A rat race
By Purbita ChakrabortyBy Purbita Chakraborty
In today's context every hour is a rush hour. --Photo: Parth Sanyal
Journalism Department,
Andhra University, Nov.14.
My friend Asha seemed to have completely disappeared. Incidentally I bumped into her at the traffic signal while crossing the road. It had been almost six months that we met or spoke. She could spare just 10 minutes to update me on the past 6 months of her life. She was in a great hurry. But what I fail to understand is, what's all the hurry about? Every body seems to be running and rushing. The `hurry' has become so common especially among today's youth.
They always seem to be rushing - to reach some place, to catch a bus, to meet some one, to meet a deadline or even to finish the food on the table. There is no time left to catch a breath. It leaves me wondering, isn't the 24 hours in a day sufficient?
Today people fail to take out time for themselves leave alone taking out time for others. "I could never sleep without reading a book, but now it's been 5 months that I laid my hands on a novel" says Ramona, a final year graduate student. Hobbies are totally washed out of the daily schedule. There's absolutely no spare time. The youth fails to enjoy the little wonders that life has to provide. They absolutely have no time to enjoy the serenity that the nature can provide. "If I can't cope with the work pressure I would be a loser in life" says Anil, working in a leading MNC. The work pressure and the increasing competition do not stop the youth from working late nights or even on holidays. "All I prefer to do in my leisure time, is to catch up on my lost sleep hours," says Sunita, who works in night shifts. This increasing competition has compelled today's generation to put in their very best at every step of their lives.
Once the nature was said to heal all the stress from one's life. But today ask a kid, and he would give you a surprised look asking what is so beautiful about the water droplets on a leaf! The nature suddenly seems to have lost all its power of lifting one's spirits. Today the youth finds solace in partying till the last drop of their energy is drenched out. `Work hard and party harder' has become the mantra of the day. Partying on weekends has become the only way to relax and forget about work and other hassles among the younger generation. "I look forward to the weekends when I can forget about work and let my hair down partying" says Sameer Shetty after a tiresome week at work-place.
It surely cannot be denied that the competition has increased. But what one fails to realise is that in this race of reaching the peak of success, one has confined his life to the four walls of a room - either working or studying. As a result of this there are more cases of insomnia, migraine, and other stress related symptoms in the younger generation. They are becoming unsocial. The families get neglected. "My son who never forgot to send me a huge bouquet of flowers on my birthday, didn't even wish me this year" sighs a disheartened mother.
Its time to think what this superficial and materialistic life is leading us to. When we don't have time for our families and for ourselves, what better can this life have in-store for us? May be a wise man was right when he said, "Life is a rat race". Everyone just seems to be running, he's automatically dragged into the race. But is he running towards something or running away from something - that is left answered!
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