The Social Life

How many people have lectured you to shut your laptop/smart phone for a while and go out and have fun? How many videos have you seen in last couple of years showing what we lose when we indulge ourselves in the virtual world? How many times have you felt that your childhood was awesome when you played hide and seek instead of Candy Crush or Subway Surfer or Flappy Birds? How many times did you see your siblings play FIFA ’14 and wonder that they won’t know how it feels to play in the dirt? How many acquaintances/so-called friends have asked you that why internet is so important? Why can’t you just go out and hang out with people?

I am sure that the people of my age group have certainly come across these questions so many times that like me they do not bother to keep the count. I am an active person in the social networking sites. In my real life, I am tagged as a strictly boring person who wouldn’t get out of her virtual world. Yes, I am one of those who lives two different lives.

Coming to Delhi for my graduation, by far, seems to be my best decision. Initially I hated the capital city. And by city, I mean the people I met. Had I not been here, the discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, gender, region and religion would have been just a part of my Civics books in school. I would have never come across the unbelievable stereotypes of the society. And of all things, I would not have known what the word ‘society’ means.

To my restless mind, gave peace the penned down thoughts of many people living their life miles away from me. Books, the all time escape became my best friends. Blogging became the hobby that I cherished the most. Around me were the people who did not understand how reading and writing can be done for fun and not for scoring in exams. I did not deny an explanation but I denied explaining when they weren’t ready to accept. I was judged and I barely cared.

I was proud to not be a part of the convention that the so called ‘society’ suggests. I was proud to have a childhood in place which knew no discrimination. I was proud that I did not follow the societal stereotypes. I was proud that my curious mind questioned the never-asked-but-followed rituals. I was proud to have read books which took me around the world when I couldn’t go on my own. I was proud that fictions made it easier for me to understand the human psychology. And I still am.

The social networking sites, be it Facebook or Twitter, made me meet people of my own kind - people who appreciated reading, people who encouraged writing, people who could think beyond the societal norms, stereotypes and discrimination and people who claimed equality and did not live under patriarchy, people who appreciated the human tendencies and people who did not judge me for I wasn’t similar to them. I confined to them. I started living in the virtual ‘social’ life.

When I say I like being alone, I am definitely lying. Living a secluded life isn’t my thing. But it’s better to be alone than feeling lonely in a crowd. I am the person who would love to speak about my perspective of everything and would appreciate an intellectual chat instead of mere gossips. I am the person who would debate on patriarchy instead of dancing to the tunes of sexist Bollywood Item numbers/Honey Singh songs which by the way is the most common way of having fun in the real world around me. Believe me I long for some real life action in my life. If I could I would probably try every adventure sport, go around the world without the fiction. I am the person who wouldn’t mind going out at midnight to paint the town which is obviously a metaphor. 

I certainly have more acquaintances in the illusive world than the real one. People ask me why I love being in my college theatre group? My parents probably wouldn’t understand why I cannot simply quit doing theatre? I am probably that person in the group who still knows nothing about acting. But the discussions we have in there have made me develop so much. To most of the people, it would seem that being a part of theatre has spoiled me. But I would say that it is the only thing which saved me, kept me sane.

My theatre group is my only real social life. Otherwise I am the obnoxious boring person whom you cannot bear for a minute and who is always updating a piece of her mind here and there because she simply cannot keep it to herself. The idea of shutting down the laptop and the smart phone to enjoy the life outside seems tempting to me. It really is. But only if the right kind of people are around, because I am not the person who can bear anyone and everyone all the time.

I read. I write. I love listening to an intellectual discussion over a bread pakoda and chai. I hate Honey Singh’s songs. I hate dancing to the tunes of bollywood item songs.

And this does not mean I do not have a social life. Virtual or real, I have both. It simple does not include every acquaintance of mine. And I do not think there is anything wrong in being active on social networking sites if you find the right people there and not in your real life. And no matter who says what, you always have the time to look up and say hi to the passerby. You’re never too busy or addicted to the unreal. You just made a choice that makes you happy. And you know, you do not have to please anybody, no matter which ‘social’ life they come from. 

Image Source- Facebook.