I had always hated to become a writer by night, except some educational writing, compelled by the desire to earn a degree. But the last few days have brought the writer in me to wake only after midnight.
The IPL is surely to be blamed for this. I read my daily dose of book after the night IPL match ends around 1130 pm and after midnight your body and mind gets diluted and flows in the ether.
If you listen to equally airy thin music from the collection of ‘Guns and Roses’, Kurt Cobain and Bob Dylan, the heart pounds like a unstable volcanic mass and thoughts erupt and spread like clouds that can burst as the right temperament touches them.
One such thought burst yesterday, technically this morning as I write. The thought is about being eternally happy and innocent. Do we ever manage to stay innocent in all our thoughts and actions? I think we don’t.
The ability to hide sorrow with the faint smile and happiness with the dumbfounded awkwardness is familiar to all of us in workplaces.
Those who are lucky have a family and friend network to be innocent and real whenever they want to. I think for millions of others the gift of social networking is doing miracle.
It’s like the village chowpal or you, where you have your small society that gathers, drinks chai, hookah or whatever they want. They talk about all sorts of issues -- sensitive, insensitive, political, social – and that too in small groups of likeminded ones.
Here you have the option to share your mundane views without being rebuked. You share your best moments through pictures, which can be enhanced with the gift of technology and spares you the time and effort of actually looking good.
You can share your disillusioned state of mind by sharing Bob Dylan‘s Knocking on Heaven’s Door video through YouTube, despite actually being a hope less singer yourself.
It’s good for your self esteem, your heart and mind too. You learn the slangs and management case studies here before anywhere else. I dare to disagree with whoever did the study inferring social networking sites reduce productivity. I claim they boost in more than one ways the individual’s moral, ego and power her/him even to stay on the top of her/ his professional developments.
Even in personal relationships it helps you find some and also protects you from losing some. It helps you with regular birthday wishes, which all men now can’t blame they forgot.
It also gives you opportunities to wish at personal and professional developments thereby cutting on actual travels. Lot of carbon foot prints reduced. Besides you chat and save millions of trees every year, it’s another thing you destroy them as toilet papers and on Pizza delivery.
The verdict is social networking makes your life better. As I am writing the last line, I can say it took me about 25 minutes to compose this prose and I’m still listening to Knocking on Heaven’s Door on the background.
Note: By the I posted this story I had switched to Lady Gaga's hit number' Bad Romance' so that my romance with midnight writing ends and I could catch some sleep.
PHOTOGRAPH: By Samrat Mukherjee. We all social networking aficionados, like the thirsty little boy pumping and getting his water, do our tweets, FB messages and meet our thirst of virtual society.
4 comments:
nice description, specially the similarity of a village choupal and social networking sites is interesting and unique
On the lines of global village! The best thing for me the sites have done is put me through to my old friends...and life is so much simpler with them.
The given explanation of social networking to the question you have raised 'Do we ever manage to stay innocent in all our thoughts and actions?" does not relate well.
Though the piece of writing reflects your personal view regarding the so-called 'social networking', but i failed to restrain from putting forward my opinion as there u give us the liberty to comment.
We come across many groups online who express their solidarity for many individuals, reasons, events, acts etc. without wasting time, many of us raise our voice for that greater cause by joining those groups. However, the question is- do we really portray our real selves on social networking or fake while taking the shape of virtual Avatars?
For example: I am a fan of the group, which supports better social security and safety for senior citizens. In virtual world, i sympathize with old people, but in real life i dont even once ask the name of the old couple, who stay in the same building where i do. instead of sparing some time to offer those lonely old couple a helping hand or volunteering for a small session of conversation, i rush to open my social networking account where the virtual world exists. The satisfaction, the happiness one can have from real life experiences is not comparable to what we get in the virtual world.
The whole world exists around us( even if parents and friends are away). We have to choose the source from which we want to draw our happiness. ( I am not against (not a fan also) social networking. Consider my opinion just as a counter-argument of your perception)
Dear Anonymous, I completely agree with the point you have raised. And largely yes we tend to feel good about things but not always succeed in doing the same in real life. But there are quite a few good examples of fund raising, getting justice through these groups. Also political and business developments are gaining attention or getting exposed through social networking...But yes largely it makes an internet activist of us...
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