Really...the world has become flatter than you can imagine.
Not only do you own an iPhone and eat Udon noodles or Irish cream coffee...your thoughts and perceptions, wants and desires, your aspirations and goals.. all have become universal.
Imagine.. I go to a remote part of Assam and people are disappointed that I don't own the latest iPhone and don't do whatsapp.. I'm like the most backward creature they have ever met (not that it bothers me). So, now I come back to namma IT city and need to upgrade myself The internet has democratised and levelled things beyond one's perception. Also, I attended an Assamese wedding and its like Paris fashion week. The reach of the internet is alarming and unless there is some maturity, we'll end up being a depressed nation.
At Isha yoga, they ban TVs, newspapers,mobiles, magazines and books. At first it looks very stifling. You feel that they're going to lock you in a room and brainwash you with no one for help.
But then today, 2 years later, it all makes sense. One construction worker looked at me in awe because my car doesn't have auto lock. Another teacher in Assam is disappointed that I do not own the latest gadgets. Everyone knows whats latest, whats fashionable and who's doing what.
This has only made people terribly disappointed with their own lives. Earlier your benchmark or comparison point was ur classmate who studied like you or a cousin closest in capabilities to you.
Today, it's no longer the case. A student in Palani can envy someone in Pennsylvania.
Envy has cross "neighbourhood" and travelled across the globe.
The more people you know, the more false ideas you have, about their life and the one thing that is actually true - your life and you - start appearing inconspicuous. But, that's the only thing you have, the only thing you can improve and the only thing that actually satisfies you, and you're abandoning that for some false shows.
I've seen this with myself. I pore over fashion mags at my parlour. Once a year I buy my Vogue/ Marie Claire copy to see colorful pics. But, what that has done to me is, created some space for aspirational jewellery, aspirational bodies, aspirational makeup and so on. When you expose yourself to certain things for long, you internalize them and start aspiring them as if everyone around you looks like that or owns those things. You step away from reality. Somebody else's experience and though process becomes yours when you read articles. You will turn out to be some version of the author himself because he, his thought process and his vocabulary are now yours too!
Eventually, we have very less original experiences and thoughts. We're all a borrowed bundle of thoughts and desires now. Someone deep in Thiruchendur wants a face like Scarlet Johannason.
You cannot blame her, because we are all so tuned to pick some things from society without evaluating it. When you bring in someone like Tamannah or Hansika amidst Priyamani and Trisha - everyone feels that white is superior, while everyone around is far from that Rin ka safedi.
So, the local population suffers.
When we start eating pizzas and pastas, idlis and dosas will suffer. I don't know if the sales of idlis and dosas has gotten affected by this or in fact increased because, overall the population eating out, is quite huge nowadays.
We all tend to move as a herd.. behave collectively as a society. We all may be suffering from the same ailments though we may fiercely deny that. When I look at my mother I wonder. She is so confident, smart and productive. There are reasons to it. She doesn't use the internet. So, Scarlet Johannason does not torture her. Also, she does not spend 2 hours a day on facebook. She has no one to compare her life against. She's content. If she had to live in this generation, this ailment would have afflicted her too. Look at weddings.. many people are dissatisfied when everyone turns up in their fashionable best and you - at the best - look average. So, when so many people congregate, you need to be cautious of what you take in. Facebook is a congregation of millions of people with varied backgrounds, varied mindsets, varied experiences. So, we need to be all the more cautious about what we digest there.
Staying disconnected from this crazy world has greatly improved my thought process. Staying with tons of people.. surrounded by tons of news and tons of stories only made me duller. It was a very conscious decision not to get an iPhone/ iPad and avoid apps...You no longer own the iPhone. The iPhone and the apps and the people you are connected to "collectively own and influence" you if you are not a strongly grounded person. I have a relaxed life precisely because I am less connected.
It pays to be disconnected. By disconnected, I do not mean, switch off your iPhone for 2 hours. I mean, be cautious how much it rules your life. When you're in a stressful job, you have no time to think. To even be productive in a job, you need some free time, so that you evaluate and see what you can do better. If your life is crowded, there is no silence, no original thinking - you're only consuming mounds of data floating across, written by not so qualified people. So, it's important to step out, evaluate things with a clear mind and decide a course of action.
The last 2 years of non-working period have improved my clarity of thought. I am sure that all this will help me when I get back to work. Had I not done this, I'd have not grown at all. I'd still be having a job, more bank balance but wondering and feeling dissatisfied. I'm glad it all happened.
Not only do you own an iPhone and eat Udon noodles or Irish cream coffee...your thoughts and perceptions, wants and desires, your aspirations and goals.. all have become universal.
Imagine.. I go to a remote part of Assam and people are disappointed that I don't own the latest iPhone and don't do whatsapp.. I'm like the most backward creature they have ever met (not that it bothers me). So, now I come back to namma IT city and need to upgrade myself The internet has democratised and levelled things beyond one's perception. Also, I attended an Assamese wedding and its like Paris fashion week. The reach of the internet is alarming and unless there is some maturity, we'll end up being a depressed nation.
At Isha yoga, they ban TVs, newspapers,mobiles, magazines and books. At first it looks very stifling. You feel that they're going to lock you in a room and brainwash you with no one for help.
But then today, 2 years later, it all makes sense. One construction worker looked at me in awe because my car doesn't have auto lock. Another teacher in Assam is disappointed that I do not own the latest gadgets. Everyone knows whats latest, whats fashionable and who's doing what.
This has only made people terribly disappointed with their own lives. Earlier your benchmark or comparison point was ur classmate who studied like you or a cousin closest in capabilities to you.
Today, it's no longer the case. A student in Palani can envy someone in Pennsylvania.
Envy has cross "neighbourhood" and travelled across the globe.
The more people you know, the more false ideas you have, about their life and the one thing that is actually true - your life and you - start appearing inconspicuous. But, that's the only thing you have, the only thing you can improve and the only thing that actually satisfies you, and you're abandoning that for some false shows.
I've seen this with myself. I pore over fashion mags at my parlour. Once a year I buy my Vogue/ Marie Claire copy to see colorful pics. But, what that has done to me is, created some space for aspirational jewellery, aspirational bodies, aspirational makeup and so on. When you expose yourself to certain things for long, you internalize them and start aspiring them as if everyone around you looks like that or owns those things. You step away from reality. Somebody else's experience and though process becomes yours when you read articles. You will turn out to be some version of the author himself because he, his thought process and his vocabulary are now yours too!
Eventually, we have very less original experiences and thoughts. We're all a borrowed bundle of thoughts and desires now. Someone deep in Thiruchendur wants a face like Scarlet Johannason.
You cannot blame her, because we are all so tuned to pick some things from society without evaluating it. When you bring in someone like Tamannah or Hansika amidst Priyamani and Trisha - everyone feels that white is superior, while everyone around is far from that Rin ka safedi.
So, the local population suffers.
When we start eating pizzas and pastas, idlis and dosas will suffer. I don't know if the sales of idlis and dosas has gotten affected by this or in fact increased because, overall the population eating out, is quite huge nowadays.
We all tend to move as a herd.. behave collectively as a society. We all may be suffering from the same ailments though we may fiercely deny that. When I look at my mother I wonder. She is so confident, smart and productive. There are reasons to it. She doesn't use the internet. So, Scarlet Johannason does not torture her. Also, she does not spend 2 hours a day on facebook. She has no one to compare her life against. She's content. If she had to live in this generation, this ailment would have afflicted her too. Look at weddings.. many people are dissatisfied when everyone turns up in their fashionable best and you - at the best - look average. So, when so many people congregate, you need to be cautious of what you take in. Facebook is a congregation of millions of people with varied backgrounds, varied mindsets, varied experiences. So, we need to be all the more cautious about what we digest there.
Staying disconnected from this crazy world has greatly improved my thought process. Staying with tons of people.. surrounded by tons of news and tons of stories only made me duller. It was a very conscious decision not to get an iPhone/ iPad and avoid apps...You no longer own the iPhone. The iPhone and the apps and the people you are connected to "collectively own and influence" you if you are not a strongly grounded person. I have a relaxed life precisely because I am less connected.
It pays to be disconnected. By disconnected, I do not mean, switch off your iPhone for 2 hours. I mean, be cautious how much it rules your life. When you're in a stressful job, you have no time to think. To even be productive in a job, you need some free time, so that you evaluate and see what you can do better. If your life is crowded, there is no silence, no original thinking - you're only consuming mounds of data floating across, written by not so qualified people. So, it's important to step out, evaluate things with a clear mind and decide a course of action.
The last 2 years of non-working period have improved my clarity of thought. I am sure that all this will help me when I get back to work. Had I not done this, I'd have not grown at all. I'd still be having a job, more bank balance but wondering and feeling dissatisfied. I'm glad it all happened.
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