Now and Then

India has been on the path of growth ever since I became a sentient being. From my early days I remember a lot of insignificant things which considered together bring out a pattern of change which on a personal front is not very welcome, but which according to economy indicates growth. I remember a lot of practices in those days which still bring with them a feeling of nostalgia and a strange sense of missing security today.

Like for instance, I remember we seldom rejected and threw away things. Things like electronics and containers and other non consumable consumer products were not made to be disposed. If a torch didn’t work we fixed it whatever the problem would have been; by changing batteries, the glass, the reflector or the gasket. 

Containers were used and reused. Milk came in bottle which had to be returned and were reused. So were soft drinks. Plastics were used but in places where they were absolutely necessary. Even the plastics were durable and lasted eons.

Bread was packaged in butter paper and not in plastics. Bicycles, consumer electronics, etc. were meant to last. And whenever they broke down they were repaired with minimum part replacement. Things were made taking into consideration the needs and concerns of the consumers and the not for the sake of bulk sales high profit margins.

I remember being happy with the things I had and so were most people. Some of the things which I used then are still somewhere asking to be used or repaired.

Knowledge at Your Fingertips

People think knowledge is available at the click of a mouse. However, they fail to realize that most of the information available on the Internet comes from dubious sources. At some point of time they were lifted from books, mostly, through processes like OCR and simple data entry. In these processes of content transfer, errors and typos creep in. Again, various websites, to avoid legal implications arising from plagiarism, rewrite this content again and again till most of its essence and factual correctness is lost.

Students no longer read books, do primary research or experiment. They blindly believe in whatever is easily available on the Internet and that too for free. All that is needed now is a simple copy-paste. This habit is causing a knowledge gap in the present generation. The new generation no longer possesses problem solving aptitude. At the slightest inkling of doubt or query they run for their Internet enabled tabs, mobiles and computers. Imagine youngsters entering the job market with such limited knowledge and stunted intellect.

I realized this phenomenon bitterly while editing books written by both wannabe and established authors who churn out manuscripts simply by copy-pasting content from various spurious websites, blogs and forums. Without making so much of an effort as writing a single sentence or working out a sum, a book is ready--riddled with errors, misleading information and every mistake and blunder imaginable.

Innovation

INNOVATION

Society is like a huge machine with several parts, hubs and hinges that need to work in unison and harmony for its proper functioning – Any engineer would provide an allegory of society this way. But thankfully society is far more complex and can be best explained as a huge organism which evolves, grows as well as falls sick or even dies. And thankfully not all engineers think this way.

For the survival of any creation it has to constantly adapt and change with the changing times and environment. Change is another name of innovation. The changes to be more precise should be proactive and positive ones. Changes are brought about by great thinkers, political leaders, industrialists, scientists, students, professionals like doctors, lawyers, engineers and so many others and most importantly by regular hardworking people, like farmers and mechanics. It all starts with an idea, an innovative concept and snowballs into a mass movement.  A spark of creativity in an individual or group may arise from a need. As is said necessity is the mother of all inventions this stands true for innovation as well.

The dictionary meaning of innovation is ‘the introduction of something new - a new idea, method, or device’. The success of any innovation depends upon its acceptance. Every innovative idea meets resistance at first, as humans by nature are resistive to change, but gradually the resistance loses ground and gives way to development. As the concept gains acceptance with use, it takes the shape of an innovation.  Without innovation, proactive thinking or creative ideas academics will lose its charm, industries will not prosper and economy will never grow. I have just the example which will illustrate innovation in action.

There was this poor village in my state named Gohaldanga. Most people there lived below the poverty line despite being hardworking farmers. Their major produce was potatoes. The government too couldn’t do much to help except giving them various subsidies. They didn’t get good rates for their harvest and there was no assured market for it. 

A son of the soil who happened to be lucky enough to become a mechanical engineer and later a professor at MIT wanted to pay back his debt to his village. He brainstormed with the villagers and found that the root cause of their woes was a lack of cold storages in the area due to which most of the produce rotted or for the fear of which they had to sell their harvest at throwaway prices damaging the economy of the area. He didn’t just stop at this. He built a cold storage which didn’t need electricity or an elaborate construction. Shallow water reservoirs were made above the ground and covered with bamboo slats and surrounded again by bamboo slat walls. The whole structure had a thatched roof… and voila! They had an eco-friendly and economical potato cold storage.

He made quite a few other innovations too in the preservation and marketing of potatoes. He designed machines which made potato flakes and potato pulp. The pulp was dried to make potato powder or flour which could be used to make numerous food items. He didn’t stop at this, his innovative concepts like ‘mother teachers’ in ‘the after school teaching project’ and ‘community learning’ revolutionized education in the area. Social taboos were broken. Women were more involved in teaching and a close-knit society was created. Households were saved and women were empowered.

I can go on about his innovative concepts which changed an impoverished village forever. He gave the village its first industry. All the more, he coaxed his people to think out of the box. He inspired them to create and be proactive thinkers. His creation, that is a prosperous Gohaldanga, will never forget this innovative and proactive thinker.

This proves people have a lot to offer society if they really want too. Being an engineer and academician he didn’t restrict himself to academics.  He walked and extra mile and empowered the people he loved with his innovative concepts. Beating the resistance of shallow local and regional politics his ideas today have gained wider acceptance.  Initiated by necessity, the water cooled cold storage may have been a product of reactive thinking but his later creations like the ‘after school teaching project’, the potato processing plant, vocational training and self sustaining co-operatives were all results of proactive thinking.

Last but not the least, I need not stress that being mere thinkers won’t result in development; we must be a country of doers.

Media Sensationalism

Have you lately been able to watch a private news channel for more than 15 minutes?

I cannot bare watching news from private broadcasters for more than 5 minutes. I literally go into shock. Mundane things are blown out of proportion. There are so many things to look out for in such a broadcast. The news reader blurting out the news with exaggerated expressions at the speed of the Rajdhani, the scrolling breaking news, and news flashes, the mind-numbing background music and the to top it all the manner of presentation with gaudy and explosive multimedia.

Offff.... That's too much to look for in any news. We watch news to keep abreast of the current affairs and events and remain informed. We don't want to be bombarded and led to conclusions about everything. As if we don't have enough troubles and worries of our own. The least we need is the uncalled for sensation in everything. Be it an eve-teasing incident or a power failure. Everything is so explicitly presented and repetitive as if to goad us into falling off the roof. If viewership is the deal they are nowhere near hitting the mark. The sensation repulses us more than attracting us.

Aajtak, ABP, Zee are you hearing???