Memories from my past

A friend posted this video on Facebook recently and it brought back memories.
My parents were huge fans of Doctor in the House and I recall watching this comedy (and quite a few other imported programmes) with my whole family.

As a family, we all used to look forward to the weekly episodes. Being the youngest of 5 children, I was usually the one sprawled on the carpetted floor, as all the available seats in the living room had been taken.

I didn't understand most of the humour (too many inuendos), but I was just content to be in that setting where everyone was happy and laughing. We were all home for the night, and even if we needed to go out, we knew we had a car in the garage that had a full tank of unadulterated petrol. Electricity was available, the ceiling fan provided a cool breeze, the kitchen tap gave us clean drinkable water and the quiet sounds of our neighbourhood made us feel safe. Sometimes, the land line would ring to disturb that peaceful gathering, but it was mostly a peaceful evening. The loudest noise you could hear on such evenings was probably one or two neighbours chatting on the street, but certainly not a whole lot of noise. Generally a simple, peaceful existence.

Fast forward to today, and I think about the next generation. Their memories will be different.

Granted the happy family evenings still exist, where everyone (albeit older!) gathers around for fun and laughter (I get to be a part of this whenever I go home), but quite a few things have changed. For one, whilst the foreign programmes still exist, there are also a whole lot of indigenious programmes (comedies, sitcoms, movies), which are equally as entertaining. That, in itself, is progress. In the same vein, the telecommunications industry has made remarkable progress as almost everyone is able to own a cell phone and therefore, keep in touch with loved ones .

Sadly, the quiet sounds of  the neighbourhoods have been replaced with loud power generators, which are used to provide electricity. (You see, constant electricity is now a recurring campaign promise, which is dangled in front of the populace each election cycle, with no real results to show for their votes). Clean drinkable water coming out of the taps (instead of being poured out of plastic storage containers) is now a luxury, that only the few who can afford to install their own water boreholes, can get.

When the power generators are not contributing to the noise levels,  there are churches and/or mosques on almost every street helping to keep that up. The combination of the wakeup calls from the mosques and overnight revival prayer sessions in the churches are enough to keep everyone within a 100 mile radius awake! In addition to that, you have the cars on badly tarred roads, bumping along with their tired engines full of adulterated petrol and causing quite a disturbance - physical and environmental. That can't be progress.

Being miles away from home today, I sometimes think about what memories our young people of today will have.

Dear Young-People-At-Home, what are your thoughts?