Saturday, December 6, 2014

The Lonely Voyage -- Old Age.

A lazy and dull winter afternoon.
Tuned in to Pink Floyd's "High Hopes". 


It is the time for the semester exams in my college. But it is a Saturday, the day which I eagerly wait for -- the day to publish a blog again. 

Yesterday it was about midnight when I received a message from a friend on WhatsApp. It was a picture message. Roughly describing, it showed the three stages of life and mocked at the timing of the things which we own at each stage.


  1. Teenage, when we have enough time and energy but we lack money, which is obviously understood by all college or school going students at a point of time. 
  2. When we are in a job is the period when we lack time, but we have enough energy and money. 
  3. Old Age, when we have both time and money, but lack energy. 
This message got me thinking and thus my blog this week. 
Is energy is the only thing we lack when we become old?



As had been said by Warnick in 1995:

Aging is a series of processes that begin with life and continue throughout the life cycle. It represents the closing period in the lifespan, a time when the individual looks back on life, lives on past accomplishments and begins to finish off his life course. Adjusting to the changes that accompany old age requires that an individual is flexible and develops new coping skills to adapt to the changes that are common to this time in their lives.

Loneliness or loss of company is one of the most commonly faced woes of old age. Old souls find themselves abstract and not being able to communicate with the present world. It is because of many reasons, one of which will always remain to be the huge generation gap. The ever-changing world. How can they connect to the present world, when we, in our early or mid 20s, feel a gap between us and the school going students now-a-days? 
A popular joke in Facebook says, when we were in Standard Five, we thought about cricket matches. But what do the present Standard Five guys do? WhatsApp and Facebook. When we used to worry about what would happen to our favourite cartoon serials in the next episode, children are now worrying when will the next iPhone be launched. 

When no one is there, there is myself. 

Another most discussed reason of loneliness among males is the death of their better halves.

"When women die, people drift away from the man left behind", says John, 73, a widower to a BBC journalist.
They find themselves out of piece and are not able to fit in with the present generation. And the more they try to fit in, they feel older. 

When we see an old man plying on a scooter alone, we think how happy their lives are. They don't have a tension in the world. But at wintry nights, when we happen to share our beds with our near and dear ones, they sit on a chair near a fireplace in an empty house, tuned in to retro music.
Returning to an empty bed.



Old-age homes are present in almost every city in today's world. The people who think it is a burden to look after their old parents must opt for old-age homes than making them suffer by keeping them alone. Or, just try to cooperate with them. Think what they suffered to bring you up. Think what tantrums we used to throw in childhood. And think what they want now. Maybe, just a dinner with the whole family at night would suffice. 

Make them happy. Maybe, we would want the same when we would be old. Give them some time. Be blessed. 

Friday, November 28, 2014

The Education-for-all Movement

This is my second post on my blog. My blog has been indexed by Kolkata Bloggers and I am too excited about this. So this time, my post would be regarding the campaign which had been started by Indian Government during 2000-2001, the Education-for-all Movement or the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. 
 The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a programme, which was taken up by the Indian Government to universalize elementary education for children of age 6-14 years completely free of cost. The programme was pioneered by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 


As had been published in Wikipedia:
"As an intervention programme, SSA has been operational since 2000-2001. However, its roots go back to 1993-1994, when the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched, with the aim of achieving the objective of universal primary education. DPEP, over several phases, covered 272 districts in 18 states of the country."

But now the question: This mission which had been operational since 13 years; is it really a success? 
By the terms of masses and popularity, it had been a huge success. Large number of students are seen carrying their bags and reaching the elementary schools in the morning hours. 

But are they really taking it seriously? I don't think so.

 Recently, the government has also introduced the free lunch system in these elementary schools. But that only increases the regularity of the pupils. 

 The main population of these schools are students from the families which are below the poverty line or maybe, just above them. Usually, their parents are mainly indulged in works from where they do not earn too much money to be able to feed an idle mouth. 
The families are not supportive enough; maybe, that is the underlying problem. They are admitting their children to these elementary schools just for the free lunch they receive after the day; not for the studies. Due to this lack of sincerity of their families, the students are not seen too inclined towards education too. They are more interested in doing things other than studying, maybe because they know. They know from the core of their hearts that their lives are ought to be spent the same way as their parents. They know that they also have to work from when they become teenagers till they die, with one thought in mind: Food. 

Conclusion? The term which had been in our minds since childhood. The term which we had to memorize in our Sociology books in schools. 

POVERTY.

That evil which strands half of India's population. 

Needless to say, governments are seen to take sports and league matches seriously and spend crores in them, when more than half of the state's population is craving for three square meals a day. 

So, ask yourselves. We had been studying since kindergarten that Indian is a "developing" country. Shall our generation even see that day India is finally a "developed" country?

Last Sunday, I went to the KFC outlet in South City Mall. I saw a small notice put up at the counter that for every bill, they are charging Rs.3 (I don't remember the exact amount) to be given to the NGOs who work to eradicate poverty. A disclaimer had also been given that if you don't want to pay the amount, you can ask them and they will deduct that. 
Just as I was thinking who would do that, I saw a guy (with his girlfriend) asking to deduct that money. Yeah, that three rupees. My jaws just dropped and my head bowed in shame.

Don't do this. Be aware. Share what you have. Let all of us live good. Make our short lives a fruitful stay. 

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

The Howrah Bridge.

The bridge that never tires.
This first picture of mine is about the most iconic monument in Kolkata and the one that bring a wave of nostalgia in our body, The Howrah Bridge.
Camera: Canon EOS 1200D. Aperture: f/10.0. Shutter Speed: 1/250s. Focal length: 55mm. ISO: 100.
Howrah Bridge, located over the Hoogli River in West Bengal, India, is said to be the busiest bridge of the world. It got its name owing to the fact that it connects the city of Howrah to Calcutta. Hawrah Bridge in Kolkata, India, also known by the name ‘Rabindra Setu’, was set up in 1874. It stands on two 270 feet high pillars. Calcutta Howrah Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge that was constructed without using any nuts and bolts. Though, earlier it had a tram route, but presently, it is serving mainly as a Road Bridge. Howrah bridge has got two sister bridges also, namely, Vidyasagar Setu and the Vivekananda Setu that are situated at different points over the hoogly river. This bridge acts as an important symbol of Kolkata.
INTERESTING FACTS AND INFORMATIONS ABOUT THE HOWRAH BRIDGE
  • The design of the bridge was made by Rendel, Palmer and Tritton and the bridge was constructed by Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company. The bridge is maintained by Kolkata Port Trust.
  • Howrah Bridge ranks 6th among the cantilever suspension type bridges. At the time of construction its rank was 3rd.
  • The construction of bridge was started on 1936 and ended in 1942. It was opened for the public transport on 3 Feb 1943.
  • After the name of Rabindranath Tagore (first Asian Nobel laureate), On 14 June 1965 the bridge was renamed to Rabindra Setu.
  • The bridge was made by steel and one of the suppliers of steel was Tata Steel. It consumed about 26,500 tons of steel. An amazing thing about the bridge is that no bolts and nuts were used in this bridge. The structure was made by riveting the steel.
  • The length of the bridge is 705 meter and width is 71 ft with two footpaths of 15 ft on either side.
  • It carries a large number of traffic daily. About 1 million vehicles and 1.5 pedestrians use it. It is the busiest cantilever bridge in the world. Though the first vehicle to use it was a tram, from 1993 trams were stopped from using it to reduce the load.