Flashback And Instant Gratification

In the 80's the Rubik's Cube was a rage. Almost everybody had one and tried to solve it to various degrees of success. Back home in India (and I am sure elsewhere as well) anyone who could solve it was a feted hero - neighbors, co-workers, relatives and friends were given the glad tidings and from there the good news spread further afield. We read about people around the world who had solved it at fascinating speeds and wondered what they knew that the rest of us did not. People still recount the nostalgia

Our children would not know the agony of puzzling over a innocuous looking cube for hours, days and sometimes months not knowing how it worked - and then finally giving it up to gather dust as a paper-weight. They would have the Rubik's Cube solver online to put them out of their misery right away - an instant gratification.

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