By: Lubnah
Abdulhalim
 |
| Photo Courtesy: Salem Beliegraphy |
Going back into
the memory lane of the past where our parents, grandparents and great
grandparents belonged, we find a lot of interesting things that never lived to
our times. For sure, times have really changed and they keep on changing day in
day out which makes us wonder how lives would be for the generations yet to
come. It is assumed that maybe in the future generations, cars would not be
using petrol and diesel anymore, phones would be of no use anymore, and
everything will be machine based with advanced technology and a lot more
theories are being told. Well, only God knows what’s yet to come but what is
gone will always be missed.
With the very
tight school programs we have today, children only get to play during the P.E
lessons or games but that is all for them. At home, there is a lot of homework
to be done, washing and ironing of uniforms and before the child realizes, it
is already sunset and they can no longer go out to play. Unlike the olden times
where there was sufficient time to do everything and the children had so much
merry. They would go to school only half a day and the entire evening, you
would see them everywhere in the compounds playing football, hide and seek and
many other games that disappeared with time. Right now all what children have
are the video games and the ones available in mobile phones. It is very
monotonous and this is why the current generations are not fit like the
children of previous generations.
Gone were the
days where gold could be bought at three or four hundred shillings and a
building stone was at two shillings whereas now, gold goes at thousands and a
single stone; at forty to fifty shillings. It is even funny to know that school
fees were just at eleven shillings and furthermore, books and milk were
provided for each student. A full house grocery for a day could be bought at
just one shilling and a person could build a house from his three thousand
shillings salary which at those times was very big money! A person who had five
shillings as pocket money was regarded wealthy enough while nowadays; even a
class one child would whine and complain if given the ten shillings as their
break. Those are just but a few examples of how cheap the old generation
economy was.
Those were the
days where grandparents, parents, siblings and all their children would live in
one big house or same neighbourhood and would cook and eat all together in the
same platter. That is when family really held big meaning and people would live
together in both happy and sad times. Right now, every couple and their
children live in their own different and sometimes far apartments. Families
have become more of strangers and the current generations don’t even know the
family tree and their ties with other people.
Days seemed so
long and people would do so many things in one day. There was time to do
everything whilst for now, time seems so limited and squeezed with no time to
even rest. People long ago neither had the many diseases nor the stress most
people have now. The entertainment of those days was cinema where families
would flood in to watch movies. Others explored into novels and others would
watch the white and black programs being brought at the huge television sets.
They used refrigerators being conducted by paraffin and things like blenders
never existed. They would take hours grinding cereals using mortar and pestle.
It was such a tough life but that is what made them be stronger than what we
are.
The lives of the
old may have been of humble and poor backgrounds but for sure, they had much
happiness than we of the current generations do. And as they say it, ‘those
were the days my friend…we thought they will never end.’
