Improvement from presently available resources can be termed as technology. Problems encouraged ideas and ideas paved the way for innovation. It has been so for thousands of years. Wouldn’t you call a wheel in the stone age technology? Surely, you will because it was so for the civilizations of the period. It can be termed as one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Animals communicate and social interaction is an intrinsic quality of animals. The reason why some species have continued to thrive for thousands of years is that they were social and survived. Humans being evolved from animals, are social. We need to communicate to be able to express ourselves. From signs, symbols, and languages to means of communicating with these languages, everything has kept changing over the years. Today I will explain this subtle change in communication through so many years.
Part 1 – 1942 – Indore
Patriotism is high, five year old Rajesh and friends rallied through the streets last night, screaming Vande Mataram. They read about the Quit-India movement that the nation’s leaders started a few months back. Their parents support this movement. Fabric that came from England is now replaced by Khadi his mother spun. He hears stories from his father about the movement and sacrifices in the rest of the country. His father says he reads it in the newspaper. The newspaper is the only way of communication with the outside world. It is the only thing that binds people together in this quest for freedom. There’s the Department of Post though, but whom will they send letters to outside Indore. Although the expression of dissent was highly censored, many regional newspapers have now established themselves and lead the freedom movement. This has been possible due to something that Rajesh had called the Printing Press. The hope is there, the will is there, the boys look for a free India.
Part 2 – 1969 – Bombay
The home and the Golden Age of Bollywood is experienced by Rajesh while he works in Mumbai. The pay is good, enough to support his family back in Indore. He has been living here for the past 5 years and travels home every 3 months. It’s been more than two decades since India’s independence and a lot has changed. Movies now come in colour and connect the world over. Trunk calls helps him speak to his children but he cannot afford it a lot and needs to be booked. But when he misses them the most, he does not think twice. Letters are written every week though. The railways no longer have caste based segregation and travlling is faster. Radio is active as this is the Mahatma’s birth centenary. Radios are fun, they gve you information from all over the world – news, sports or play songs from Dilllip Kumar and Devanand’s hits. Sometimes, the PM addresses the nation and speaks his mind to the common people.
Part 3 – 1994 – Indore
The age of the millennials, Rajesh has a grandchild now. He loves to watch television. That is what you call a box on which you can watch cartoons, news and serials. It is a big hit in India. Those who own it often have company of their neighbors who wish to watch it. But Rajesh loves watching the television with his Grandson – Satyaki. He has a telephone at home. That is a big thing, very few people own one personally. The telephone lets you speak with anyone in the nation. And anyone can own it. You can speak outside the nation too, but it is expensive. Though he read in a magazine that phones that are portable have started developing. But it seemed too good to be true. How can someone carry a device through which you can talk to anyone, anywhere in the world? Another box-like device started to come up in markets – a computer. It is a screen where letters can be seen. Rajesh is confused as to why something like would be necessary when you can simply print a book. They are calling it a ‘Revolution in Technology’. What do they know about revolution, Rajesh wonders.
Part 4 – 2016 – Kolkata
The world has changed. Well it did before too, but the last two decades have been nothing but a dream for the older generation like Rajesh. People carry a device called the Mobile Phone everywhere. It is the size of a big biscuit, is very thin and be carried in a pocket. You can do all sorts of stuff on the phone. Call, search for anything on a space called Internet where all information is available. Kids though move their hands over the screen of the phone nowadays. They call it typing. Rajesh has a phone too and in the initial days, it was too much for him to handle. Used to write in Bengali, typing was difficult for him. But ever since Satyaki downloaded him the Bengali keyboard app, he has gotten used to the Bengali typing keyboard’s ways. The Bengali keyboard app has connected him to the present world. He now accepts that change is the only constant and ponders over the fact that how communication has changed over the years because of technology.
The Bengali keyboard app as mentioned above has helped not just one, but many people in Bengali typing and making the process simple for them. It is the best English to Bangla typing keyboard on Android. The keyboard has many features some of which I would happily list down:
- Swift keyboard, Word suggestions, English to Sinhala Conversion, and powerful autocorrect.
- Create your own Avatars, stickers, Bigmojis, and GIFs
- Keyboard shortcuts, Clipboard, and Custom Fonts
- Ready to share Quotes, Jokes, and Shayaris
- COVID-19 Resources and important links
- Speech to Text
- Personalization and Keyboard themes.
Communication has come a long way over the years. Technology has brought revolutionary changes in this field and there continues to be progress. We are heading towards a world where even those who were never able to communicate will get a chance to do so. A sustainable future is within our reach and will come in the near future.
