I was passing by an old street which I had last seen about 10 years ago and there are these constant analogies in my head that are trying to connect the present to the past. Memories have two dimensions, outside and inside. Memories of the inner dimension constantly compare your current status to that of the past and tries to satisfy the ego of a better living. The outer dimension is the physical stuff which tries to remember the color of a building a decade ago, the name of provision store that you visited often, etc. For a change to happen and be felt both the inner and the outer dimensions should change.
Check out a post I wrote about ‘10 things that changed around me as I grew up’
So what is the distinction between a change and a revolution? I was trying to plot a graph in my head and this is what it turned out like:
So this is how it turned out after all the tweaks and adjustments I made considering time value and all the factors that cause a ‘revolution’. Often revolution is used to describe a political change like the American Revolution that took place between 1765 and 1783 and the French Revolution that took place between 1789 until 1799. One thing common though is that these revolutions didn’t happen overnight.
Exasperation or annoyance could be a primary factor driving a revolution. But however, innovation is another factor contributing to revolution. Innovation is strongly driven by necessity and necessity is different for different people. This is how it looks:
You are never fully satisfied in life, period. The necessity is very subjective and often requires a good sense of context to understand. We got tired of the buttons failing in the phone, needed bigger displays and hence the introduction of touch screen smart phones. We needed computers to be faster, hence more number of cores were integrated. My parents would still be happy with their Nokia’s, but I quite can’t imagine the life without a smart phones. The take away from this is that the luxuries of one generation is the necessity for the next.
I was further intrigued when I met a 10 year old kid who was complaining about the graphics in Call of Duty. It put me in such deep thought that I was thinking about how games like Road Rash and NFS would awe us. We were satisfied. We were happy.
The technology has not undergone a change but indeed a revolution. The fuel for this revolution is an un-parallel human spirit, the hunger for more. When some event is a driver for a group of people we can call it a movement, when it drives a country we can call it a change, but when a generation is driven it is indeed a revolution.
Revolution had two distinct effects, one on the physical world and on our own mental world.
The events that make us feel the need for a change is the Trigger point. As developing countries there are so many triggers in the economy but very few have the potential to drive a drive revolution. Our physical needs can be somehow satisfied but mentally we are very difficult to please. Similarly we can get used to traffic, we could get used to lesser oxygen in the air but very difficult to adhere to unrealistic laws and regulations. Democracy is one of the biggest scams in the history of humanity and we just seem happy to be scammed. When a revolution can change how a generation can think, then why are we ruled by our grandfather’s generations is something we have asked ourselves. The trigger point is very much noted but there is no driver for change.
I myself have told many a times that we should get in Dictatorship into effect. But that is with the pain that we have failed to utilize the system of democracy to the development of the society. So I believe each one of us is responsible for the scam and there is no point in blaming the politicians for it. Unlike in other countries, the common man is affected by corruption in our nation. But we as the subjects are doing nothing about it! We just complain and then we move on. This is the main reason for Democracy being made into scam is cos the opportunists use it to their benefits. How wholeheartedly did the aam janta support the agitations for the withdrawal of EPF being taxed? (Just an example) But because 10,000 garment workers took the issue, I believe lakhs of common people were benefited. We, just saw the news, cursed and moved on again!!
We definitely are in need of a revolution, but at the same time, aren’t we are conveniently ignoring the trigger points? Hopefully this shall end soon. How can we expect the government to understand our needs if we do not voice it? Why are qualifications required to crunch numbers in an organization when the country is run by idiots who cannot count?
Do we need a political change or a revolution?
The facts to any situation are often filtered when it reaches the media. Media is like a radioactive metal; it is good in the right set of hands. Why do we support gossip and the paparazzi when real life issues require attention? Facebook has a wider reach than any cable network in the world, Twitter has more insightful debates than the Constituency meetings, YouTube has bigger footprint than any advertisement poster. In this growing digital age the information flow is constant and unreliable. Newspapers are biased, radio channels play jingles amidst all the advertisement and almost all the applications in our phone dumps a load of advertisement.
Do we need a change in the media content or a revolution? To revolutionize is to adhere to one’s calling and not compromising in any aspect.
Development of a city is necessary, yes; but has anyone defined what development is? According to me, development is when laws are realistic, when cities breathe easily, when the government truly stands for people, when taxes are spent for the good of people and it is development when a common man’s vision is imbibed into the constitution. Corruption happens in all countries, we have kinda gotten used to it. But corruption is at its worst when it directly affect the common man. Anti-bribery acts are mere jokes to any government officials.
When democracy is the tool for corruption, is the government truly by the people and for the people?
Power and Water scarcity continues to be headlines in our newspaper. Wake up in the morning and you already know what will be on the first page. News has become predictable isn’t it? Let us ask for credibility. When a joker in a political family’s business can talk about the Right to Information Act, should we not? Let us question why the scarcities are not forecasted, let us question the methods, let us question everything related to governance.
By now this post seems like an outrage, maybe it is. Are we not by now used to the fact that we have to be outraged to demand a revolution?
One way is, the younger generation should start thinking of government jobs. Yes, how do you do that? Log on to a website which is updated once in one year filled with stupid popups which mean nothing. Be ready to be spammed by emails cos you have to register to get any further information. By now you will start hating the government job portals already. However if you make your way to file an application, you will have the syllabus with you. Quantitative aptitude and advanced English which do not make sense for the educational institutions to be included in their syllabus is what is required by the government. So begins another scam, Tuitions!
Go to the school spend time on a syllabus which helps you get nowhere to what you ultimately aspire in your life. And go the coaching classes to spend more time on the same stuff.
Where is the focus here? Should we actually need to complete our Masters to understand and to be able to do what we actually want to in life?
Here is the link to my post – 10 Thoughts about the education system.
Government job portals should be simplified, syllabus to be more in sync with what you are applying for. At least then the government will gain back those quality resources who are working for other countries. Well, maybe. Cos job satisfaction is another debate in a vertically imposed organization structures in the government.
We, this generation are the revolution. We should note the trigger points and we have to drive the change. When we drive a change we fuel a revolution. Let us create a better place for our grandchildren than what our grandparents did to us.
Global warming is real and it is here. Let us build a sustainable environment, let us drive a sustainable change.
The year 2015 ranks as the warmest on record. (Source: NASA/GISS). This research is broadly consistent with similar constructions prepared by the Climatic Research Unit and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And now don’t you feel that 2016 is warmer?
Greenland, a massive island and autonomous Danish territory between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is about 80% covered in ice. And the ice is melting at an alarming rate.
How much would all that ice melting result in? Pretty much the end of all the water front cities of the world. Greenland is Melting is a video that is truly touching and provides an insight as to how much of an impact we have on global temperatures.
Again, the question is: do we need a change or a revolution? If your answer is Revolution, then you are a part of it too.
Credits: NASA for climate data.
Ajay N Joshi for views on Democracy.