Heart-to-Heart I

I know you feel that sometimes it’s all a bit too much. You hit that point in your life when you are completely saturated of the routine. Even if the routine involves matters close to the heart. I think I know that feeling. At times I feel it too.  Newspapers call it the quarter-life syndrome (though I'm a little over the first quarter of my life). But then words like 'burnout' and 'stressed' are tossed about by children too these days. It makes me think where we are going wrong with life in general. Why are we so tired? So bored? All the time. Why do twenty-five year olds have grey hair and high blood pressure? And what's this goddamn obsession with clicking selfies? 

With everyone trying their best to be different at all times, do you ever find that they’re all acting the same? Is there a commercial, a movie plot, a book theme that hasn't been explored before? ‘Think outside the box’ is one of the most common phrases used today. What does that tell you about everybody’s desperate need to be distinct?

We live in an age where there are hardly (and I say this because I still have some hope) any surprises left to unveil. I heard someone say it the other day too. Was it on tv?...I don’t know. But is there anything left for man to discover, to wonder at anymore?

We’ve been to the moon and back. We’re even discovering traces of water on other heavenly bodies. A ride in an airplane is no longer a cause for excitement. American sitcoms have Indian actors. Indian news channels are screaming their lungs out, begging class-lessly to be heard on world satellite. Food is fusing in all sorts of melting pots all over the world. We have electricity, mobile phones, drones for military and civilian use. The malls have made everything available to us and we greedily horde it all. 

And because television has nothing new to offer, the screens keep getting bigger and smarter. So now we have a laptop, a tablet, a television, a mobile phone, myriad apps and whatnot- all means to the same end.

Where’s the element of surprise? The wow factor in human evolution? An invention that’s creating waves of curiosity across the planet? Instead, we’re losing our trees, we’re struggling to save the tiger even as we ignore an injured motorist on the street. Heck, you can’t even see the stars nowadays. And the only thing I can wonder about is whether we’ll still be able to spot the moon through the city haze in the future.  

Television is frustratingly repetitive. Predictable dialogues, reality tv shows that are either too noisy or filled with an overload of bling and glitter. Even the Filmfare Awards Night has lost its enigma. You know which star will be on stage because they’re the only ones seated in the audience.  Music today isn’t created to go down in history, it’s created to live out its shelf-life and meet the sales target. And the fashion?- is there a distinct style that would characterize the 21^st century? I mean, think about it. You know what the 80s looked like. You know what the 50s looked like. But does it even matter anymore now?

I guess it’s safe to say, the surprise party has come to a close. This is as good as it’s ever going to get. Sure you’ll have faster trains and planes, automated homes and perhaps someday a robotic friend. Mobile phones will get smaller, television sets are going to get bigger. But none of it will be lead to a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, unforgettable moment of WOW.

Yes, the surprise party is over.