined Infosys in the early days had their shares and it became a crazy news about how they became millionaires just by association. Society became hysterical reading these kind of stories constantly getting injected. With TCS, Infosys, Wipros, CTS, Accenture, HCL, etc., hiring 130 people a day in engineering colleges became headlines. At the same time, IIM B-schools grads getting 1 crore salaries became headlines. Now, the society’s bar started rising every day. 30K salary was seen a low salary by under-graduates. Mobile phones, Internet spread the news farther, further, faster! Orkut, Facebooks added fuel to this mad rush. People started finding their long lost friends and started verifying how they are doing compared to them. It was like a life’s progress/health report. “This fellow who was so poor in Maths and could not speak English, look at him he is now in Chicago!” Going to IIT/REC/NIT was always a fad but in 2000s it became more of a rat race. If you miss IITs/REC/NITs atleast try IIMs! So, the takers for CAT and other B-school entrance exams increased 100% YoY at some time in mid 2000s. People witnessed two Recessions back-to-back. Already a society was finding it hard in the constantly changing social bench marks couldn’t take the pressure and it became an open secret that in India it is just to difficult to flourish and there is too much rat race! True and false. Marriage market was the worst hit. A family which went for traditional search-match-arranged marriages were hit with harsh realities by both girls and boys sides. Each sides distraught decided that their son/daughter will not continue to suffer ignominy like this – “lets shed our values which is not relevant. We need to change according to times”.. and started forcing their kids to consider masters in foreign lands and further to citizenship conversion! The society had changed so much that every one kid in the family would keep the family awake in odd hours for Skype. Lonely old couples in big big houses became normal. People in cities started moving to metropolitan cities of foreign lands. People in villages started migrating to cities! Entrepreneurship became famous for making quick and large bucks! Social interaction meant -discussion about future based on 3 C’s (which course, which country, which company)! For a normal family – It was too much pressure to take. It was better to avoid social interaction and send their kids out than face the constant rancour of society against each other! Landlines died. SMS started and almost saw death. BSNL had competitors. GPRS was no longer used for just MMS!
Come 2010s, A decade into new millennium – people who were young and bold in 1990s were now old and old people in 1990s were no more (majority atleast – with them went away their values and their 60s/70s struggles?). The youth of 1990s started liking on Facebook and using Whatsapp. SMS and telegram was spoken in same pitch. What orkut/facebook did in early 2000s to bring back old connects Whatsapp did. In the noise of Facebook, people missed out on small talks and Whatsapp provided the avenue for photo sharing and festival/new year wishes. What used to be 1000 people and 300 kids in the marriage halls and house warming ceremonies now saw 100 people and 10 kids who were wearing glasses and speaking more fluent english than mother tongues. Discussed more about Football leagues in England/Europe/Basketball leagues in the USA! Duck faced selfies became a rage to an extent that people took selfies on every occasion warranted little freedom to take photographs! Society now had almost stopped interacting with each other as there were complete strangers from different, distant states eating/cooking/speaking different cultures and had a business like attitude towards their lands. Suddenly, the same place where the society set of now started seeing they have come way too far – way far from where they started! When they looked back it was very scary- they had lost so many people and society had changed – diminished values – low morals – sense of success changing every second! Following one’s own religion was now made political and called uncool and loud by media! Media interviewed future PMs to convicts to Headmasters of schools/colleges to policymakers to noble prize winners to religious heads in the same manner with no iota of respect! Society now has almost completely stopped integrating with each other. Each skype video call gives as much joy as meeting a family in person. Each hangout has more personal touch than a whatsapp photo! Facebook is almost dying! Whatsapp looks like is nearing it’s end!
What could be the future????? Completely virtual lives? Devoid of all societal interaction except on internet or on phones. Remote working. Order pizza online. Buy clothes online. Order provision stores stuff online. PAy from your mobile. Wear google glasses which tells you what to look at! Looks like Augmented Reality will consume the real world! I would imagine the future of the society interaction would be as impersonal as sitting in a picaddilly tube on a overcast cold December Monday morning in London, each passenger sitting and reading on their devices/newspapers/sleeping just worried about reaching their destination which feeds them and with pin drop silence!!!!
It’s not a shock as Alvin Toffler said but a society which has brought this on itself by constantly wanting what they don’t have!
Vasanth Vallabh's muse!! 