Special Mom’s blog

What major historical events do you remember?

The other day I was watching a talk show in which they were discussing social media. A few decade ago, news got out through newspapers. The main important news got the first page and the rest got into the following pages.

Now with social media every news is headline news and with 24 hour news channels everything is breaking mews. The historical value of the news really gets lost if it is broadcasted every minute.

I remember my grandma talking to me about the death of Mahatma Gandhi and how my Dad being a toddler at that time, was telling everyone that Gandhi was shot. How she fasted until his body was cremated and the deep effect of his death.

My first memory of a major event was the death of Indra Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India. Schools were dismissed early due to fear of riots and that was the time our school came up with a chart called emergency contact numbers. A lot of kids were stranded in schools that time and schools decided to be proactive. Schools were closed for a week and that was when I learnt to ride a bicycle. Our maid’s son rented me a bicycle and helped me balance. We all associate memories and these two go hand in hand for me!

Following that event, I remember most of the happenings. News channels multiplied and they saw to it nothing got missed.

I was in Boston on September 11th 2001 and for months we talked about nothing else. We saw nothing on the Television and again channels kept us busy.

Anyhow I still remember the day my younger one came home saying school is closed for two weeks one day in March because of the pandemic. It was March 13th 2020. Now this day is a history.

It’s really sad we remember more of terrorizing or traumatizing events than happy events. I really have to start remembering happy things from now on. But, that is not going to be a flash news or breaking news on our Television! Social media loves to spread things that makes people hate and fear things. Anyway it is up to us to decide what to watch and remember. Maybe we can rewire our brains.