When children have to be bribed with another holiday to accompany you to your old favourite hill station; where you find the all important wifi is not 100 percent; as for connectivity or let’s say the bars on the cell phone are sort of not there? Forget the fact that, that is the reason you came in the first place: to get away from the madding crowd. But which teenager does not want to give up-to-date transmission on every emotion, every action. It’s the NOW generation, don’t forget.
The hill station holiday was invented by the Raj who shifted the Capital itself to Shimla for the hot summer days and this practice was then carried on by the brown Sahibs left behind and now by like-minded people who realise that while no one can actually go on holiday for months on end one can certainly shift residence for the few very hot summer months. After all with modern communication tools — the cell phone and whatsapp and skype and face calls, it is not necessary for one to even divulge one is out of town. The lingo now is to say OOO!
Some hill station libraries are outstanding. But when bookshops are dying what chance does a library have? Especially if the custodians do not want change at any cost but despite all this some have survived over hundred years. Any hills station thrives on tourists and the library instead of cashing in on these tourists who have either forgotten to read or are not carrying any books put up stern warnings: ‘Only for Members’. And incidentally there are only Life Membership or Annual Membership and that too by invitation or scrutiny. One’s mind boggles at the ideas that could bring oxygen to these institutions.
1. Give monthly short term membership with a heavy deposit which would be forfeited if said member absconded with or without book.
2. Install a coffee machine and let people browse through magazines in the gardens or reading room.
3. Charge for a tour! But then all this would definitely break the routine; the peace and the dull but predictable days?
And none of us want change though ‘Change is the only Constant’. It is today virtually impossible to not own a cell phone as all airlines / online stores cannot go forward without a cell no. It also seems to be your duty to remain available to whoever wants to reach you. One no longer says “he can’t be reached” but instead there’s a plaintive or accusatory (especially if it’s your boss), “He didn’t pick up the phone”. On smart phones it is possible to even see whether the person has looked at your message or at least time of last looking! So no more excuses my friend. In olden days when caller Id was installed along with voice messaging on landline phones one gentleman was heard saying “and don’t blame your cook because I left a message on your phone to call me back!”
