The driver stops at the red signal along with several other vehicles and stretches his hand to reach for his mobile phone. A quick one-minute-hault has caused a long-stretched line of vehicles. Beggars come rushing to the stopping vehicles despite heavy rain. I slide down the window to give a 10-Y-O beggar a 50 rupees note. My eyes fall on a family of 5 in the car next to mine with 3 cute little angels.This brings me back the moments I spent with my siblings. How it was completely impossible to sit without causing riots. All those useless rants about not getting the window seat.
And just as the memory comes rushing in I realize how times have changed. The utter silence in the car is bothering me.These kids in the car are on their tabs watching some digital cartoons. The mother in the front seat is scrolling down her facebook feed and the father is texting someone. They are near each other but not close. .I look around and everyone's busy but silent. This chaotic silence is bothering me.
This forces me to think if we are who we should be? Ignoring the people around us to be with some digital happiness. We are together but not close. How much of the human interaction we neglect while using the devices. We are close to the people not around us but far from the people around us. How many of our recent raw memories include actual face-to-face human interaction? How much do we know about one another other than our social accounts? Have we come to a social hault just like the vehicles on these red signals? Have we declared this digital world our safe haven making it our permanent friend?
ARE WE DEVELOPING AS A SPECIES BUT FAILING AS A SOCIETY?
And as I show hatred to this safe digital bubble, I lower my head over my mobile phone to write my thoughts rather than having a healthy conversation with my sister sitting next to me.
Oh this bitter-sweet irony exposing my hypocrisy.
