Earlier When A Ward stepped out of the threshold of the house to appear in his first Metric (10th std) exams , he was rewarded a Fountain Pen along with a HMT watch from his father with a tap on his back (as doth my father recall) . The air of exams was cheerful and so were the days that followed after that. They went out and played Kho-Kho, kabaddi or Badminton and had a occasional Goldspot drink after all the running around. Now Outdoorsy games have been replaced by X-Box and PS Portable , while Goldspot has vanished from the crates of grocery stores.
The HMT watches are handed out no more. They gave away to digital 24.00 watches that are more accurate and create a bigger sense of panic in the hearts of examinees. Apparently, every Pico-second counts more today than it did in the past. It’s just that you have no time to actually count it. You outsource the counting job to another saddened soul, just like you outsourced your life too.
The Fountain pens that were so popular and prized have now been phased out by Gel-pens and Ball point pens. There is no need to keep an Ink-bottle that the maid may spill over your work. These Gels and Ball-points are mostly use and throw. Gone have the days when you boasted of a pen being handed down for generations.
Its not just the Pens of the days gone BY. Nowadays we have formed a habit of considering everything at its face value. We don’t pause to think that what has gone into making it or what will happen to it when you discard it?
We think that there are Specific people who have been hired to think of it. The specific people believe that their underlings have to do the groundwork and they’ll just sign it. In the end the cycle of displacing work goes on till it reaches the end of the line and then the line snaps ; leaving you in tears about the kite that got away.