Noughties vs Old times

Old times to me mean 90s, to some of you it might mean 70s, 80s or still older days.  Of late many people including me are being overly nostalgic and romantic about ‘good old times’.  I think the main reason might be that in the noughties (2000-09) everything was so on the face right from mobile phones, 24X7 media, movies,  ‘modern culture’ name it and people felt it was on the face to an extent that people are nauseated. Having said all of this, I still feel noughties is an important decade in the history of humanity because many good and important events took place and there were sadder events as well.

The penetration of communication into the lives of people living at the bottom of the pyramid, media playing the role of crusader, onslaught of TV channels, many companies coming up with Direct To Home facility, the rise and rise of internet (broadband connectivity (optical fiber cables being laid even in towns and villages where there is no proper electricity available)), projects like the Golden Quadrilateral being done with a fair amount of urgency, International Airports in many cities, setting up of new IITs and IIMs, good solid real estate growth in places like: NCR, Noida, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore, Mysore. Many companies which were otherwise in other industries and also new companies jumped onto the retail industry bandwagon, we have seen chain of stores for: food & grocery items, shoes, mobile phones, clothes, electronic goods, vehicles and the list goes on.  These enterprises created a lot of employment in the organized sector itself and then there were many people who found/created opportunities for themselves in the unorganized sector and/or became entrepreneurs. This huge growth in urban areas naturally attracted rural people and they in turn found employment opportunities in cities mainly in the construction & infrastructure business.  One observation from all this is people who have braved the competition and stuck it out till the end have benefitted immensely. 

The negative aspect of the decade have been the increasing terror attacks across the globe. India also faced the wrath of these attacks. These attacks were an attack on humanity and not any community or any country in particular. Only time will tell an answer as to when these attacks will stop.

It would be better for us in the new decade if we take everything that comes our way with a pinch of salt, use the noughties as a learning experience and improve upon.