The era of fountain pens and leather bound books

My gift for my 12th birthday was a leather bound diary which started my love for writing. I have lost that diary in the numerous times I have shifted my house, but the memories of writing in that book still lingers on. A leather bound diary is very exotic and harps on the old world, giving you the unique distinction of either being a romantic or an old foolish git. I still maintain a couple of hardbound dairies now to pen down my random thoughts and musings and it still feels exotic today.

Among my recent acquisitions are a couple of exquisite fountain pens. One of them is from a chinese company, which I must admit is very good in spite of the skepticism about their build quality. The other is a waterman, my truly prized possession in the recent century. The waterman I own comes with a black body and a chrome cap, writes a medium and is supposedly made in Paris. The reactions I have received to this ownership has itself been amusing, with some thinking it to be lower than a hero, and some throwing the "awwww...." in my face. I positively beam when people come to recognize my possession, and generally start dawdling about how people today no longer use the fountain pens. (yeah, I know I'm a materialistic freak....and the yada yada that goes with it!!!, but come on if I owned the monalisa wouldn't I beam about it??)

This is the age of I pads and net-books, writing being only an obligatory indulgence to the tech-savvy who would care to maintain a fountain pen. The banias and vegetable vendors are more than happy with the ball-points and would only care less to go searching for ink. The era of fountain pens as I see it is completely dwindling.

Age of Criticism

I was talking to one of my friends the other day and came upon a rather unique critique. This in many parts was a  discussion on the critique itself. The argument stressed on the point of expert critiques of the day and age. The first point of consideration was how good Rajeev Masand and Karan Thapar are, presenting an objective view to any argument.

Digressing a little from the topic we went on to talk about the opinionated world we live, everyone I know has a opinion on everything be it sports, entertainment, politics or scandals. No one even flinches once but is ready to give an opinion and debate on a unknown topic, and before there is a barrage of criticism against this let me clarify, I am also among the people who criticize and debate on varied topics.

The point I am trying to make here is this, we all criticize the government, the bad roads, the traffic jams, bad movies, bad songs, Himesh Reshamiya, Emraan Hashmi and of course Shashi Tharoor. We are ready to make a rap sheet and list the qualities in dry sarcasm or witless humor, sounding condescending or downright irate. The bloggers are especially the most unforgiving ones, one small scandal or wrong step and there are a flurry of posts presenting their varied opinions. A few tactful people pull off am amazing round up of the events but the rest are just left staring at their opinion drowning in the ocean of mindless drub.

The opinionated are more concerned about voicing their opinion however callow they might be. Its no longer about putting a valid argument but just putting an argument. You can say "the bird is flying" or "the cat is singing" in response to Tharoor's dismissal from cabinet and viola you are an epitome to Thapar's legacy of journalism and Kushwant Singh's humour.

All I am saying is its sometimes best to just shut your mouth and swallow your pride.

Darwin, survival and all that talk

Darwin, the father of evolution proposed the single greatest phenomenon in nature. He observed "survival of the fittest", a grand plan in the scheme of nature, a descriptive force only bettered by the might of creation. The laurels to the observation can go on.

This phenomenon has single-handedly defined our generation. In many ways we are stuck in a rat race which we are involuntarily a part of. We tend to have the survival skills at our sharpest as resources are dwindling and ability to achieve depends on the ability we have.  This generation probably has a hunger that can never be satiated by  nature. 

Everything has grown in our times and gone global, if we look at just one generation before, they wanted to settle for plushy jobs working 9 to 6, have a family and try to move less frequently; today we look for the proverbial "greener pastures" in moving to other countries and taking up better jobs.Change was a dreaded word and no one ever looked forward to it. There was a lot of red tape and underhanded office politics but it was mostly manageable. In todays corporate environment there is no red tape, partly because it promotes quick decisions and brings about progress and partly because the environment is very unstable. The office politics stoops to new lows and sometimes borders on "how much kiss-ass can you give me?". 

The market today changes rapidly, the next big thing integrates more actions into one and alienates people for the most crucial part. There was a day when you were charged extra money to use the ATM and internet banking facilities were never heard of, today banks charge money if you actually step into a physical facility. Its not just the banks here, my cellphone service provider Vodafone used to provide toll free customer service, now I am greeted by a message from some machine saying, " Our IVR menu options have been enhanced to serve you better", and doles out some gibberish that I have to carefully listen. Of course not all things are bad, the exposure to events across the globe, voicing out our opinion for a just cause and easy filing  of taxes are all great. When you ponder over the need for such things its mainly because we don't have time anymore, for a quick chat with our neighbor, or standing in a queue to pay a bill. We complain about travelling  an hour or more in a comfortable bus with push back seats. Our best friends are the people we say "hi" to over a  telephone line. We mostly wait for the weekend to drown ourselves in some mindless entertainment or a pint of beer. We want to fight for causes and make a difference in other people's lives, with no consideration of our own. 

Its all down to a numbers game in the end, how many times have you gone abroad, how many  employees do you have, how much revenue was generated, how much was the profit, how much money did you make, how many people did you help, how many friends do you have on facebook and the list is endless. The rat race is on in every sphere of our lives today, from the corporate world to personal life and in the great words of Darwin "survival of the fittest".