Skip to main content

Wi-Fi Relationships


The three girls grew up together right from primary school.  They studied in the same school and lived in the same premises.  When schooling was completed, they went to different colleges.  But they met every evening for some time in an open area near their homes.  They would sit together and chat while their fingers moved dexterously on the keypad of their smartphone.  The occasional giggle or  peel of laughter that was let out did not considerably affect their engagement with the phone.  Now that they live in different places, the relationships must have turned entirely virtual, I guess. 

In the same city, I have noticed people, especially those not old enough to dye their hair, engrossed totally with their mobile phones while travelling in the metro trains or buses, while talking to people in various places, or even while looking after a patient in a hospital.  

I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone posing for a selfie with the dead body of his/her grandfather or an aunt and then posting it at Facebook or Instagram. 

Relationships have gone wi-fi.  The people far away seem to be a lot more important, or at least interesting, than those nearby.  Distance lends enchantment to relationships, perhaps.  The ‘likes’ in the virtual world are much more articulated than in the real world.  And people are far more generous with ‘likes’ in that world rather than in this.  That world!  That’s a Paradise, Heaven on earth!  People there ‘like’ whatever you do, whatever you write, whatever pictures of yourself you pass on.  How nice to be liked so much!

Is that an escape into a world of soothing illusions?

Is genuine love an emotion which binds people together more in bad times than in good ones?  Wouldn’t I rather be with my beloved one in the storm rather than be safe by myself?  Are there real seas without those storms?

If the person who makes you the happiest does not also occasionally make you the saddest, the love that binds the two of you may not last very long.  Still more, things not said matter much more than those said in a genuine relationship.  What is not said cannot be expressed in that virtual Paradise.  The gaze in the eyes and pulse of the heart are too real for the virtual sites.  Emoticons are too mechanical to carry emotions.




Indian Bloggers



Comments

  1. This is the sad truth of life now. Technology is a boom and a curse at the same time. And we are becoming slaves to it, rather than its master.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aren't we similarly being enslaved by religion too? Look at the way militants and terrorists and fundamentalists are imposing religion on us and how many people accept it too. Look at the following link and other related articles in the latest Outlook to understand the latest innovative methods of religious crusade:

      http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/intro-the-sanghs-stolen-child-crusade/297609

      Delete
  2. It depends on us too, how much we allow technology to enter our lives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tell that to the adolescents and those in their twenties. Not that the others have grown up really.

      Delete
  3. Totally agree with you. Emoticons can never carry real emotions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On the contrary, they help people display emotions which they don't have!

      Delete
  4. It's true that there's too much technology in our lives.

    Even though emoticons don't carry real emotions, I like them. They help when the 'tone' of a person cannot be heard. I'm sure there'd more misunderstandings if there were no emoticons to go with the texts and messages we send out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's fine with light writing. Do you think serious writing can be effective with emoticons?

      Delete
  5. It's true, emoticons can't express real human emotions!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teaching is a Relationship

I met Ms Dhanya Ramachandran a few years ago at one of the centralised evaluation camps of CBSE. Then we met again every year for the same purpose until I retired from teaching officially. I’m not sure whether it’s her Mona Lisa smile or her commendable efficiency with the job that drew my attention more to her. Last week I came to know that Dhanya (let me take the liberty of calling her so) received an award for her contributions to the cause of education. I wished to bring her to a wider audience for the cause of education and hence requested an interview. What follows is the result. Since it is an email interview, it has its limitations. Nevertheless, Dhanya comes alive here. Over to the interview.  Tomichan : Hi Ms Dhanya Ramachandran, please introduce yourself for the sake of the readers of this blog. Dhanya : Hello. I am Dhanya Ramachandran, a passionate educator with diverse background. My career journey began in journalism, but life took me on a different path, leading

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

  'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below.  Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl

Nishagandhi – Queen of the Night

Disclaimer: A friend tells me this flower is Kalyana Saugandhikam (garland lily) and not Nishagandhi.  Finally one of my Nishagandhis has bloomed. Here’s the picture.  I have four pots of this plant which is quite exotic as its very name implies. Belonging to the Cactaceae family, this flower goes by different names. The Indian name ‘Nishagandhi’ comes from two Sanskrit words: nisha = night & gandh: fragrance. This flower blooms in the night and wilts as dawn breaks. I took the above pic just before sunrise this morning. I have waited for nearly half a year now for this blossoming. It’s not easy to get these flowers which have a divine touch. It is known as Brahma Kamala, Bethlehem Lily, and the flower of healing. The Chinese consider the Nishagandhi flower to be lucky. I consider it as cosmic flower. The Nishagandhi has many medicinal properties. Ayurveda uses it for treating diabetes, breathing disorders, throat infections, digestive problems, and so on. Of course, I don’t

Why do you fear my way so much?

Book Review Title: Why do you fear my way so much? Author: G N Saibaba Publisher: Speaking Tiger, New Delhi, 2022 Pages: 216 G N Saibaba breathed his last on 12 Oct 2024 at the age of 57. It may be more correct to say that he was killed by the government of his country just as Rev Stan Swamy and a lot many others were. Stan Swamy was an octogenarian, suffering from severe Parkinson’s disease and other ailments, when he was arrested under the draconian UAPA. He died in prison at the age of 84 labelled by his government as a traitor. G N Saibaba was a professor of English in Delhi University when he was arrested in 2014 under UAPA for alleged links with treasonous Maoist groups. Polio had rendered him absolutely incapable of free movement right from childhood. The prison authorities deprived him even of his wheelchair, making life incredibly brutal for him in the Anda cell of Nagpur Central Prison. The egg-shaped cell (‘anda’ means egg in India’s putative national language) i

Octlantis

I was reading an essay on octopuses when friend John walked in. When he is bored of his usual activities – babysitting and gardening – he would come over. Politics was the favourite concern of our conversations. We discussed politics so earnestly that any observer might think that we were running the world through the politicians quite like the gods running it through their devotees. “Octopuses are quite queer creatures,” I said. The essay I was reading had got all my attention. Moreover, I was getting bored of politics which is irredeemable anyway. “They have too many brains and a lot of hearts.” “That’s queer indeed,” John agreed. “Each arm has a mind of its own. Two-thirds of an octopus’s neurons are found in their arms. The arms can taste, touch, feel and act on their own without any input from the brain.” “They are quite like our politicians,” John observed. Everything is linked to politics in John’s mind. I was impressed with his analogy, however. “Perhaps, you’re r