Sunday, May 19, 2013

I Live


A Tale of Two Lives

This is not the exhaustive description about me but I have given an outline of my life in a few lines. This is an article I wrote as my MBA course assignment on Impact of Globalization on lives pertaining to people I closely know.

My Father: My Hero
‘Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws.’ My father used to say this line frequently when I was a kid. I asked him once what that meant. He explained it to me that it is a sonnet by William Shakespeare. I could never figure out during those times what exactly he intended to explain to me. Anyways, this line was followed by many other lines too but I don’t remember them. But by this line he meant that the passing time is blunter than the paws of a lion. He has always been my inspiration for simplicity, Honesty, Character, Hard Work and many more for that matter.
Now when I look back to those days, I realize that life is too short to understand everything and I was unaware of the practicalities and transitions in lives. But we should strive to learn every moment.
My father’s life is confined to my village. He does not have access to anything beyond his good old radio. I don’t see any impact of Globalization on his life and those like him.
.
Here I Come
I was born at a school in Begusarai, a small town in Bihar. Now you will think why in school. Well those were the times when there were very little medical facilities in Begusarai. Although even now when I look at the statistics, I see no town in Bihar has as many doctors as Begusarai. Still I have seen deaths because of Dengue and other health problems in this town. The quality of hospitals is very poor. They are still deficient at providing proper health supports. Patna comes in the list of cities. People still go to Delhi and other cities for even dengue like disease. Those times were really deficient. My father is a teacher by profession. That is the main reason why I was born in a school. Being born as second and only male child I was privileged to get extra care from my parents.
Villages are still deprived of facilities at par with global standard. There are still miles to go before the social equity is attained. Life in villages is far behind the life in cities. Globalization is yet to get a root in remote rural areas. Even domestically made goods don’t get access to villages and that leads to isolation of villages from mainstream world.

Back Home
After a few years of my birth my family shifted to our village. Those were the days when although there was electricity, it was confined to street poles. Houses were still lit by kerosene lanterns. I still have those lanterns in my house. What I mean out of what I have written here is that I was born and brought up in a dark world. The only light I remember was the love of people for each other.




When it comes to technological status of those times, I would say that we villagers did not even know what technology meant. All they had was a few radios for the news and
entertainment. ‘This is the voice of America from Washington DC and you are listening to the world news’ I frequently used to hear this line when I was a kid. The reason was that my father used to listen to the radio for news. I used to listen to either BBC or Voice of America. That is where I used to know about the outside world. I still remember a few names like Pankaj Pachauri, Ratnakar Bharti, Manikant Thakur and Hari Sandhu etc who were the news reporters for radio channels in those times. Everything I learnt in my village about International events and news was through radio.

Disparity
A Rajdoot and a Yamaha were the bikes I remember our village had. Cycles were the best mode of transport for a person or two. To carry more than two people they used bullock carts. They still use the carts for their logistics. There was no tractor for ploughing. Oxen were and are used for ploughing the fields for cultivation. People used to be the only technology for everything. Every aspect of social development was taken care manually. We still are mostly dependent on human power for agriculture based activities.

Coming to my life, as far as I remember I see changes in my life and my society. I got my primary education in my village in a private school run by my father’s friend. There was no culture of English in my village but as my father is a teacher he taught me English.

Left My Village (Gaon)
I got admission into Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in my town through competition. I became ecstatic and full of joy as the institution takes eighty selected students in the district through competition. It was the best experience of my life to having studied there. I still miss that place. Academically whatever I learnt mostly has been contributed by my boarding school.
I started learning things beyond my books. I came closer to the mainstream society. Here too system was introvert. They are less assimilative to outside world. I still find people there who do not want a change. Here too I do not see any visible impact of globalization.

Khanabadosh
When I passed this school with a decent marks, I got admission into one of the most prestigious schools of the then Bihar. Now that institute comes under the jurisdiction of Jharkhand. I did not know what happened there but I did not perform as a student. I wanted to be a doctor. But dreams stayed dreams as I did not strive to achieve it to my optimum capability.
To achieve this dream I went to Kota in Rajasthan. This town changed my life in other dimensions. Being a Bihari especially of rural background I was lagging at proper communication skills. Even though I knew what to speak, I did not know how to speak. I used to pronounce Larka for Ladka, Des for Desh, Bara for Bada and many more such goof ups. This was the town where I learnt how to communicate and develop interpersonal skills.
I could see a visible impact of globalization on people here. This city has its airport, Pubs, Hotels and tourist places in and around. Global culture is getting assimilated day by day. Before coming to this town I used to wear long shirts and pleated pants. This city taught me how to dress. Here I learnt how and on what to spend money.

Delhi: The Heart of India
One dream shattered, another began. I landed in Delhi! Now here changes my perception about the world. I was astounded on the vastness and beauty of the city. Imagine a kid who has not seen a good car beyond Maruti 800 in his life, comes across Ferrari, Mercedes and Lamborghini etc. It was a shock to my being and a cultural shock at the same time. I started hunting for an institute my graduation but none wanted me in as I had gap in my academics. I somehow got admission in an average college. Delhi showed me how huge this world is.
Delhi is truly one of the global cities in India. Here I came to know how much of disparity exists in our society. A mall is still something which 90% of rural population has not seen. People have direct contact with the outside world from Delhi. Here I could see the visible impact of globalization.

ASB
Having successfully done my graduation I arrived in Coimbatore for MBA. Here I realized that a small city can be truly global with the kind of technology, Culture (Corporate) and Economy. The exposure I am getting in this campus is worth praising.
Academic institutions can play a bigger role when it comes to letting society know about global changes and its advantages. I still see globalization as a nascent concept in rural and suburban areas of this country. In my point of view the facilities available here are of global standards. Be it books, technical support, faculties etc.

Aspirations, Concerns and Opportunities
Looking at my journey I see with optimism, lot many opportunities are awaiting for young Indians like me. India has become the centre stage for many big players in business vicinity.
At the same time there is concern that the rationale behind the concept of globalization should be accounted wisely as every coin has a flip side.
Because of integration in communication and economies of various countries it has become imperative that it should be shared wisely so that it benefits every strata of the society. This uneven distribution has to be taken care of.
This will lead to even more doors to be opened for every citizen of this world.

Another Life

My village is predominantly an agriculture based society so I will talk about a farmer who has not seen even Patna. This man has been a farmer throughout his life. I have been seeing him since my childhood. He has a few cattle and some land.
Deprived of every newer technology or any other facility for that matter, he has stayed the same for last 20 years. I have not seen a change in his life. Although he is earning a decent amount but he is not aware of developmental approaches. He works in the field without knowing about how to improve productivity. He is content with what he has.
Early morning he gets up feeds his cattle and milks them and then goes to his field for his works. For him his world lies in his house and field.
As far as I see he has stayed in our village as the village only is his world. He is less exposed to outside world. Lives in villages are still living life on their own without getting access to the outside world.

India We Have Forgotten: My Village
Similarities and Differences
 We still have the same rituals of village. We do not differ in those aspects.
 Our cultural basics are still same and intact. I do not see any significant evolution in that. Although I have assimilated to the cultures of outside world.
 For me things are changing with a rapid pace while for him his world is confined to his house and field.
 I will be impacted more when world changes while he does not care about what is happening internationally.
 For him even now barter system works. He gets his treatments done by ayurvedic medication.
 He still wears dhoti and banyan while I have seen gradual changes in my attires. That signifies the impact of exposure on me.
 I have kept on adapting regarding my food habits, my point of view towards world and my sense of understanding things. I find myself more adaptive to external stimuli of changes in the world While as far as I see he has been content with his lifestyle and I never saw him coming out of his comfort zone of his house and land i.e. Village.

A Changing India: An Equal Music
I am from rural background. I have seen the India of scarcity, disparity, deficiency. But in last two decades India has witnessed a significant growth and this I could figure out when I left my village to explore this country (My Country). When I look at what it was like twenty years back and what we have now, I see a huge transition. When I am in Gurgaon, it is like a different world but when I go back to my village I still see poverty, deprivation, malnutrition, illiteracy and many more such problems. I experience two different worlds altogether.
When I see the impact of globalization on our country I see uneven distribution of benefits. Riches are getting richer and poor are still poor excluding some of the exceptions. I don’t see a visible change in rural India but at the same time cities of India are growing at faster rate, thanks to globalization.

I am Changing: Shrinking Shirts (Thanks to Globalization)




So I can say that globalization has both the sides. It’s we who have to decide which direction we are moving in. There is always the threat of disparity which I have been repeating in this small story. There are pros and cons to this story.

No comments:

Post a Comment