The best time to live
B. S. Thaur

Changing Panorama of Life since Independence
Dr R. L. Singal. Abhishek Publications. Pages 236. Rs 495.

Reasons can be many, but it is fashion to disdain the present and eulogise the past, however wretched the latter had been. The oldies are generally heard saying that the Raj was better than the present rule. In this book, Dr R. L. Singal has highlighted the tremendous development after Independence and compared the conditions prevalent then to these times. He appears so overwhelmed with the fast pace of development that he has dedicated this book to Alfred Lord Tennyson, whose poem began with these lines:

"The old order changeth yielding place to new and God Fulfils himself in many ways lest one good custom should corrupt the world".

The book has fifteen essay chapters that capture the material, behavioural and style changes.

Initiating description of the "change" with migration of population from West Punjab in 1947 in the aftermath of Partition, the author writes: "They also brought with them a new culture—the culture of working hard and toiling ceaselessly for their livelihood. There was hardly a person among the refugees who resorted to begging. In course of time, they did better than the local people, who were comparatively lazy, sluggish and ease loving." This culture became infectious and people at all levels started working hard and sending children, particularly girls, to school.

As time passed, crockery and cutlery appeared in kitchens where even a spoon was a rare possession. Tables and chairs replaced mats and peedhis in the kitchen and sitting places. After about 15 years, after the introduction of kerosene stoves and the LPG cylinder, women ceased to burn firewood and coal for cooking; and so went exotic changes in drawing rooms and bedrooms.

Even the people in slums laboured hard to imitate the stylish living. Earlier, a housemaid coming to her work on a bicycle was rare, but now it is a common sight. Soon after scooter/motorbike had taken over the bicycle, cars appeared and after 1983, Maruti 800 became a fashion. In 21^st century, small car is giving way to the big car. While telephone at home was a status symbol, since 2000, a cell phone is a craze. It is not that all is honky dory.

The author is aware of the 30 per cent of the population living in grinding poverty, the people who cannot even think of luxury and glamour. He also is aware of the nexus of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen, who siphon off funds meant for welfare of the people.

Dr Singal has described the life under unemployment, falling standards of morality and probity, changing paradigm and weddings and festivals, love and romance, quality of leadership and the impact of the American culture. These assertions have been relatively supported here and there by reports culled from English dailies like Hindustan Times and The Tribune.

The narrative is seamlessly picturesque, not missing the minutest of details of the scenario described and the reader is swayed along as if he or she has vividly perceived the same. The book is interspersed with Urdu and Hindi couplets, though at places, the use of these is not befitting the text; but the effort is good to make reading light.

The book by R. L. Singal can be for a historian, an economist or a general reader. Expect superb narration, but no philosophical derivatives of a higher order.

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