I enjoy attending traditional weddings and functions. They
are beautiful! The happiness aura, you can only see smiling faces. I always
take a seat in the corner and observe the ritual and people. They run around
greeting each other, form circles and gossip, admire and boast about their
jewellery, exchange contacts, the long lost friends and cousins hug each other.
I have seen few cry in happiness. How beautiful! Oh! I love weddings!
Today, I attended a wedding - a different one. A man who
turned 70 remarried his wife again. I asked my mom about this custom. Why do
they get married to each other again? She answered that it is to show the world
that he is 70 years old and they are still happily married. How sweet! The old
couple dressed up like bride and groom, sitting at the altar and for a change
their children were running around greeting everybody. Their children were all
grown up and have a family of their own. Their grandchildren were enjoying the
occasion running around the wedding hall. It was a cute wedding. After the
wedding got over they made the bride and groom sit on a chair and all the young
ones, especially the couples took their blessings. There was an emotional
moment when the groom started to cry and I teased him, ‘I know they got you trapped again with the same lady after so many
years! It’s sad indeed’ he laughed heartily and to my surprise the bride
blushed. OH-MY-GOD I have never seen such a romantic lovely wedding in my life.
As I sat there looking at the couple there was a thought
lingering in my mind. While our elder generation had led such simple and
uncomplicated life, how complicated have we made our lives!
Yes, we have made it very complicated. We don’t want to be
committed to a person because we were hurt once. From friends with benefits to
open relationship we adopted everything from the western culture that would
make your life restless and complicated. We have made committed and being
single a style statement. Honestly, we don’t know what we want out of a
relationship or our life. We hurt ourselves and we hurt each other. We call it
moving on but we never move on. We are still hurt and petrified from the past
wounds that we fail to trust the people in future. We think we are better off
alone but deep down always crave for that someone. We only try to fit in our
past into the future and never attempt make fresh mistakes, learn from them and
move on. We don’t trust the ones with whom we have spent a lifetime and
ourselves. We are so impatient about everything and break down very easily. It
is not the way it is these days, it is the way we have built ourselves into.
As our lifestyles
improved and as we grew more modern, our minds stopped working. We crave for
money and all the materials. We give less value to people. We love a person
today and we want them out of our lives the next day. We find it hard to
forgive mistakes and carry guilt, rage and regrets. We stopped meeting friends.
We meet them on whatsapp and Facebook. We live in a 16 inch gadget. Honestly, I
have started hating smart phones because my friends have preferred chatting
with me on whatsapp than talking to me. Infact over the past 3 weeks I have
considered selling my phone a lot of times! I don’t want it anymore. I want
people around me. I want to meet them every weekend. I want the life I was
living without smartphones, facebook and whatsapp. I liked to read the news
from the paper than on my tab. I hate ebooks it does not give the smell of a new
book! Pathetic part of it we are missing the fun of shopping we have online
shopping!! No way!
We don’t really understand what we are missing in life. We
have become a slave of technology although its good in lot of ways that it lets
us stay in touch with our loved ones who are far away, it does distance them in
reality! I was wondering if I would find my Mr. Perfect and even if I do, would
we tolerate each other for such a long time as these old couple. I don’t know!
We really need to reconsider the way we live! Yes, we do.
IMAGES COURTESY - GOOGLE
I should appreciate the frankness with which you have made your point. But then, you miss a basic point - Human beings are inherently pathetic, either with technology or without.
ReplyDeleteThe forced marriages and forcible living together (due to fear of the society) creates slaves. Not cute sweet couples. It's strange that you choose to see only the sweetness behind people greeting each other in the wedding and not the hypocrisy, as no one cares about the other in the real world. Unless of course, there is some 'mutual' benefit or one wants to boast about their achievements.
Our offline attitude has just carried over to our online profiles. The grass is never greener on the other side. Grow up.
THE ANON STRIKES.
hi gayatri..well part of it is true but not all..it all depends on ur experience..different strokes for different folks i guess..
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping a comment :)
DeleteI think you have ended up mixing two things here :)
ReplyDeleteThe first one where you talk about relationships and the second one about technology.
For the first, I feel it depends on how you look at it. There was good and bad back then too. There's good and bad with the new kinds of relationships too. Yes, as you say in 'olden' times there were more tolerance levels, people actually worked at relationships to make them successful. But then there were those sorts of relationships too where people stayed only because they had no other choice - financial dependence, emotional dependence, stigma. Doesn't mean everyone who stayed together was happy. Now, financial and emotional independence is letting people live their lives with more self respect. Of course, tolerance levels have fallen drastically too and people switch companions faster than they switch cell phones. But I guess, pros and cons exist everywhere.
As far as the second part goes, I am with you to a certain extent. I hate the fact that life has moved to Facebook or Whatsapp. I like to catch up with friends directly or even write emails when they stay far. On one hand, where important inventions are helping health, mankind, etc, on the other hand technology has also started to consume us. It has to be a conscious decision, I feel, that we do not let ourselves get consumed by it rather use it only where required.
Actually when I read it again I think yes I failed miserably to give the link between the two. I have actually ranting endlessly on the blog! That's the outcome of it! Thank you for the comment Deepa :)
DeleteLOL. I love ranting too and do this all the time :) We're the same :) I was reading your post again, life's so confusing isn't it! What's good, what's bad - relationships so complex! Sigh!
DeleteRegister and Promote your blog at blogbee to increase blogtraffic.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link
http://www.blogbee.in/index.php?option=com_users&view=registration
Thanks & Regards
Blogbee Team.
yes! Thank you for the comments ashwini :)
ReplyDelete