Self-reverential

So I was in New York City on Christmas Eve (yes, I managed to not only bring that into this one-sided conversation, but started off with that.  Deal with it) when my entire definition of “personal space” came crashing down around me.  A man was actually annoyed when I bumped into his extended appendage aka his selfie stick.  Yes that abominable contraption that enables one to freely engage in base narcissism against a variety of backdrops.  Few years down the line, the question “What’s your background?” will invite a whole new answer.  It does not augur well for society that men and women are content to just leave their gaping face as an imprint upon society.  A selfie must not be a substitute for impact.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love photos.  Especially those that are not contaminated by my presence.  Hell, I genuinely wish I had been in New York City on New Year’s Eve just so I could caption my album “Naya Saal, Naya York.  Photos have been a documentation of society. In the case of the selfie however, the true documentation of the breakdown in society lies in the moments between the selfie arm or stick being extended and the photo being clicked.  The variety of weird faces that people make before settling on one.  This is one instance where the “Making of” featurette is more interesting and valuable than the final movie.  And of course, like any abomination created by the new age millennials, hypocrisy is an integral part of it.  People mock and laugh at the selfie stances and poses of others, seconds before sucking in cheeks and puckering lips to initiate their own “masterpiece”.

It reflects a larger failure of a self-obsessed and self-centered generation.  The more we focus on the individual, the more we crumble as a society.  We stay apart in everything else and mostly come together in moments of cruelty.  The mass uprisings and coming together in support of something are but mere flashes in the pan.

It also speaks to the larger insecurity of having to document one’s own life and journey.  It reflects the deep rooted insecurities we have of our place in the world, our path in life and the impact we will leave in this world.  The selfie is just a natural progression from opinionated blogs and essays (yes, yes.  I sense the irony) that have their say and clutter up space without having any real benefit.  The selfie stick, is a barrel.  The barrel of a gun.  A gun that society has squarely aimed at itself.  We are well on our way to selfie remotes and perhaps even selfie drones.  Ironic that in spite of all the images we take of ourselves, we fail to truly take a good hard look at ourselves.  And our duck faces.  We are literally screwing ourselves over with this.  To wit: “Kya kar raha hai, bhai?”  “Selfie le raha hoon.”  “Selfie bole toh? Hindi mein matlab?”  “Bole toh, KHUKDI le raha hoon.”

Touching upon Feelings, Touchy-Feely Style

It’s good to be in touch with your sensitive side they say.  But that often gets confused with being touchy and sensitive.  Being in touch with your feelings is one thing.  But touching upon a feeling or feeling a touch for your feeling (stay with me, now) and fumbling around it like a blind man, presuming to know it based on what tiny glimpse we have or what edge we pass our fingers through can lead to mistaking them. 

Our feelings are not really our feelings but others’ opinion of our feelings.  The information age is also the mis-information age.  And we are unable to hide from it.  Information consists of facts.  Mis-information of opinions.  Nothing is reported opinion free or tinged with subjectivism.  What we feel, how we feel, when should we feel and how to categorize and box them is based on what we see and are told around us.  Every act is labeled by someone already.  And as such, we tend to use those labels whether they be right or wrong.  So infatuation combined with loneliness becomes love, practicality becomes cowardice.

It’s like with music, books and movies.  We tend to lean with the majority reviews.  Hating what we would’ve objectively liked, even if as a guilty pleasure and liking what we did not enjoy, or understand, or both (*cough..Hunger Games, Inheritance of Loss, rap music…cough*).  And so it goes with our feelings and emotions.  We tend to box them into categories described by others.  And we tend to suppress or embrace them accordingly.

So how about this for a resolution.  Not just to be in touch with our sensitivity.  But to not be affected by the sensitivity of the touchiness ascribed by others while being sensible in sensing the depths and touchpoints of our true emotions.  Or something to that effect.