Just a month ago, my driver had started attending ‘Spoken English’ classes. Today when he came home, my parents being friendly and concerned as ever asked him to converse with them in English. He has always been a confident guy, so he agreed. We had sent him to get some medicines. So, the medicines that he bought, the money he spent, the balance, the conversation, everything was in English. I was astounded, to say the least! True, his English was not fluent, but it was good enough! For learning time of one month, it was amazing! Our driver learning how to speak enough English to converse in it within a month symbolized development to me…
What I had taken 14 years to learn, he had learnt a huge part of it in just a month! I went into a dream after this… If I could finish my 12 years of schooling in just a year, how wonderful it would be! I was brought back to senses by my father, who reminded me that our driver was 20 years old.
But our world is developing very fast, we can’t deny this. 13 years ago, all the knowledge under the sun was not one click away, no one said “if you don’t know it, just ‘google’ it!” In 1946, a ‘computer’ occupied a whole room. “Mankind took thousands of years to progress from wheel to the car, yet only decades from car into the space” (from Angels and Demons, spoken by Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca”)
An Ad which I would like to put on my blog:
A Speech Which Silenced the World for 5 Minutes:
But what has this cost us? We didn’t know the consequences of this development. It cost us a new subject and a few more chapters- Environmental Education. Jokes apart, it has cost us a lot. I don’t have to tell you what will happen if we continue in the same manner. It is a well known fact. The fact that it is well known shows us how much damage is already done, and a rough idea of how much is left for us to do…
Many say that my generation is spoilt and very money minded. We won’t care about the environment and destroy it recklessly for money. We will even forget our relationship with our fellow human beings.
This is my answer to them:
Another well written blog. It makes me happy to see the awareness you bring to the table. Keep it up. Check out Thomas Friedman's new book, Hot Flat and Crowded'. He talks about the environment and the impact of fast growing economies trying to replicate what America did in 150 years, in under 2 decades. The statistics are fascinating and the impacts we will be facing in the near future seem daunting. The world needs youth like you to mobilize a new way of thinking for sure.
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