There was a time when human beings lived on
earth and enjoyed the bliss of life. There was a time when smiles were
beautiful, laughters were genuine, giggles were amusing, hugs were warm and handshakes
were loving. There was a time! There was a time when humans talked to each
other without any medium and shared their feelings and ideas; when they were
close to each other; when they rushed to help each other, when they shared
their pains, sorrows and hardships with each other; and there was a time when
they would sit next to each other and feel the company. Yes, there was a time
and it was not very long ago.
Now, the smiles are ‘selfie’ smiles and
courtesies are stale. Though distances have vanished between humans, but
limitless vacuum has been created. Mobile phones, social media and technology
has blown apart those values. Laughters are fake, hugs are stinking, handshakes
are musty. We are too close, but too far. We do not talk, we chat; we do not
smile, we send ‘smileys’; we do not see each other face-to-face, we do FaceTime,
Skype and Whatsapp; and we do not seek friendships and make friends, we ‘follow’.
Beautiful human expressions, created in
the superlative sublimity, have been tragically replaced by rancid ‘smileys’
and ‘emojis’. We text even when we are sitting next to each other. We do not
share others’ pain, we ‘share’ them on social media; we do not save a dying
person, we take pictures to share on the social media to make our accounts obese
with ‘likes’; and the tragedy is that we write sympathetic, moralistic and exhortative
quotes on such posts to pretend to be humans. Mobile phones and social media have
become oxygen and our lifeforce for us.
Consequently, we get blessings for this nauseated
lifestyle. We are hollow; we are empty; we are wasted. We are machines. We are
dead. We are winning scientific battles in space, but we have lost the Battle
of Humanity at home. Our mobile phones are ‘smart’, but we have become stupid.
It is the death of an exquisite and splendid life that we had before. A life that
was slow, but full of life; raw, but juicy. There was a time!
We are
living in an age where, very soon, a time will come when meeting between two human
beings, in the absence of all technology, will become the ‘Breaking News’. That
would not be a tragedy: that WILL be a Shakespearean Tragedy.
