There is a wise saying that we must forget the past if we want to catch up with the future. I don’t believe it, because looking back recalls the hysterical giggles, and the bottomless sadness to remind us our past naughtiness’s. We are not going to peep into the affairs of others but our own, so there is no guilt involved in it. Don’t we get pleasure in remembering the fun and fabulous life while holding the arms of classmates and girlfriends that were like magnets refusing to let loose? It was easy for us to study faces and to tell whether it was a smile or an expression of sadness on our friend’s faces. We found pleasure in making comments about the stylish attires of girl friends to make them cackle, and to bring them closer. Their pain had given us a fatigued expression, and gut-wrenching frustration that stayed within us until everything became impassive. Girls think them sparkling wine when they are young but their future depends on how much pressure they could sustain to remain under the thumb of their mother-in-laws and do the daily exercise to touch their feet. Their red-carpet treatment depends much on the impact they would make to keep the home happy.
Our knapsacks were not heavy as that of youngsters these days. The talk of school girls held their chastity and waywardness. Corporal punishment was severe and there was no ill-will against the teachers who adopted the rule to spare the rod and spoil the child. The food was simple and unadulterated. The air was unpolluted. People lead a simple life with lot of physical work to do. The mode of transport was buses, horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. Folks thought of rural, peaceful life, and their road vanished into land of sincerity. Woman were gentle, submissive, who would squeeze their own need for the sake of a peaceful home. People believed in arranged marriages within the community, and pushed their wards among the community they had grown with. They never sought their approval or affirmation but were particular about the wrong caste and culture. To find a change in the system of our ancestors was not so easy, they never wanted to merit a second glance, so fussy they were in their rituals. We think of our past when we get testy with the unfamiliar system we are in.
Couples used to perform sex in the dingy corners of their houses and an open talk about sex was considered cacophonous as against teaching the functions of all organs of the body to youngster’s right from an early age. The experience of this type has resulted in a significant way in developed countries where girls have become unwedded mothers and the parents and teachers always remain in an agitated state with no solution in sight. The couples feel their personalities slowly separating, which previously balanced each other. This afternoon, one of many that I spent wondering about our future that had already started running, reminds me of worst time ahead. Why I am worried now and there was no revolt when I was young and innocent? It could be because I have smeared my hands in the guilt of modernity, which is now so dear to me. When we compare our present with the past we feel revulsion towards the system which has made the hell of our lives with several borders. We are in such a tight position that our liveliness has vanished.
Previously the intellect of the man was not forced to choose perfection and to remain tense during this competitive existence. During these days people remain busy and there is no respite from work in this competitive world. Folks in the past used to worship their deities to remain calm and free from worries and diseases. Instead of playing in the open they sit in front of the face book and get disturbed with the tinkle of their mobile telephones. We are worst sufferers now due to pollution, chemically processed food, and suffer with number of diseases caused by them. Our lives have been reduced to a mixture of good and bad, pushing us to feel weird. In earlier days people used to be humble and didn’t believe in hurting the feelings of others but to assuage their own fears. They showed a genuine admiration, believing in steady rhythm to have the inner beat playing quietly inside them. Presently we have become completely impatient and are living only for ourselves. We believe in shutting the past behind us as if to seal out the toxic waste of the unpleasant outside. Turning back neither looks welcoming to us nor do we want to receive the laughter that rolls up to greet us. But for how long, we have learnt to take pleasure from the fun and fabulous life we lead in the past. Our langotia’s (soul mates) are dearer to us from those who joined us later.
Our past leaders commanded respect because of their sincerity and sacrifices and thus there was no need of tight security for them. To uproot slavery people were ready to give blood, and the whole nation spoke in one voice. When we needed unity Mahatma Gandhi brought the nation together. God comes on earth in one form or the other when there is too much oppression. At this moment the gazes of the public turn cloudy and they need patting on their backs. A recent example is of Anna Hazare, a social activist, who looked into the past moral uprightness decided to eradicate corruption and loot by making India a golden vault, as once it was. The response he got was tremendous from all walks of people, as corruption is a nefarious practice plaguing the nation.
Looking into the past keeps the laugh for confusion in us to hold, and let us feel the emotions that burn within us.