Ma(i)nly Mechanical

Who does not want a little easy-going? We all of us desire comfort, be it in a bus or a train, or even in a saloon. Quite often we so accustomed to comfort that even the slightest of discomfort becomes hell, and we begin to make a hue and cry about it. One should see the plight of those who are used to air-conditioners, when the electricity fails, and to add incense to injury, if the generator too fails. They might be driven to take multiple showers to bear the humidity and heat, and they may curse every person on earth for the curse they had thrown on them. But if we have to look at a person who does not even have an electric fan, life is as cool as ever; he does not even realize that there was an electricity failure.

If a choice is given between a comfortable job and a challenging job, less than one out of a hundred might choose the challenging job; invariably everyone would go for the easy and comfortable one. No one wants hardship in life, they all want readymade solutions for all the problems of humanity. That is why there are service providers for everything imaginable, from tourism to catering, event management to travel agents, religious ceremonies to private parties. People would do everything one wants, if only one has enough money to pay for the services. Money can get anything one wants, and everything is offered on a platter.

Our lives have become so very easy going that we cannot think of putting up with a minimum amount of inconvenience. We had used in our younger days, pencils which had lead inside, and we had to sharpen the pencil using either a shaving blade (and my father offered on turns to our siblings), or those who could afford pencil sharpeners. In those days the sharpeners were already a luxury, and very few could afford it, and naturally we could not buy them. But now we live in an age, where one does not need to sharpen pencils, and all they need to do is to insert the ready-made lead in, press it, and use it. We don’t need blades or sharpeners, and no wasting time sharpening the pencils. Purchase the lead and use it as and when you need.

There was certain joy and thrill in sharpening the pencils, when the pencils are new, and we would inhale the smell of the fresh soft wood, and may get annoyed when the lead broke, and we had to make another try. We did not complain then that we had to go through the hard process of sharpening them. Quite often I had better sharpeners and bad pencils, and so the pencil lead would break each time I was on the verge of getting the pencil sharp. And suddenly the lead would snap, and I had to do it all over again. Though it was a bit annoying, we did not hate it, and even now I do the sharpening pencils all by myself, and am happy to do it, instead of rushing to get the readymade “mechanical pencils”.

One reason why most of our lives become so very mechanical is because we are used to too many mechanical objects. We love to have short-cuts in as many instances as possible, and do not wish to take a little long routes which may give us the joy and satisfaction of running the full course. I used to enjoy doing my initial writings – poems, short stories – on a paper, before I would type them out on a manual typewriter. But nowadays I do not do much writing using pen; I prefer to sit in front of the laptop or computer and try to do the writing directly. It is for this reason a few days ago, I had pulled up my writing pad, and had begun to write on paper. I hope to complete the long article on paper, before I would type it on computer. There is a special joy in doing it through the hard and tough way, and the trouble is worth it!

Minding the Machines

My cousin sister was proud to show to me on the webcam the different gifts her friend had sent for her from Germany, which included some silly items as a nail-cutter, and a Swiss knife (why does she need a Swiss knife, anyway?). She was overjoyed that he had taken the trouble to send them across through a common friend, who was coming from there. Earlier she had told me about the laptop which he had left behind for her, when he packed his things to leave for Germany for the next five years. Why would he need a laptop in Germany; he would as well purchase one on reaching there, and it was given to my sister, who was more than overjoyed to receive it!

Now she is online often during the day and even night, most probably chatting with him over the net, sometimes even neglecting her responsibilities; but that is not my business to ask her if she is wasting her time with the laptop with internet connection and webcam facilities. The modern electronic gadgets are a big blessing to humanity, but they can also become a big hindrance to us, who are not fully conscious of their utility. When we begin to give them more importance than they deserve, we are bordering on viciating from the purpose they are made. The sooner we realize it, the better it is for us to save ourselves from insanity.

For the uninitiated, having round the clock internet connection is a dream come true, and they may give up regular exercise of body and mind, skip meals, cut short rest in order to drown in the limitless ocean of the internet. They may not mind losing their sleep, and losing their way in the highways of the sites, only to realize here on the net, one desire leads them to another, and they are initiated into a vicious circle, and later find that it is not easy for them to free from this circle. The same is also true with any sophisticated electronic gadget; one of the biggest craze today seem to be for cellular phones, which have all and more than what an ordinary person would require.

So for we had been talking in terms of "need" of these gadgets, and squeeze ourselves in order to purchase them; today they are no more needs, but "necessity", which cannot be dispensed with. But how can I go around without a mobile phone, because my friends want to be in touch with me all the time! This is their theme song; I should be available to all those who require my help! Is this a fact or a mere imagination? What were we doing before the advent of mobile phone boom in the country? Were we not in touch with the people who needed our help and assistance?

In the modern times, the human persons have too many masters; there were times when we were masters and today the roles are fast reversing, and if we are not careful then the machines will give marching orders to us, and we too might follow their order blindly. Today the machines seem to have far more capacity to compute, calculate and process the data than a normal human mind can, but that does not make the machines superior to human persons; there is a danger today facing humanity to give more importance to mindless machines than human persons with mind and souls. If this danger catches up with us, then even God may not be able to save us from this peril!