The thirsty lives that we all lead


Among many things that vie for our attention and sometimes do manage to get it is our breakfast and of course our kids. They really have to fight hard to win over the ipad or the handheld device that has kept us engrossed, across apps, tweets, FB messages and instagrams.
This morning was no different, staring at the many green buttons that emerged on my FB chat window, some of who also were parts of the Gmail chat app as well. Each of those green buttons meant something, a need to connect a need to feel connected. Yet, none of them were possibly really connected to anyone.
This is the biggest paradox of the times that we live in, we have more ‘friends’ than any past generation ever did, we have more means to talk, chat, scream, dialogue than any past generation, yet we are bereft of any emotional fulfillment that these should bring. For most of us, this is an addictive companion who you want to have by your side, but don’t want to engage too much with. The makers of social media realize this probably, which is why there are harmless easy non engaging measures like the ‘Like’ button which is a convenient means of engaging and not engaging at the same time. And there of course is a film reel kind of roll of people’s thoughts, actions, photos, inanities, all of which pass in front of us as we munch popcorn and watch this movie unfold. The movie is ours, we are supposedly actors in that film, yet we are happy playing cameos if I may, brushing through scenes that we ‘like’ vicariously enjoying watching what others are doing and saying.
Recall childhood, for anyone who is at least 30 yrs old, and the riot that the playground would have been or that recess break in school, with kids tumbling over each other, racing to the canteen or the nearest goody store, engaging, laughing. Why school play, think back to canteen days in college, how engaged we were, constantly being fulfilled emotionally by laughter, leg pulling, sometimes being the perpetrators, many times the victim.
What we do now is anything but this. Have to admit, there is a hands off comfort to this engagement, us cocooned in our cozy corners, not exposed, or out there, having to adjust, follow norms and mores in the real world. Daresay there is safety of some kind. But at what cost?
Now when am done with this blog, look back at the other window and see 600 Friends, I think, when did I roll in the mud last with any of them…
What do you guys feel about this?

Comments

Anonymous said…
the price to pay for information/visibility.pressure mounts to make better movies of our lives. we focus on the script and editing. we forget to live it. as for emotional engagement, it is deigned vulgar.
May 14, 2012 11:47 am
trupti hede said…
ditto ajit. I guess the need to remain detached comes out of the fact that we dont want to show how venerable we are :)
May 14, 2012 2:11 pm
Ajith said…
@Trupti- well said, it also talks about a certain perceived trust gap, how will I be judged, seen, perceived...
@Anon- thank you for the comment..not sure abt vulgar, personal inhibitions are limiting many of us,we are playacting all time, who's the real us
May 14, 2012 3:01 pm
voyager said…
Maybe its our growing up with age that we dont see what kids see (I mean they might still be having fun or connecting with others like we used to do - not exactly the same like us, but similar, I guess .. not having visibility and so its a guess). We have grown up and maybe its us being the culprits that we are engaged more with electronic media rather than the kids (I would compare what our parents used to do when they were of the age that we are in; rather than comparing what we are doing now to what we used to when we were kids) :)
May 24, 2012 7:43 am
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Begs the Question

Beggars are as much a part of Mumbai as the Gateway of India. Over the last 10 years of actively roaming around the city, the no of cars have increased and so have the no of beggars. What has also changed is the kind of beggars in the city. The first kind of beggar that I encountered was the simple woebegone face kinds who would sit by the roadside and keep uttering monosyllables the year round. There was no strategy of any kind in place, and the adage beggars can’t be choosers used to get played out. Most of them seemed fatalistic. As the economy evolved and liberalized, so did beggars. For one, I think even the beggar economy opened up. There were a lot many more beggars because there was a lot many more economic activity (and hence money to be handed out) and a lot many more people. The quality of begging also changed. Some beggars, in order to differentiate their pitch, started to exhibit their skills. So you had harmonium totting kids and adults causing disharmony in trains. Strat
Read more

Plane Truths II

Image
Continuing my series of what happens to me in relation to airplanes, I have a gem to share. The wrestle of the arm rest can be quite irritating especially when both adversaries want it equally badly. The war of course is lost right at the beginning if one of the adversaries has an arm that's armrest size! My Chennai to Mumbai flight was spent in half a seat, with me folded up around an imaginary vertical axis, actually measuring kilometers to Mumbai and counting down time. I thought I was lucky to get a window seat, my luck ended the moment the middle seat next to me and half of my seat got occupied by a gargantuan who was impersonating a human being. Arm rest was the first casualty, I gave it up in the first 5 secs; my midriff also was being molested constantly by the elbow of the beast. Am not slightly built either but I know how to mark my territory out and contain my body within. Land grabbing was being rendered a new meaning by my sizable neigbour and I felt a bit like Papua N
Read more

Footpath- quite pedestrian

Image
I grew up in a Govt. colony in Mumbai. This meant that I had the luxury of a lot of things that were absent in the city outside campus. One of these was the footpath. Right since I was a toddler, I was instructed to keep to the footpath, lest I get in the path of a ‘speeding’ Fiat (that’s an oxymoron). That might sound funny, but the inherent message was clear, steer clear of the motorist. In a city where cars outnumber themselves everyday, it’s become a challenge to find a footpath. Most of you might have noticed this but its worth reiterating. 1. Footpaths do exist. Just that above them also exist a layer called hawkers. This layer is more permanent than pedestrian aspirations and difficult to remove. 2. Footpaths do exist. Just that above them frequently is a mosaic of human excreta, with some dog poo thrown in between. Nearby slums can’t do their bit on the highway can they and there’s nowhere else to go. 3. Footpaths do exist. Just that often the BMC or MTNL or MMRDA or such body
Read more