Heard an old number on FM today:
Buggles popular hit - Video Killed The Radio Star:
In my mind and in my car,
We can't rewind we've gone too far,
Pictures came and broke your heart,
Video killed the radio star.
.
This got me thinking and hence this blog:
My 5 year old niece went to the attic and came back with a dusty walkman in her hand. She asked me what it was? My answer was a walkman. She asked me which cd plays in it and how does it play? I first had to explain her that it was a cassette that played in it and not a cd but didnt have any cassette in the house to show her or show her that how the gadget operated? So, i took her to the downtown market and we stepped inside a popular music store. I went around the entire store but couldnt find cassettes displayed anywhere. Then went to the counter and my mere query raised eyeballs as well as smirks from the cashier as well as customers standing next to me. I went to several other music stores and got a similar response. I felt as if i had arisen from a deep slumber after 15 years. There are no more cassettes available in the music stores. Similarly, perhaps she will see vcr, lp players etc only in some antique shop or museum in the years to come.
Even, though 90's saw computer revolution but even before the advent of this decade and century, floppies became obsolete and were replaced by USB's and hard drives.
But, the nostalgia over these gadgets is fast replaced by the new marvels of technology.
I have started collecting all the memorablia for future generation to see and marvel when they grow up. Maybe when my niece grows up, she will cherish these antiques which I am storing.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Fundamental Right To live Freely!!
Its almost 2 in the night and i cant seem to manage any sleep. So, thought of penning down rather typing my thoughts.
Today, i saw a polish movie - "Your name is Justine", it was such a heart wrenching story about a polish girl conned by her German boyfriend and thrown into the dark world of prostitution for Internet porn. What really moved me was her desperation to be free again and her strong desire to return back to her country, to her grandmother. Poor girl is sexually assaulted, kept without food for days and threatened to comply and agree to her captors commands. There was a scene where she opens the refrigerator and finds nothing except a stale fungi infested slice of bread. She is so hungry that she eats it. In another scene she wants to escape and she simply cant as she doesn't have the energy left to jump off a window.
Of course in the end she ends up killing the guy who conned her and is later released after 3 years in prison and is back to her own country but it was too much of innocence lost. She thinks aloud and asks a question that in life where was the justice met and will her life ever be the same again?
As soon as i finished with this movie, while surfing channels, i came across the onscreen adaptation of A kite runner. I remember crying silently when i had read this book. Though by the time i started viewing the movie it was almost the end of it. But again the by lanes of Afghanistan, the poverty, the misery and the Taliban rule was overbearing to watch. I felt so bad for the young boy sohrab, who is orphaned and abused by his captors. In one scene, he tells his uncle that he is glad that he is an orphan since he doesn't want to face his parents as he is dirty. Again, it wasn't sohrab's fault.
I remember having sleepless nights in US, after having read A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry. Again similar misery with different characters and different setup. I know it is very fresh in my thoughts and i feel the pain and simply many who will read this or watch those movies, will shrug it as a movie or perhaps like me forget it in the mundane routine of work. But, the big question is where we are heading as a society? The news are buzz with plight of baby falak but isn't it our responsibility to give a secure future to our next generation. Technology has been indeed a boon but not a week passes where something really wrong happens to the kids,teens.Whether its teenage Adnan killed by his friends after having seen the news or another case of some MMS video being made.
Imagine, being put in a cage and not being able to move freely. We all claim that we are citizens of a free country but is this freedom? There is so much insecurity, so much of crime. I know perpetrators of crime will not cease but what we can do is generate awareness and help the victims to start afresh.
Right to Live and Freedom is after all a fundamental right, given by God and not by any court or constitution.
Today, i saw a polish movie - "Your name is Justine", it was such a heart wrenching story about a polish girl conned by her German boyfriend and thrown into the dark world of prostitution for Internet porn. What really moved me was her desperation to be free again and her strong desire to return back to her country, to her grandmother. Poor girl is sexually assaulted, kept without food for days and threatened to comply and agree to her captors commands. There was a scene where she opens the refrigerator and finds nothing except a stale fungi infested slice of bread. She is so hungry that she eats it. In another scene she wants to escape and she simply cant as she doesn't have the energy left to jump off a window.
Of course in the end she ends up killing the guy who conned her and is later released after 3 years in prison and is back to her own country but it was too much of innocence lost. She thinks aloud and asks a question that in life where was the justice met and will her life ever be the same again?
As soon as i finished with this movie, while surfing channels, i came across the onscreen adaptation of A kite runner. I remember crying silently when i had read this book. Though by the time i started viewing the movie it was almost the end of it. But again the by lanes of Afghanistan, the poverty, the misery and the Taliban rule was overbearing to watch. I felt so bad for the young boy sohrab, who is orphaned and abused by his captors. In one scene, he tells his uncle that he is glad that he is an orphan since he doesn't want to face his parents as he is dirty. Again, it wasn't sohrab's fault.
I remember having sleepless nights in US, after having read A fine balance by Rohinton Mistry. Again similar misery with different characters and different setup. I know it is very fresh in my thoughts and i feel the pain and simply many who will read this or watch those movies, will shrug it as a movie or perhaps like me forget it in the mundane routine of work. But, the big question is where we are heading as a society? The news are buzz with plight of baby falak but isn't it our responsibility to give a secure future to our next generation. Technology has been indeed a boon but not a week passes where something really wrong happens to the kids,teens.Whether its teenage Adnan killed by his friends after having seen the news or another case of some MMS video being made.
Imagine, being put in a cage and not being able to move freely. We all claim that we are citizens of a free country but is this freedom? There is so much insecurity, so much of crime. I know perpetrators of crime will not cease but what we can do is generate awareness and help the victims to start afresh.
Right to Live and Freedom is after all a fundamental right, given by God and not by any court or constitution.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)