Majority of companies, corporate are going paperless. Govt. bodies are not lagging behind either. Our railways (long distance) are requesting people to go for e-ticketing and using a soft copy of tickets instead of hard one. Even MSRTC is heading towards the same direction. I booked the ticket online to visit one of project sites. Before entering in bus I asked the official sitting in front of 'Inquiry' counter about my bus. He asked me to show the ticket. I showed him the same saved on my cellphone. He asked, "aren't you carrying any hard copy? That is convenient to check." I thought this
might be because he may not be use to using technology due to his growing age. But, I was surprised when the bus conductor said the same thing when I showed him the ticket after entering in a bus. He was younger to me. Must be used to such devices and technology. Still, the same attitude towards the new system as that was of a comparatively old man!!! Why?? Is it because of ignorance, unwillingness, lack of confidence to accept or adapt new changes??? I don't know...
But, both were educated and I am sure S.T. department must have given the training to them before launching this system. Or it wan't given at all!! (I am not a "techno-savvy" person too. But, if I was given the training then then I would certainly not hesitate to use it since if it is bringing a good change).
There is one incident I remembered... I was roaming in 'Manali' a famous hill station of India. A little girl sitting on a roadside with a weighing scale in front of her. I went to check my weight [certainly not going to disclose it here :-) ] and asked her how much it was? She answered, "You please check it for yourself." I felt that was rude, then asked her, "Why can't you tell me?" She said, "I can't read,don't know what that number is" I felt sorry. After chatting with her further, it was clear that she hasn't been to school. There was no answer to this question - Why don't you go to school? May be she is forced to work?? But child labour is an offence is India!!!
One more memory - We were on our nature camp to Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. We all were sitting on a riverbank admiring the beauty of the island in front of us. after sometime two small boys came with the boat and asked us if we want a boat ride? We certainly said no as they were too small to work. One of the participants asked them why they aren't in school that time? as it was hot a holiday or vacation time. The answer was , "No school" and they ran away. They were in school uniforms. It was clear that they didn't like going to school. Why??
Is it because it is too expensive? Is it because there is too much of pressure? Is it because teachers scold them a lot? Why? Why?
Well, I don't know exactly... as, our government id encouraging every child to go to school. It has given subsides, free education, free distribution of stationary, school bags etc. So, the basic education is certainly not expensive. As a rule here, they are promoted till 8th standard even if they are not doing well with academics. Teachers are strictly warned that they should not beat or scold or even look with anger at any child. (As a matter of fact sometimes I feel bad for teachers. As, they are given all sorts of duties apart from teaching students. They have to fulfill all such duties like census, polio awareness campaigns, etc. There is so much of pressure on them and they have to manage all that and keep control on them even if a child is not behaving right. I am against beating/scolding or any sort of actions that will/may harass the kid but at least teachers should let to concentrate on their main job i.e. teaching and nurturing the child into a good human being). Yes, there are many loopholes in the system but, once majority of students join the school it will create a pressure on government to provide basic amenities in all schools no matter how far they are.. Anyways...
There are 'N' numbers of NGOs working for education, giving them the best possible learning experience in a friendly environment. But, still we kids who don't like to go to school, don't want to learn. Of-course school is not the only place where one can learn but is certainly a place where you can get a vision to look at world, develops your thinking, opens lot many doors of opportunities in-front of you.
When i put together all these incidents (ST travel, a girl with weighing scale and boys with boat) I feel that we have so many opportunities to make better change (no matter it is a technology, basic education) but, something is stopping some of us to learn new things. What is it? I don't know. But, somewhere I feel that many of us are ignorant to towards good changes and somewhere have accepted that any change can not change the circumstances that they are currently in.
All Indians must have heard this - 'Padhega India tabhi to Badhega India' which means 'When every citizen is learned then only the country will progress'. But will that increase our will power to learn new things??
I really don't know how should I end this article, don't know if I am thinking in the right direction or even should I be thinking over it?? as thoughts are still going on in my mind and I am still searching for reasons.....
Mumbai has lots of surprises in store for everyone. Its people, its biological diversity, the places etc keep-on making me wonder. Like any other city it has seen lots of changes - some rapid, some slow. I really wonder how this city was looking like about 60-50 years back?? In the name of "progress" we (citizens) have managed to "Kill' its natural beauty and ultimately its natural resources. The forests are converted rapidly into urban landscapes or some human-made landscapes, all our rivers and streams are now almost converted into nallahs. Yes, I do agree that things will change and they have been changing from past. But what really matter are the impacts of that change, isn't it so? In ancient time as well human tried to make use of resources for his own benefit but, it was all created with keeping the nature in mind and not by "manipulating" it. One of the examples of earlier/ancient human creations are caves and the city of Mumbai still have them in its municipal limits.
when I first looked at the caves a thought came in mind - these caves to are a silent/unfortunately silent observers of degrading natural resources of the city. I had earlier seen Kanheri caves that are in Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai. Kanheri are still surrounded with a patch of greenery since it is a protected area under Indian forest protection act. But, the Mandapeshwar caves are really unfortunate as far as natural greenery is concerned. I was shocked to know that earlier Dahisar river used to flow in front-of these caves. Currently, one can see a continuous patch of concreted roads and buildings! It is now managed by Archaeological Survey of India. The area of the caves is much smaller as compared to Kanheri. They were carved in the parent rock of Maharashtra-The Basalt about 1600 years ago. It has lord Shiva's temple in middle which is in worship. On both the sides of temple are empty chambers with few carvings in it. One on the left side has shiva's marriage carved on a wall. Some of the other carvings and even some pillars are not in good condition. Since we (myself and my friend) had lot of time in hand we spent pretty good time in observing the sculptures and tried to look everything from our point of view and discussed a lot.
On top of the caves are many broken walled chambers. This part was utilized by Portuguese as Christian University. After capturing the place they removed/broke/covered some sculptures of the caves and put a Holy cross in place of one (covered) sculpture (probably Lord Shiva's). The church was funded in 1544. Maratha defeated Portuguese in 18th century and opened the temple for worshiping again. Later British took over and started church (Our Lady of Immaculate Conception - IC church) practice once again. Finally after independence it was open for lord shiva's worship and it is in practice till date. Now caves have open ground in-front and locals use it as playing ground. This cave also has rain water harvesting tanks (still in usable condition). Since we visited this place in monsoon this small was green. When we went on top I saw few trees, herbs and shrubs. It is also suggestible to visit here during the night of 'Tripurari Pornima' which is held in the month of 'Kartik' (Indian lunar calendar) as during that time this cave is lighted with 'Diyas' (ghee lamps) and is a pretty good site to see. After this we went to the church which is just next to it. 
We left the place in afternoon. I am sure these caves must have seen a 'lot' and witness the human greed and madness. Hence-forth hopefully they see some good part of humans' mind.
