Few days back I came across a status message from a friend, “ when I look at the list of the people I have added as friends, I really don’t know how many actually know “me” “, she is an established person in her circle, a known face in the society.
The Superhero movies which I watch with my kid, always has those moments of the hero struggling with his own split. He can fight the whole world but cannot stand against that one dark recess of his heart and soul .
A spoof which said , price hikes, government harassments, killings, we stay mum. You put a ban on internet, the rage-masters are ready to tear the world
A radio station is running a promo for fathers’ day, this fathers’ day “talk to your child”, or that “write a letter to your dad”
A very outspoken, intelligent girl raving all over the place with intelligent topics, discussions, tagging people, has her own facebook wall locked for nobody to even scribble a “hi” on that.
See anything common there , anything missing, a huge chunk of life, a huge chunk of connection. ….in short a Conversation. A human link! What that superhero or for that matter a toddler would look up for, an honest conversation. Where is that voice which has vanished? In this world of billions and trillions, is there not a single person who would understand the importance of talking and by that I mean in real terms “conversing with a fellow soul”.
I would be as guilty of the crime as any, logged on to the cyber world 24*7, I see spaces and spaces being gobbled up in meaningless conversations. The one which have become prime to everybody’s being for of course the anonymity and the safety which internet provides us . Accepted! Taken! Understood! But what from here ? do that real conversation gets died down coz we are already caught up in the web of our own making. The trap which we have set up for ourselves, is slowly closing on us, claustrophobia arising from living in such confined spaces.
Is it too much to ask for? How is that we happily talk about all taboo subjects, to open-mindedness , to being updated to the core have left that one important clue behind?
I recollect long back I had a fellow writer pal and shared a great affinity , to the point that we would dole out the topics we would write upon, simultaneously. In the end I would be contributing to the safe subjects like reviewing relationships, advices on books while he would speak on ruder topics and taboo subjects of sex, voyeurism, homosexuality, reason being : “as a woman you would be tagged with so many titles, if you would talk about such subjects openly”. That people as they read or listen to you have a set of pre-conceived notions, rising more from their personal prejudice rather than the content. The honesty and the truth which they cannot handle travels down to those spaces which should be ideally known as “Home”. A habit which have happily updated ourselves onto and plan to stick to, as if our life depended upon it. The Picture –perfect stories which we keep telling the world and most of it to ourselves, usually non-existent ones.
Out of the Box: Next time when you click on the share and like button of those gory pictures of hands amputated, cancer suffering kids, or whatever bullshit photo-shop churns out. Take a break and relieve your own cancers, ulcers, deposits in the head or for that matter of somebody who needs to be relieved of!!
