Changing society

Sensitivity goes out of the window when faced with temptations to show you off.

It is entertaining to read status messages on face book and tweets during major events like festivals, holiday season and particularly at the starting of any year. Bold proclamations on the parties attended, pictures which look like they have been clicked only to be uploaded, friends tagged so that no one misses the updates, dresses bought especially for the event, menu planned to perfection, wine list which is the best in Bacchus land, trinkets carefully accessorised to match the designer dresses; the list goes on.

Age and sex do not matter when FB is calling, asking you on how you feel prompting you to choose and upload the latest photos clicked on your android, gently probing details on those photos, asking who you were with (Indian parents have been struggling to get an answer to this one from their teenaged kids from time immemorial!!) and of course, giving you a chance to just ‘show-off’!

Sensitivity goes out of the window when faced with such temptations to let somebody see you in another light and one doesn’t stop to think of a close friend, who is on ‘friend list’ or ‘followers’ who was bereaved recently or the young mother who would have spent the entire night taking care of a sick child. I often wonder how the month of December brings some enormous tragedy each year. Last year, it was the Delhi case, while this year, it was the ghastly fire on a railway coach. It throws a pall of gloom on the new year celebrations and manages to dampen the celebrations. Still, we have parties which feature the best of DJs and bollywood and other wood celebrities.

‘At least don’t find fault with people who want to usher in the new year with style, don’t be cynical and critical’ would be the phrase which would be commonly used when people try to understand these celebrations. Of course, in this age of materialism and instant gratification, we need to celebrate everything, at least to put up FB statuses and tweets. And why not? The economy has a tendency to slump when it feels like, rupee manages to fall harder than the previous year, and fuel prices go up faster than the fuel burning. Morals and loyalty have become obsolete and the society is rapidly changing. 

So ‘celebrate mate, smile and make merry while you can’ seems to be the general mantra. No harm done as long as people stick to their revelry and don’t bother others. The elderly man upstairs bore the heavy decibel sound, raucous laughter and boisterous partying while struggling to make his ailing wife sleep. ‘C’mon uncle, you are too old to party and moreover, you need to take care of a sick wife. We have no such constraints and you know how expensive it is to party at hotels and pubs. So just relax and let us be’ He had been sneered at.

‘Of course, I do not know your kind of love, sonny, I only know what is to take care of a bed ridden wife at an age where other attractions are over and no status messages and tweets can suffice to express my anxiety for her’, he shot back. His anguish had  stunned them before the blaring music continued.