India is one of the youngest countries and is a world leader in many things (good or bad). In this new millennium, many events and factors have affected India and Indians in several ways that older ethics and habits are now really a thing of the past. The latest concept I have come across and experienced is the drifting of people and the ability to spend more time with their own self. I was at the wedding of a “close” relative and yet I felt so alien. I was surrounded by relatives and could start a conversation with my parents’ cousins quite easily. Yet I could not find anyone my age to talk to. Everyone was either listening to music or sitting in a daze staring at the proceedings or fiddling with their cell phones. The concept of today, as I am told, is to stay attached and yet detached. Maintain contact yet mind your own. No offense but what has changed now? I don’t really understand how it can be done. You are either dead or alive. You are either right or wrong. Terms like partially correct, almost alike…. anyway coming back to the wedding. Those 2 days were quite harrowing to sit there and watch others walk by listlessly and not glance around, to not move except when called to eat, to keep repeating cliché niceties when people do respond and presence is acknowledged, to look at the bride and groom to get the glazed stare back. Elders I had met when I was 5 responded a lot more than their kids.
People who swore by you, people who needed support at some point of time in life… time sure heals everything. A person I used to sit next to in school couldn’t come up with what to talk about when we met recently. I somehow can relate with the “stay attached yet detached” concept in this case also. Lol only relate but not implement. Organizing a get together, reunions to meet others never really benefits or lightens up everyone but yet can the actual meaning be entirely lost somehow? All emotions lead to anger or come out as sorrow or laughter also? Benign thoughts, hollow talks… can these bridge the gap everywhere safely?
