Amit Sharma
We just celebrated our Independence Day couple of days back on Aug 15 which actually started-off with famous “Tyrst with Destiny” speech on same day in the historical year 1947 of Indian Independence. Here, we are talking about tryst with technology in today’s world.
Technology has always been a ‘buzz word’ in the world. Whenever a product or service is launched based on technology, an R&D cell keeps on working in the background constantly so as to improve its previous versions. We must realize that there is no life possible without various variants of technology these days. Be it in the form of personal electronic gadgets such as mobiles, televisions, microwave ovens, laptops or public ones such as ATM Machines, websites, vending machines, metro trains, etc.
With every subsequent year, we find markets flooded with new technological devices, primarily based on necessity and changing trends and requirements. Let me quote few contemporary examples here. I was personally facing challenge of fast exhausting batteries of touchscreen mobile for which I found a device known as a ‘battery bank’ while travelling in one of the flights few months back. This technological advancement is a supplement to earlier technology launched i.e., touchscreen mobile devices. Similarly, people in metro cities hardly find time for cooking chappatis or even kneading dough for which few machines have been launched in the markets through which raw materials such as wheat and water needs to be put inside its sections and total finished products in the form of cooked round chappatis i.e., finished products will come-out of these machines. If we talk about sophisticated blenders or mixers now, it won’t be a right thing to admit that they are talk of old times now.
Similar is the case with service industry. We find online tickets of trains, aero planes and all mediums of transportation. Not only that, the trains, aero planes and even buses these days are so much sophisticated and comfortable with customized services and excellent GPS-based and entertainment based facilities. While thinking about few premium terminals of Delhi and Mumbai airports, we find huge shopping malls, eateries, sleeping, boarding and lodging facilities, banking and exchange facilities, wi-fi zones, etc. there, which are really hard to find even in 5-star properties under a single roof even in these modern times.
What to talk about the biggest technological invention of modern times. “Internet” is the mother of all inventions so as to say. Gone are the days when we used to struggle with Internet connectivity through landline dial-up connections. Now, Broadband connectivity and wi-fi zones have completely taken over. Internet is in the air. We just need to have a secure connection to avoid virus & hacking attacks. Also, what is there or what we can find on Internet. Oh, I thought, I should have rather written or rephrased my words by writing what is not or what we cannot find at Internet. I want to admit here that Internet is the ‘Jinn’ of modern days. ‘Khul Ja Sim-Sim’.You think or name about something and it is there on magical Internet. One only needs to search or Google it there properly. What a revolution it has brought in human life!
The technology named as Internet needs more elaboration, especially for those amongst us who are little less tech-savvy.
Here, one can buy or sell anything, visit any place of the world, seek or provide any kind of information, watch any entertainment channel, find any latest news or service, build or participate in any kind of social network with the usage of twitters, whatsapps, facebooks, linked-ins, skypes, etc.
Internet gives solutions and answers to all our thoughts, queries and desires. Today, one may get cut-off from everyone in the world but Internet is such a technological boon, it will never keep you away from the contemporary world. The only one pre-requisite is that one should know its optimal usage and limitations of Internet’s flip side as well so as to have a balanced usage of this greatest advent of technology in 20th century.
What technology has done to humans is that it has opened-up new vistas of creativity. Now, people are talking about taking ‘moon rides’ or ‘space walks’ as next holidaying destinations, installing ‘thinking robots’ as substitutes of domestic helps in future, ‘intelligent home operations’ such as auto power on and off with our movements, human sensory machines, flying cars and bikes, driverless public transportation, etc. Nothing seems impossible these days and now, technologists say it with conviction that what used to be a ‘thought’ of the past is a ‘dream’ or ‘idea’ of the present and ‘reality’ of the future.
Whether in terms of genetic research, surrogate babies, conquering old age, fighting deadly diseases, off-site virtual operations, evading and avoiding epidemics, fighting and minimizing damages in natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones and disasters, accurate and better weather predictions, hybrid plantations, converting barren lands into fertile zones, usage of wind mills, thermal, nuclear, hydro, bio-fuel based power plants, there is hardly any domain left wherein technology has not contributed and left its mark.
Wherever we go, technology follows us. Civil technological marvels such as super-highways, excellent flyovers, bridges, sky-scrappers, modernized airports and railway stations, metros, malls, building materials, offices, etc. are a reality these days. Supply chains have improved drastically, be it in terms of goods or services, courtesy better management and on-time monitoring facilities.
We must realize with these facts that we must accept the dominance of technology these days and e-Governance is also the future of governance across the board.
We can never imagine about living with old traditional ways of working and administering masses. Total acceptability and adaptation with the advent of technology is the biggest mantra of success these days. So, let’s try to be a part of this tryst with technology and become its facilitators before it forces us to do so and become its slaves!
{The author is a senior KAS Officer and an e-Governance Expert of J&K Government. He can be reached at amit1kas@gmail.com or amit1kas (Facebook ID)}
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