[24/7]

My father was with the Indian Railways and we stayed in the Railway Quarters. We had ample water supply, if not good electricity. Let me tell you why I am talking about this all-time water supply.

I heard the word 24/7 when my aunt was searching for a rent house after her marriage. We were skimming thru the very famous advertisement newspaper of the 90's - Mad-Ads. It had a huge collection of ads, of all sorts.

The rent house ads - all had this mentioned - 24/7 water supply and electricity. That is the first time I heard the word or rather the phrase TWENTY FOUR BAR SEVEN - 24/7. I remember asking my father if it means 24 divided by 7?! How ridiculous, how can some supply water and electricity by dividing it into 7 parts?! It only meant you had water and electricity all the days of the week, at all times !!! And that, was a luxury. And in all this house hunting I had learnt a new word. 

But the meaning of the humble 24/7 underwent a sea change. The year 2K was the year of the BPOs.  24/7 now meant that there was customer care provided at all times - day and night. And this meant people also worked 24/7 - day and night shifts. And this also meant - that there had to be other services that had to be available at all times - like cabs, food supply at odd hours, security, media and so on.

24/7 - was no more a bleak word. It had become powerful, ruling the days and nights of people in a completely new way.

But 24/7 grew and grew more powerful. As of today, it means being available and accessible all the time. Clicking selfies, uploading and posting comments day and night, hunting for likes round the clock, virtual chatting/snap chatting/whatsapping/twittering endlessly. We have an unceasing need to "stay update" with all possible useful and useless news and so, being busy eternally.

We fear staying offline lest we will be left out. Our up time is all the time. Our sense organs are continuously treated to high tempting pictures. We need directions (Maps) all the time and for this we need battery backup and also a power bank!!

Our mothers were working 24/7, being available to us all the time with no modes of communication or modern gadgets.  But now we ask for maids 24/7, we are busy with several other media engagements at all odd hours.

As kids we were on the roads playing cricket, kho-kho, gilli-danda, hide & seek 24/7 but these days kids are  online 24/7, playing virtually to eternity, ogling at their screens ceaselessly.

Even as I am writing this article, I hear a new word from my Senior VP - 24/7/365 !!!  This changes the entire dimension of who we are , how we work and what we do.

And that is what the [24/7] had done to us earlier and now be prepared for the new revolution called the Twenty-four bar Seven bar Three Sixty Five !!!