A Vomit of thoughts

6:21 PM, 2nd April 2023

It’s a Sunday evening and I’m bored.

         The digital technology around us has made our lives so easy. Easy to forget that urgent task that you need to be doing. Easy to get a dopamine high from something as silly as scrolling through other people’s pictures and whatnot. I am writing this blog after (re)watching 2 episodes of ‘The Office’, then reading IPL commentary on cricbuzz, then listening to an AP Dhillon number, and  then watching Alia Bhatt in a song from ‘2 states’ (Oh! that yellow saree!). Dopamine hits, one after another. But this is not a how-to-avoid-getting-distracted or how-to-be-more-productive blog or a listicle or anything of that sort. 

         Not that people care but I am writing after a very long time, almost 3 months. What took me so long? Procrastination and laziness,for the most of it. I told you, this is not a productivity-hack article. Another reason could be the fact that I didn’t learn something new or interesting that I thought is worth sharing. The book that I took up probably five months ago is still unfinished. Although I did watch  some amazing documentaries and contemplated writing something around them. But here we are!

       Meanwhile a very dear friend of mine, Ritika, did keep asking about when my next blog is coming. Also, the other day, my sister asked me why am I not writing. I said, “who cares, only few people read them anyways”. She replied “ so you would write only for other people?”. And then it dawned upon me. I too was seeking  validation from others. Not the best thing to seek. So, thank you  dear sister(heart emoji) and thank you Ritika(folded hands emoji). 

      As already confessed, I didn’t learn anything worth sharing. So, here are some of the random things and thoughts that kept me busy or should I say distracted in past 2-3 months.

1.Our Planet: It is a docu-series about the vast biodiversity on our huge planet. I was fairly surprised when I found myself so gripped by them. Learning about plants and animals was never interesting to me. But the way they are captured in the series is extraordinary. Production value of the series is immense. The high quality videos give you an immersive experience. The biggest impact of the series is, I think, that after watching it one can feel a transcendental connection with those giant beasts, tiny animals, lush green forests and colourful corals. One starts to realise that living on this planet is as much a right for them as for us humans. The series is a great instrument for spreading the cause of sustainable living and biodiversity conservation. If Greta Thunberg hasn’t inspired you yet, give this series a chance.

2.Monsoon Wedding: It is a Mira Nair(director) movie. After watching the  movie I felt like grabbing hold of anyone who I meet next and make them watch it. The movie revolves around an upper middle class Punjabi wedding. Throughout the movie I kept smiling except for some sombre moments. It follows more than one story. There is a responsible father worried about wedding arrangements, a young bride still unsure of her decision, a not so young cousin sister of the bride who should be (supposedly)married by now but isn’t, an Australia returned boy trying to impress another girl who has come for the occasion, a fairly rebellious teenager who loves to dance and sing and is dreaded by the thought of a boarding school, a very sweet and shy house help and a quirky wedding planner who is surprised to find himself in love. The film portrays the nitty gritty of such occasions in a middle class family to near perfection. A viewer can relate to the characters. Last two songs of the movie are a treat. Vasundhara Das’ (plays the bride) brown eyes do magic. 

3. Photography & Film-making : I came across a video on YouTube (channel:Prateek Garad) where a pretty girl was doing some ordinary things. And the video felt like a spell of charm, not because the girl was pretty, but the way she was captured through lens of a camera. I could almost feel the different moods of different scenes in the video. And then I found myself wishing if I could capture such moments. Later that day, I realised that photography and film-making are such great tools for storytelling. And now that all of us carry smartphone-cameras and  most can buy proper cameras, imagine the number and diversity of stories that we can potentially create and tell. The boom in paltforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels are manifestations of this potential. However, the aspect of photography which fascinated me more is documentation of our lives. When we take selfies ostensibly for flaunting good looks on the “Gram”, somehow we also document our lives. Spend some time on someone’s social media account and you can make a reasonable guess about happenings in their life. Photography/videography gives you the ability to capture personal moments and later thread them into beautiful stories. For next few days, I was watching tutorials on photography and film making. 

4. Irfan Junejo: He is a vlogger. More importantly, he is from Pakistan. I started watching his  vlogs from the very beginning (his first one came 5 years ago). I could see a person starting something very new, driven by passion, sticking with it and eventually growing pretty fast. As of now he has more than a million subscribers. What impressed me the most was the fact that he stuck with his originality in way of making the vlogs. He didn’t change his methods to attract digital crowds and didn’t resort to anything with which he was not comfortable. Generally, ‘creators’ tend to prioritise the interest of viewers above anything else and end up doing things they never set out for. And the minute they return to their original self, they lose their audience. But Irfan’s journey is a valuable lesson on staying original and growing organically. Interestingly, watching his vlogs, I could see a side of Pakistan different from what we see through more conventional media: news, tv, movies, internet hashtags etc. I found out that there are people in Pakistan who are similar to us in more than one way. Admiration for Virat Kohli, topics of our jokes, obsession with Bollywood, music culture and pop stars are among many common things. Yet, we are sworn enemies. Something to think about.

5. The Opinion Pageant(an article I found):We love to let the world know about our opinions however unwarranted they might be, don’t we? Thanks to social media, our perception about others is moulded more by their words than their actions. And words come cheaper than actions. If people are going to declare themselves as ‘sapiosexuals’ in their dating-app bio, naturally others would race to their social media accounts for displaying their intellectual attractiveness. Brainy is the new sexy, they say. And how do we prove our intellectual prowess? By commenting on issues of current relevance and significance e.g. racism, gender, climate change,Russia, ChatGPT, the Oscar slap, Donald Trump, Andrew Tate etc. Apart from quest for scoring dates what motivates us for incessant commentary on pretty much everything is an ubiquitous tendency to prove ourselves right and superior. But are we adequately equipped to investigate all the aspects of an issue ? Are we patient enough to spare time for listening to those disagreeing with us? Are we laborious enough to devotedly research on a particular topic in attempt to know the truth? And most importantly are we humble enough to admit fallacy in our arguments when such time comes? Probably not. We have outsourced the task of checking correctness of an opinion to ‘influencers’. Their opinions become our opinions. And once we come public with our opinion we fight tooth and nail for its preservation, no matter the cost.  

                         So these were pretty much the thoughts that I could recollect looking back at past few months. I hope I write more frequently.

P.S. : I am too cool to seek external validation now. Still, your appreciation will be appreciated.