03 JANUARY 1967------03 JANUARY 2014------03 JANUARY 2067
Some dates you never forget------they etch on your memory because they were the turning points in your life.
This day, 47 years back, on January 03, 1967 to be precise, I had joined National Defence Academy at Khadakvasla, Pune, Maharashtra . I was a young man of 17 years with lot of dreams of the future which was yet to unf...old itself. This was sure a turning point in my life. Hereafter I was to don olive green till I came out of it in September 2003.
How has the journey been, you might ask? It has been of agony and ecstasy. Agony, because a number of sad things took place----- I lost my near and dear ones; environments I grew up to be 17 years old have disappeared; nothing , just nothing has remained the same, so much so even my physical profile has undergone a change. This does agonize me. I yearn to be amongst the same people and same environs. I say to hell with all this modern gadgetry, communications and awareness level.
Increase of Knowledge and information have separated everyone from every one. More knowledge and education have made us merely aware of our animal instincts and nothing else. They have individualized us because everyone now yearns for SELF IDENTITY.
We have become a human jungle. Thus, the laws of the Jungle have become applicable to our existence. Darwinian concept of SURVIVAL OF FITTEST holds good not only in the physical structure of the mammals but it also incorporates economic and community strength. The family, community and the national interests have been dwarfed by desire to seek SELF ADVANCEMENT at whatever cost. Social relations have fallen apart. Everyone is on his own. Social institutions are becoming almost defunct. Definitions of family have changed.
In June 1967, during a term break from NDA, when I went back to my village, BALACHAUR, I had an outing in a different house for every meal of my 15 days stay. There was so much love and affection----- there was great sense of belonging----- you touched every elder's feet and got the blessing.
In January 2014, hardly any person in my own street in BALACHAUR knows me. What to say of my village, even the place, I have been living for the past 11 years, people in my block (15 houses) do not know me, though I might be the President of the society of 332 houses. We are strangers in a human zoo.
No, no!! You got me wrong. I am NOT looking for recognition, nor I am lamenting about the present state of affairs. I am only drawing the differences between THEN and NOW. It is up to you to decide as to what was good for your social living. It is for you to know what brings in the SOCIAL HARMONY. it is for you to evaluate what creates MUTUAL BONDS. It is for you to learn how Love begets love and respect begets respect.
It is a UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE that unless we care for others; they won't care for us. Why are there rising cases of Corruption and violence? Have you ever wondered? It is because everyone is on his own. There is lawlessness and disorder in our social, political and individual lives.
Why is this lawlessness? My take is : TO GAIN SOMETHING, ONE HAS TO LOSE SOMETHING. The principle of ZERO SUM EQUILIBRIUM is as applicable to our social and political life today, as it was applicable in the days begone. We have to sacrifice some of our freedom and liberty to feel safe and secure. We can promote FREE FOR ALL environments only at peril to our own existence.
Society and the polity needs to be disciplined. Fear of authority , which has disappeared because of individualisation of society and the polity in its variant forms, has to be re- established. Regionalism, Castism and religious manifestations are the social and political variants of "Individualism", I have been talking about.
Having said all this, I must now take a look at the GLOBALISING WORLD. George Friedman has called it a FLAT WORLD. Alvin Toffler, in his treatise on social transformation had stated in POWER SHIFT that world shall split up into 5000 states and concept of Nation State would disappear. Instead, we would have some 5000 inter connected but interdependent ECONOMIC NODES flourishing in the world, somewhere around the advent of 22nd Century. Simple,in your computer language , they would all be MICRO DOTS ON A BIG COMPUTER CHIP called the Globe.
What is likely to happen , then? Why am I harping about the glory of the past, which is not retrievable? I say I was only tracing the path of human journey from a MASSIFIED SOCIAL SYSTEM to interconnected DEMASSIFIED SOCIAL SYSTEM. Most of my life I had lived in that era ---- so, I liked it.
What seems strange to me, might not be the same to Gen "X" and Gen "Y". They would grow up in the new social system, which is perhaps would endear them. But they might feel the same way, some FIVE DECADES LATER, as I do now. Because the journey of the humans continues forward.
Alvin Toffler had defined this journey of humans into THREE waves----- First wave of Agriculture; Second Wave of industrialization and Third wave of Information Age , which started somewhere around 1950s. He has defined them as periods of shifting emphasis of POWER. George Friedman, in a some what oblique manner, has defined them as FOUR STAGES of GLOBALISATION. He laid emphasis on the economic factor leading to FLATTENING OF THE WORLD and thus, man becoming a CONTINENT HOPPING MAN. Globe becomes a real village. And it is happening. SILLICON REVOLUTION has reduced the geographical distances. Well, this revolution might be SILLY and CONING, too. So, remain mentally alert to ward off its adverse effects.
Today, one can chat , face to face on Skype or hosts of other such sites, with your family members, friends and acquaintances. This is the impact of globalization. So, what has happened while the physical distances have narrowed down, the social and political distances have been increasing. We are living in our own cocoons. Welcome to the VIRTUAL WORLD, where you can live in total anonymity and yet be known all over the world.
This is the biggest paradox of human development in the last 50 years, I have talked about. While on one hand, he broke away from a joint family to create one's Self identity; on the other, he is deliberately effacing his identity in the Virtual world. There you are, then: In the REAL WORLD IDENTITY IS REAL, ACTIONS MIGHT BE UNREAL; AT THE SAME TIME, THE IDENTITY IN THE UNREAL WORLD MAY BE UNREAL BUT ACTIONS ARE LIKELY TO BE REAL, FROM THE CORE OF THE HEART.
" What is the paradox" , you would say? Simple, it is the crisis of growing "self confidence" but "distrust" in the things around you. It is a growing sense of materialistic insecurity that is driving man away from his environments. WHILE SELF RECOGNITION IS THE DESIRE OF EVERY HUMAN BEING BUT AT THE SAME TIMEBUT KNOWLEDGE AND FEAR MAKES HIM HIDE HIS IDENTITY. He lives in two worlds of "REAL" and "UNREAL".
Do you get me? OK, I shall explain it thus: People in my childhood were real both in acts and identity, it is not so in the world of today's i.e. IF A PERSON IS " REAL" HIS CONDUCT IS UNREAL; IF A PERSON IS "UNREAL" HIS ACTS MIGHT BE REAL.
"Where would we go from here", is the natural question on every lip? I would say from Alvin Toffler's transforming man from Agricultural to Industrial to Information, I would now add the FOURTH WAVE of COSMIC MAN------ we shall leap from CONTINENT HOPPING MAN or a GLOBALISED MAN to GALAXY HOPPING MAN or the COSMIC MAN, with their own values and social norms.
Therefore, my advice to Gen "X" and Gen "Y" is to get up and join the COSMIC BAND WAGON. My parting philosophy : WHAT WAS YESTERDAY IS NOT TODAY; WHAT IS TODAY WOULD DEFINITELY NOT BE THERE TOMORROW. Learn to live with the ARROW OF TIME. Like ever before, it continues to pierce into the abdomen of the unknown but well anticipated future.
May be the COSMIC MAN of tomorrow would be produced in the HUMAN FACTORIES, where human relations won't have any values. As it is the institution of marriage was now moving towards its extinction------the advent of "Stem cell technology" has reduced the need for a Man - Woman copulation for reproduction.
Stem cells might be made available in the market as VICKY DONORS have come to stay. Social and family relations and designation shall march into the dustbin of human history. Live- in partnership, single parent and "specific period marriages" are going to obliterate the designations of " Father" , " Brother", " Sister" and so on.
Hullo! What I have stated in the foregoing paragraph above, is going to be your journey over the next 50 years. Your leap into COSMIC AGE would throw you into isolation and solitude. So, learn to live alone.-----Here is to the COSMIC MAN of the future :----
LIVE YOUR LIFE, WITHOUT A WIFE;
LIVE IN A COCOON, SELF-GROOMED;
HAVE NO IDENTITY,IN YOUR ENTITY;
FACTORY BORN, LIVE LIKE A MORON.
WELCOME TO JANUARY 2067! CHHERS!! What drink do you have? I started with RUM, then graduated to whisky and now addicted to Indian made Scotch-----B/L or Black Dog. And now body says : CHHOD DE 'SAALE', FOR YOUR OWN GOOD HEALTH!!
Some dates you never forget------they etch on your memory because they were the turning points in your life.
This day, 47 years back, on January 03, 1967 to be precise, I had joined National Defence Academy at Khadakvasla, Pune, Maharashtra . I was a young man of 17 years with lot of dreams of the future which was yet to unf...old itself. This was sure a turning point in my life. Hereafter I was to don olive green till I came out of it in September 2003.
How has the journey been, you might ask? It has been of agony and ecstasy. Agony, because a number of sad things took place----- I lost my near and dear ones; environments I grew up to be 17 years old have disappeared; nothing , just nothing has remained the same, so much so even my physical profile has undergone a change. This does agonize me. I yearn to be amongst the same people and same environs. I say to hell with all this modern gadgetry, communications and awareness level.
Increase of Knowledge and information have separated everyone from every one. More knowledge and education have made us merely aware of our animal instincts and nothing else. They have individualized us because everyone now yearns for SELF IDENTITY.
We have become a human jungle. Thus, the laws of the Jungle have become applicable to our existence. Darwinian concept of SURVIVAL OF FITTEST holds good not only in the physical structure of the mammals but it also incorporates economic and community strength. The family, community and the national interests have been dwarfed by desire to seek SELF ADVANCEMENT at whatever cost. Social relations have fallen apart. Everyone is on his own. Social institutions are becoming almost defunct. Definitions of family have changed.
In June 1967, during a term break from NDA, when I went back to my village, BALACHAUR, I had an outing in a different house for every meal of my 15 days stay. There was so much love and affection----- there was great sense of belonging----- you touched every elder's feet and got the blessing.
In January 2014, hardly any person in my own street in BALACHAUR knows me. What to say of my village, even the place, I have been living for the past 11 years, people in my block (15 houses) do not know me, though I might be the President of the society of 332 houses. We are strangers in a human zoo.
No, no!! You got me wrong. I am NOT looking for recognition, nor I am lamenting about the present state of affairs. I am only drawing the differences between THEN and NOW. It is up to you to decide as to what was good for your social living. It is for you to know what brings in the SOCIAL HARMONY. it is for you to evaluate what creates MUTUAL BONDS. It is for you to learn how Love begets love and respect begets respect.
It is a UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE that unless we care for others; they won't care for us. Why are there rising cases of Corruption and violence? Have you ever wondered? It is because everyone is on his own. There is lawlessness and disorder in our social, political and individual lives.
Why is this lawlessness? My take is : TO GAIN SOMETHING, ONE HAS TO LOSE SOMETHING. The principle of ZERO SUM EQUILIBRIUM is as applicable to our social and political life today, as it was applicable in the days begone. We have to sacrifice some of our freedom and liberty to feel safe and secure. We can promote FREE FOR ALL environments only at peril to our own existence.
Society and the polity needs to be disciplined. Fear of authority , which has disappeared because of individualisation of society and the polity in its variant forms, has to be re- established. Regionalism, Castism and religious manifestations are the social and political variants of "Individualism", I have been talking about.
Having said all this, I must now take a look at the GLOBALISING WORLD. George Friedman has called it a FLAT WORLD. Alvin Toffler, in his treatise on social transformation had stated in POWER SHIFT that world shall split up into 5000 states and concept of Nation State would disappear. Instead, we would have some 5000 inter connected but interdependent ECONOMIC NODES flourishing in the world, somewhere around the advent of 22nd Century. Simple,in your computer language , they would all be MICRO DOTS ON A BIG COMPUTER CHIP called the Globe.
What is likely to happen , then? Why am I harping about the glory of the past, which is not retrievable? I say I was only tracing the path of human journey from a MASSIFIED SOCIAL SYSTEM to interconnected DEMASSIFIED SOCIAL SYSTEM. Most of my life I had lived in that era ---- so, I liked it.
What seems strange to me, might not be the same to Gen "X" and Gen "Y". They would grow up in the new social system, which is perhaps would endear them. But they might feel the same way, some FIVE DECADES LATER, as I do now. Because the journey of the humans continues forward.
Alvin Toffler had defined this journey of humans into THREE waves----- First wave of Agriculture; Second Wave of industrialization and Third wave of Information Age , which started somewhere around 1950s. He has defined them as periods of shifting emphasis of POWER. George Friedman, in a some what oblique manner, has defined them as FOUR STAGES of GLOBALISATION. He laid emphasis on the economic factor leading to FLATTENING OF THE WORLD and thus, man becoming a CONTINENT HOPPING MAN. Globe becomes a real village. And it is happening. SILLICON REVOLUTION has reduced the geographical distances. Well, this revolution might be SILLY and CONING, too. So, remain mentally alert to ward off its adverse effects.
Today, one can chat , face to face on Skype or hosts of other such sites, with your family members, friends and acquaintances. This is the impact of globalization. So, what has happened while the physical distances have narrowed down, the social and political distances have been increasing. We are living in our own cocoons. Welcome to the VIRTUAL WORLD, where you can live in total anonymity and yet be known all over the world.
This is the biggest paradox of human development in the last 50 years, I have talked about. While on one hand, he broke away from a joint family to create one's Self identity; on the other, he is deliberately effacing his identity in the Virtual world. There you are, then: In the REAL WORLD IDENTITY IS REAL, ACTIONS MIGHT BE UNREAL; AT THE SAME TIME, THE IDENTITY IN THE UNREAL WORLD MAY BE UNREAL BUT ACTIONS ARE LIKELY TO BE REAL, FROM THE CORE OF THE HEART.
" What is the paradox" , you would say? Simple, it is the crisis of growing "self confidence" but "distrust" in the things around you. It is a growing sense of materialistic insecurity that is driving man away from his environments. WHILE SELF RECOGNITION IS THE DESIRE OF EVERY HUMAN BEING BUT AT THE SAME TIMEBUT KNOWLEDGE AND FEAR MAKES HIM HIDE HIS IDENTITY. He lives in two worlds of "REAL" and "UNREAL".
Do you get me? OK, I shall explain it thus: People in my childhood were real both in acts and identity, it is not so in the world of today's i.e. IF A PERSON IS " REAL" HIS CONDUCT IS UNREAL; IF A PERSON IS "UNREAL" HIS ACTS MIGHT BE REAL.
"Where would we go from here", is the natural question on every lip? I would say from Alvin Toffler's transforming man from Agricultural to Industrial to Information, I would now add the FOURTH WAVE of COSMIC MAN------ we shall leap from CONTINENT HOPPING MAN or a GLOBALISED MAN to GALAXY HOPPING MAN or the COSMIC MAN, with their own values and social norms.
Therefore, my advice to Gen "X" and Gen "Y" is to get up and join the COSMIC BAND WAGON. My parting philosophy : WHAT WAS YESTERDAY IS NOT TODAY; WHAT IS TODAY WOULD DEFINITELY NOT BE THERE TOMORROW. Learn to live with the ARROW OF TIME. Like ever before, it continues to pierce into the abdomen of the unknown but well anticipated future.
May be the COSMIC MAN of tomorrow would be produced in the HUMAN FACTORIES, where human relations won't have any values. As it is the institution of marriage was now moving towards its extinction------the advent of "Stem cell technology" has reduced the need for a Man - Woman copulation for reproduction.
Stem cells might be made available in the market as VICKY DONORS have come to stay. Social and family relations and designation shall march into the dustbin of human history. Live- in partnership, single parent and "specific period marriages" are going to obliterate the designations of " Father" , " Brother", " Sister" and so on.
Hullo! What I have stated in the foregoing paragraph above, is going to be your journey over the next 50 years. Your leap into COSMIC AGE would throw you into isolation and solitude. So, learn to live alone.-----Here is to the COSMIC MAN of the future :----
LIVE YOUR LIFE, WITHOUT A WIFE;
LIVE IN A COCOON, SELF-GROOMED;
HAVE NO IDENTITY,IN YOUR ENTITY;
FACTORY BORN, LIVE LIKE A MORON.
WELCOME TO JANUARY 2067! CHHERS!! What drink do you have? I started with RUM, then graduated to whisky and now addicted to Indian made Scotch-----B/L or Black Dog. And now body says : CHHOD DE 'SAALE', FOR YOUR OWN GOOD HEALTH!!
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