Once Upon a time

“Grand free old man” (probably a fake account) whom I follow on twitter and whose whereabouts, I have absolutely no idea of, once tweeted like this-

‘Once upon a time I had a life. Then I bought an internet connection.’

What these words of emotional coherence tell you is the ugly truth of the modern day. About that world which has changed from sleepovers and hangouts to notifications and pokes. A heart hurting situation in which you and of course me, play a shamefully crucial role.

But what made this generation stuck in a couch and a laptop and occasionally walking around with a radiating device held close to their ears is a question of great relevance. And the answer lies in the not so complex realms of our curious minds.

What happened was that we became lazy in seeking something that we desperately need. And that something is nothing but ‘care’. Yes, one of those beautiful four letter words whose understanding, importance and exchange mechanisms changed considerably over time. [Wonder why these four letter words are always complex!]

There was once a time when we used to say “I have this feeling (good/bad) and I need to make this call or meet my friend because I want to share it with him/ her.”

What time and technology made was a partial reversal of the above attitude, contaminating it with laziness and introversion, which now goes something like this- “I want to have this feeling (good/ bad), so that I can put them as my status and see how many around me truly cares”

Apart from this change of perception and appreciation of the abundance of life, there’s still another snake, crawling under our basement. And that is something which the dictionary calls- a ‘misinterpretation’ and what I call – a ‘mis-hope’. To explain this self-designed and stupid looking word let me take an example.

Every day you communicate completely digitally with people around you. Some of them you know, some you think you know and some you really don’t know (Beware of the second group). You text them, chat with them and rarely smile with them when you actually see them.

And as an attribute of the already mentioned care seeking behavior of the so called ‘normal’ human beings, you tell them your problems, your happenings and intentionally or unintentionally your deepest secrets.                        

Now just imagine. That person who you think feel the same as you feel for them might be laughing at your problems, making fun of you on the other side which you have absolutely no access to. And who knows, that person that you trust by means of some emoticons and electrical signals may not  even be a ‘single’ person.

Of course the world is not all the same and change is an inevitable phenomenon and that’s why I still stress on those ‘mights’ and ‘mays’.

But what we need to understand while conquering heights and fulfilling dreams is that evolution and regression are not always contrary. They often go hand in hand. Giving ups, shut downs and limitations can be a wonderful experience. So walk with your buddies, joke with them, fight with them and let them fight with you. But most of all- Be connected. Not to their updates but to their lives.After all, what do you think would be a better bed time story for your kid? 

Something which begins like –

“Once upon a time daddy had this friend. And I used to chat with him/ her every day. And we shared our lives across miles and one fine day we actually saw each other ………..”     

or

“Once upon a time daddy had this friend. We used to laugh, cry and dream together. We used to bunk classes and go to movies. We played soccer with pepsi cans. And we used to be always there for each other. We used to talk about our lives, this world and what was beyond. And we really, I mean really cared a lot…”