Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Guilty Pleasures!

Computer and internet at our fingertips. We share everything on blogs, Facebook and Twitter statuses. The media is continuously in search of news, they survive on people's misfortune. This is the era when shows like 'Big Boss' get maximum TRPs.

We the consumers take pleasure in reading all sorts of information, looking at people getting insulted in reality shows. We take guilty pleasure in taking a look at the 'lives of others'.

I know more about the whereabouts of Bollywood stars than my neighbors, opinions and thoughts of lot of bloggers than the people I work with everyday. Now is the age when we log in on social networking sites to express the moments of deepest agony, despair or ecstasy.

A few months ago there was a gang rape in Delhi. I was saddened by the news as much as the nation was. Few days after that 'Before and After' pictures of the victim were all over the place. There is thin line between reporting news and sensationalizing it. How do we filter out the news that we don't want to know?

People have kids, great, Congratulations! Then they post daily updates of their progress. We post reviews, travelogues to every bit of personal information. How do we draw a line on what; how much and with how many we share?


We all are overloaded with information - from useful to unwanted, from inspiring to creepy.
I just wasn't able to keep up with all the information that I consciously chose to be overwhelmed with. At the end of the day it was all jumbled up, who is having what for dinner? Who is John Galt?

I stopped reading gossip news and on FB/Twitter subscribed to just those who post information of my liking. I also cut down big time on reading blogs. Which ones do I read now? Well, I would be sharing that "information" soon!!!

P.S. There is a mind boggling show called 'Black Mirror', I strongly recommend it. Television at its best...

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The misunderstood species...

I can sit in front of a lake staring at the water for an eternity, take a walk alone for hours and be perfectly at peace, bike all day long just by myself and be wonderfully lost in an unknown world. Deprived of silence and some space for myself I feel choked. I feel awkward and stressed in lot of social scenarios (No, I am not anti-social or shy).

I know many more people who belong to this league, they are called introverts. I feel these people are always misunderstood and misinterpreted. 40% of the population in the world is introvert and still there is so less awareness about them.

Myths about introverts include - they don't like to talk, they are shy, rude, they don’t like people, they don’t like to go out in public, they are loners and the biggest myth being they can fix themselves and become extroverts.

Why is it considered better to be an extrovert?


Some people give a piece of mind and ask the introverts to 'cure' their behavior, some compare them to other extroverts in the family and ask them to belong to this lovely class. Some call them weird, selfish, crazy, arrogant and snobbish. Some smile understandingly and leave them to their own devices, knowing how an introvert's brain is wired.

I have always shrugged away the various adjectives and continued to live – with a fair degree of indifference.

Introverts escape from superficial relationships, trivial communications and the constant noise that pervade our world. Care for the introverts in your life because they treasure the close relationships they have stretched so much to make!

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

I am unique

You think you are beautiful, intelligent, someone with a perfect figure; family; values; principles; skills? Look closely there are thousand others just like you. You got promoted, came first in an exam, got masters, PHD, you think you are the youngest achiever, you traveled the whole world, you been to the moon? Come down my friend, we know many more like you. What do you say? You are special? I don't think so, nothing that you are or do is unparalleled.

Are you too fat, too thin, hurt, going through a divorce, cheated, rejected, failed in an exam, going through cancer? Look around you will find your clones. Why me? Its just me who has to go through all this pain and suffering while life is rosy for everyone else. You are not the only one who is feeling that way. Wake up! Your victim consciousness, shame, embarrassment, shyness, desires, dreams, expectations, aspirations, pain nothing is uncommon.

These females carry off the short skirts high heels so well. I am one of a kind. Huh! Get over with it already. Observe, take a walk on the street, you will find hundred others wearing glasses, jeans and sneakers. Oh yes, many more women prefer books to jewellery. Your opinions, perspective, habits, inferiority complex, your strive to be different than the others is nothing but common.

We all go through the same feelings sadness, happiness, jealousy, dejection, fear, love. There is no feeling that you alone have experienced. Is there anything in you or me that nobody else has? Not really, at any given point of time there are thousands just like us - on this planet and may be many other planets.

You are a drop of water in this big ocean, just like others. Everyone has to face death, none is immortal. I am not dreaming, I am unique as much as this thought is!!!