"O" for "Old is Gold"

Today my mom adorns my blog to express how she feels about her childhood days. Like every one she feels old is gold and just speaks randomly and writes down for me as I am feeling the heat of the challenge. I was badly in need of guest authors but I can't ask any one to write for me as  I have never done that before. So finally my mom came to my rescue as always. She thinks blogging is uber-cool and wants to start one for herself. After this challenge my plan is to teach the basics of blogging to her.

My mom Haseena Banu is an Iron woman. I know every one feel the same about their moms but I feel that she is extremely strong even when I don't watch her from a daughter's perspective. She is hyperactive at the age of 54 even if she has a recurring knee joint problem which gets too painful sometimes.  Her arts and crafts are mindblowing. Our house is filled with sand paintings, nib paintings and flower vases made by her. She also knows stitching. These days due to health issues she is not stitching much but in my school days what ever I used to wear was made by mom. She was talk of my school due to her beautiful hand-work on dresses and sarees. She used to write random poems and lines in the last pages of notebooks just like we all do. I feel she gave me the blogging genes and that's why I want her to start a blog!

With out much ado giving the pen or rather microphone to my mom to speak :)

"Past is a place to visit but not to stay which everyone say but some times to me it is tough to go and come back from the past. I get lost in memories and the lifestyle of those days which kids of these days can't even imagine as a possibility. If we compare the present life and ways to that of 40 years ago, there is a tremendous change in many aspects. We used to walk to our schools and colleges even if they were located miles away from home. Depending on public transport was a rare scenario. There were days when I used to cross rivers/ canals to reach school. Rickshaw was meant for emergencies. In those days we were not in a situation to afford all the luxuries but the plus point of this was, as we walked regularly there was no specific need of exercise, workout etc. We never had diet restrictions or faced health hazards. But today as you all know the scenario is different. Every corner of the street has a gym but kids are so busy and stay so stressed and tensed that they don't get plenty of time to work out and the health issues they get just puzzle me. People whose age ranges from 25-30 are also getting heart ailments :(

By traveling more in to past say 60s and early 70s I recollect that there was only a single portable fan in our house. In those days ceiling fan is a rarity too. We were seven members at home, five children along with parents. We used to sleep on the terrace below the starry sky all through the summer.There were no mosquitoes. Yes, we never saw a mosquito during my childhood. We used to arrange our beds well in advance say 4-5 hours before sleep and by the time we called it night the beds used to become cool and comfortable due to the cool breeze from all the near by trees. On moon-lit days the pleasure was double. It was magical to sleep under the thick blanket of moon and stars. After 45 years even if we have A.C. at home I never feel the similar kind of comfort. Today how much ever I spend I cannot buy that pleasure and that bliss. Today if we try and sleep in open air , mosquitoes will keep you awake whole night and the air is not so clean and cool!

Image source : here Radio- The only source of entertainment and fun at homes during 1960s in India

Coming to the point of entertainment there used to be a big Radio in our house and we kids, my sisters and brother used to fight for our favorite radio station to be tuned. Radio-Ceylon was the famous station those days for songs and the broadcast was just for a limited time span during the day. Today FM radio operates 24*7. After some years, may be during my graduation days, we bought tape recorder in which we used to hear recorded songs in cassettes. Music companies and launches was something new to us then. Slowly we progressed to TV, Computer, gadgets Ipods, tabs , Iphones and the world is in our wrists. A single mobile serves many functions today. When luxury was a luxury we used to crave for it. When luxury became a commodity we always crave for something new and keep on inventing new versions and soft wares to run the fast pace of lives and to please and to entertain ourselves. The search to satisfy our soul never ends:)

The progress is worth applause and my daughter would love to contradict me when I say technology has helped a lot. To some extent I agree. One best invention is "internet" using which people talk to each other irrespective of their location and using blogs , you write and know the like minded people. The progress has its pros and cons. My only message is don't misuse the technology . Use it for your own welfare and just use it . Don't get used by it!"

I want to conclude by saying that "Old is gold" and new becomes old on one fine day, so preserve the new and use it properly so that you memorize it fondly in forthcoming days, the way I am memorizing it today!"

Thanks for reading me :)
Love
Haseena.

This is my 15th post for  A to Z challenge 2014

Golden pics- My Bful mom in the first pic and she is with her college mates in the second pic

Some note worthy "N" posts

Janaki Nagaraj narrates what actually being Naked means

Prudhvi latha writes a funny post on Names and the confusion

Richa says rhymes are not that innocent. She makes sense!