Spoiler Alert: “A Midnight in Paris”!
A few weeks back, I watched a movie "A Midnight in Paris". For those of you who still haven't watched it, it really is a must watch. I consider myself one of those people who was “born too late”. There was the Indian freedom struggle, the time of Pink Floyd in Berlin, the invention of the first and only perfect cryptographic scheme, the day a nude man ran down the streets screaming “Eureka!” (well, this one I have seen every so often.. ;)).. There have been golden eras in so many different areas of life, and they are all gone. The protagonist in the movie is a guy who feels this way about art and literature. That the golden era is in the past, and in the movie, he meets someone from the time of Picasso, who thinks the golden era was a few decades before she was born. I loved that thought, it gave me hope. That maybe a hundred years from now, a young girl in her twenties has just started discovering her passion and she thinks “I wish I was born in the 2000’s, that was the golden era”. So, I was talking to some ‘peeps’ about this and I said technology is the only such thing I can think of. Maybe a century from now, the world would be a different place because of the technology innovations we are a part of. Well, that is a high order, but it’s the only way. Here’s something I am sure of though, tech geeks for many, many decades now will say “I wish I was born in the time of Steve Jobs”! :) RIP, Sir! You changed the world.
8 comments:
When I read the first two lines of your blog, I thought to myself that many years from now, people will think back and say that 20th/21st century was the best because of all the technological innovations. You captured the same thoughts at the very end. The only takeaway from the 2000's so far has been technology and the financial meltdown affecting so many lives (possibly for a second time). I hope people come up with better methods of preventing such things.
Not being part of the Indian Freedom struggle is an unique one. I never thought about that. Now that you mention, I think I would have loved to be a part of it :)
Well, we saw an uprising like the Freedom struggle, but this time the struggle was to obtain freedom from corruption. I occasionally think that I should have been born in the 60s to enjoy the great music and culture of the 80s. However, every day we make history, and even though we don't appreciate the fact, someone sometime in the future will. Steve Jobs, Michael Jackson and many more were in our time, and I am glad I lived in their time. We live in the time of Stephen Hawking and the CERN. We're still making history every day and our kids would love to be in our shoes today. :)
@Nitin, the era of technological innovations and hopefully a way to avoid economic meltdowns.. :)
@Abhi, some days its total conviction that this age has a place in history, some days its an undying hope that we are a part of something big. I agree with the honor of living in the same age as Micheal Jackson (the 80's mostly, even if we were babies) and Stephen Hawkins, and many, many, many others!
It is said that hindsight is 20:20... and a friend of mine is a firm believer that EVERY single picture looks better in sepia. I think to some extent romanticizing the past is an easy exercise because we take away the mundane concerns of life in those times and focus on the achievements of human labor. Not trying to be pessimistic or anything, but it is very difficult to appreciate the effort while we are in a task and easy to appreciate accomplishment after it is complete. So as much as I dream about the european renaissance culture, I do not think I would have had the patience or the longevity to truly be inspired while the Notre Dame was still in construction :) As to being born too late, there is a certain thrill to discovering new lands as columbus and marco polo did or pioneering while colonies were being established and empires being built... but using a corny line from a high school hindi essay - "parivartan hi pragati hai" :D and both change and progress are the only constant in our lives .... it is truly inspirational that we shall leave a changed (hopefully better) world for our future generations than the one we live in today.
It is a nice thought to regret not being a part of India’s freedom struggle. But as Abhi as pointed out, we are witnessing another form of freedom struggle, freedom from corruption. I hope more and more of us could find a way to take part in this struggle, that way we can proudly say to our children and grand children that we played a small role in providing the relatively less corrupt world they live in.
And who knows, we could also possibly be the generation to witness India’s ascent as a peace-loving global economic super power, if we are able to fight corruption effectively, for that is the only thing which is preventing India from getting there!!
@Enigma, everything looks better in sepia! haha.. I like the idea that it is difficult to appreciate the effort versus the accomplishment. Thus, easier to appreciate the greatness of things in the past. On one hand, there is the fact that there is very little undiscovered in known fields, but on the other hand, there are these entirely new disciplines born every day making new discoveries possible! :)
@Sharath, although I agree with Abhi that we are probably living in the time of an Indian revolution, I feel the same way as you, that we still haven't found a way to be part of it yet, at least I can speak for myself on that. But, I do know that our generation is constantly witness to many events that are changing the world, and I hope we all find a way to be a part of at least one of them. :)
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