It all started with our daily no-sense-conversation during
the much awaited break-time at work. My friend began to narrate last day’s
incident. Apparently, her brother was the proud owner of an expensive phone,
which he happened to mistakenly drop on the floor. The poor thing’s once-pretty
screen shattered into pieces. According to my friend’s narration, her brother’s
first reaction was “I hope the front camera is still working. Warna main selfies kaise lunga (How else
will I be able to click selfies)!“. She, obviously, was more concerned with the
overall health-and-well-being of the phone (mainly by virtue of its price tag –
as normal people should be – at least as per my understanding).
No matter how weird the kid’s first reaction was, it is
inevitably indicative of the latest trending thing today –the selfie fever!
Admit it or not, at one time or another, we all have been guilty of
contributing to this trend. Whether it be one of those days, when all you want
is a perfect picture of yourself, and you can’t trust another living creature
with such a vital responsibility, or that moment when everyone on the floor
necessarily needs to be a part of the picture (leaving no one to click it), we
all have been on both sides of the lens, at the same time. However, here I am
trying to investigate the deeper meanings that this trend signifies, about us,
as a generation, and more importantly, as a society.
There is more to the picture, than what meets the eye. Quite
literally here. Behind that smiling picture of yours, more correctly called: “selfie”,
is a loner. It is a person who likes to be clicked, but probably has no one to
click that picture for them. It is a person, who chooses not to share the
desire to be clicked, even with the closest people, but does choose to share
the click itself, on a social networking website, with people they barely know.
Funny thing is, selfie is not always about you. Catching up
fast, is the group selfie trend, wherein a group of people, click their own
group picture, managing to accommodate all in one picture. They say it’s a
great way to make the perfect memory. But are we so busy making memories, that
we have completely lost track of the art of living-in-the-moment? Are we so
worried about what we are losing, that we tend to completely ignore what we
most definitely have? Is the present not good-enough, that we constantly need
evidence to remind ourselves that the past was good? Maybe, the questions are
too far-fetched. Or maybe, they are not.
As far as I can humanly remember, the happiest times of my
life, are from my childhood. The most precious moments, the most heart-felt
laughs, the most authentic smiles, the most delicious foods, the most memorable
trips – everything that defines “awesome” dates back to my childhood. I happen
to remember every single detail, no matter how old or irrelevant it might be in
the present context. Strange part is: We never had a camera. The stranger part
is, we never felt the need of having one.
That makes me think; probably the best moments cannot be
clicked. Or more correctly put, the best moments do not have to be clicked.
When the picture becomes more important than the object of the picture, it’s
time to put that camera away, and remind yourself, to live in the moment, and
not in the picture.
Keep smiling. Not just for the picture! :)
