The problem is that Indian youth is so much into talking and day
dreaming that most of the sensible form of entertainment really doesn’t
matter. This, I realized, when I was watching “Midnight in Paris” few
days ago, and I was thinking about it yesterday. More than 40% of the
cultural references in the movie I couldn’t identify, there were film
makers, painters, writers (the most easily identifiable ones) and
others. It is a known fact that now even 10th class students
have a facebook account, a smart phone with internet access and SMS
packs they can use to send multiple messages to their friends.
Now here lies my fear, pop culture and true entertainment is dying. The problem with facebook status updates and SMS packs is enabling a gossip function. Either you say something that enables gossip or you do something that is widely shared across the internet media, and from everyone in your class to your teacher might be aware of possible stupidity you have done.
Us Indian youngsters, as I have written earlier in different blogposts, are cowards, we might have the ability to be creative or generate ideas unusual in nature but the sheer monotony, and as Hungarian film maker Bela Tarr would say “Burden of human life” takes it from them. Success at its core deserves making an idea that can, in my harsh words, make a fool out of the others. But that needs confidence and ability to evaluate one’s own abilities and find the right path of success. But since we are all cowards we don’t want to lose the easiness in life because fulfilling dreams would mean hard work and standard lives here, are dreamless, impersonal and least passionate that stepping out of the house to go out and fight would and allow motivation to come into being.
The fact is we don’t really go out of the houses, meet people, listen to a lot of music, read books, but we do come to office, we gossip about our love lives and colleagues and bosses, ignore sentiments, we go back to our houses, we are bored by our roommates or soul mates (whatever applicable) and need something terrifically new and that most of the times turns out to be a an affair or in other terms someone else’s affair that could be talked about or worst of them all someone else, in person, who could be talked about.
There are so many other things, one of my personal favorites being food, which can be explored. But no, restaurants and places like this most of the times turn out to be another reason where people can be talked by those who are sitting across the dining table and most of the times the worst part, that attacks viscerally and people don’t necessarily want it to happen subconsciously is dinner or lunch because that would mark the end of gossip and hence entertainment when that evening’s entertainment was meant to be good food. Talking about food, how many of you know that there is a nationwide chain named as “Kobe’s” who serve pretty good sizzlers, though it is costly and one platter may not be fulfilling, but it is good indeed.
Perhaps that is my agony, in our fairy tales where we fall in love so that we become a centre of attraction, be entertained by being gossiped about, or after updating a status and hoping that to be liked by a 100 friends or even having 2487 friends in our friend list with most of them being girls who themselves tend to show off their sympathetic sides and in an attempt to find their pity perhaps we lose the need of real entertainment. Many of us, I see return from offices and open their facebook accounts spent 2 to 3 hours, if they would watch a film, or may be write something or may be draw, listen to music for that much of time, or read a book perhaps gossips would be more entertaining, talks would be more productive and ultimately, may be, many of us find, what we have to do and what we should.
But that has not happened and unfortunately we have too much to talk, that I see, instead of sleeping, whole nights are spent in talking about people from college, from families, mutual friends, bad teachers, laughing and crying over what has happened or who did what and when and ultimately being emotionally exhausted and we accept it as it is. The problem here is we have lost much of the taste, let it be food, music, art or cinema and most of the times we end up liking either that is shallow and superficial and ignore the richness and goodness or the pleasure of something really delightful. Most of us don’t even watch animation films like “The Secret of Kells”, “Ponyo” and “The Iron Giant”, have you heard about them? But when I say “The Iron giant” was made by the same guy who directed MI: 4, and ask have you seen MI: 4, everyone will raise hands.
Because we want to prove it to others how important we are to others and gossip about others or let others do it about us and our love lives are troubled and we need sympathy from the opposite gender, because we want to hurt others because we think, they were mean when they left us when we were most important to them, and most of our lives are wasted in thinking about it, basically we know it subconsciously, that we have taken too many short cuts in our lives to be like this and may be will go unnoticed for the rest of our lives and hence we do all this. Perhaps, that is the reason we don’t deserve entertainment, but as far as getting likes and comments on our status updates are concerned, yes we sure deserve that.
Now here lies my fear, pop culture and true entertainment is dying. The problem with facebook status updates and SMS packs is enabling a gossip function. Either you say something that enables gossip or you do something that is widely shared across the internet media, and from everyone in your class to your teacher might be aware of possible stupidity you have done.
Us Indian youngsters, as I have written earlier in different blogposts, are cowards, we might have the ability to be creative or generate ideas unusual in nature but the sheer monotony, and as Hungarian film maker Bela Tarr would say “Burden of human life” takes it from them. Success at its core deserves making an idea that can, in my harsh words, make a fool out of the others. But that needs confidence and ability to evaluate one’s own abilities and find the right path of success. But since we are all cowards we don’t want to lose the easiness in life because fulfilling dreams would mean hard work and standard lives here, are dreamless, impersonal and least passionate that stepping out of the house to go out and fight would and allow motivation to come into being.
The fact is we don’t really go out of the houses, meet people, listen to a lot of music, read books, but we do come to office, we gossip about our love lives and colleagues and bosses, ignore sentiments, we go back to our houses, we are bored by our roommates or soul mates (whatever applicable) and need something terrifically new and that most of the times turns out to be a an affair or in other terms someone else’s affair that could be talked about or worst of them all someone else, in person, who could be talked about.
There are so many other things, one of my personal favorites being food, which can be explored. But no, restaurants and places like this most of the times turn out to be another reason where people can be talked by those who are sitting across the dining table and most of the times the worst part, that attacks viscerally and people don’t necessarily want it to happen subconsciously is dinner or lunch because that would mark the end of gossip and hence entertainment when that evening’s entertainment was meant to be good food. Talking about food, how many of you know that there is a nationwide chain named as “Kobe’s” who serve pretty good sizzlers, though it is costly and one platter may not be fulfilling, but it is good indeed.
Perhaps that is my agony, in our fairy tales where we fall in love so that we become a centre of attraction, be entertained by being gossiped about, or after updating a status and hoping that to be liked by a 100 friends or even having 2487 friends in our friend list with most of them being girls who themselves tend to show off their sympathetic sides and in an attempt to find their pity perhaps we lose the need of real entertainment. Many of us, I see return from offices and open their facebook accounts spent 2 to 3 hours, if they would watch a film, or may be write something or may be draw, listen to music for that much of time, or read a book perhaps gossips would be more entertaining, talks would be more productive and ultimately, may be, many of us find, what we have to do and what we should.
But that has not happened and unfortunately we have too much to talk, that I see, instead of sleeping, whole nights are spent in talking about people from college, from families, mutual friends, bad teachers, laughing and crying over what has happened or who did what and when and ultimately being emotionally exhausted and we accept it as it is. The problem here is we have lost much of the taste, let it be food, music, art or cinema and most of the times we end up liking either that is shallow and superficial and ignore the richness and goodness or the pleasure of something really delightful. Most of us don’t even watch animation films like “The Secret of Kells”, “Ponyo” and “The Iron Giant”, have you heard about them? But when I say “The Iron giant” was made by the same guy who directed MI: 4, and ask have you seen MI: 4, everyone will raise hands.
Because we want to prove it to others how important we are to others and gossip about others or let others do it about us and our love lives are troubled and we need sympathy from the opposite gender, because we want to hurt others because we think, they were mean when they left us when we were most important to them, and most of our lives are wasted in thinking about it, basically we know it subconsciously, that we have taken too many short cuts in our lives to be like this and may be will go unnoticed for the rest of our lives and hence we do all this. Perhaps, that is the reason we don’t deserve entertainment, but as far as getting likes and comments on our status updates are concerned, yes we sure deserve that.
Perhaps we do feel fulfilled by fb etc. To my mind that, in a way, is a good thing. When parents are far away from kids, for example, it is almost like being in touch any time of the day and night. I find myself laughing at some of the things my kids write and the responses from their friends are witty too. But you are right. There is much more to life than just that.
ReplyDeleteHi KayEm,
DeleteYes I agree, to some extent it is indeed a good thing, but the way, why blame anyone else, I see myself looking for comments and likes, I was compelled to write this.
By the way thanks for reading and commenting :)