Capturing the perfect moment for posterity
When my uncle stood up to sing a song, there was curious silence in the room. It was a happy family gathering and all relatives were snuggled in a warm cocoon.
He chose a lively Kishore Kumar number and in all fairness he did justice to it by his soulful rendering.
Amid all this, I noticed the youngsters in the room getting a little restless. One of my aunts started checking her mobile phone, while another one got busy forming an angle for a selfie. Some of the men were twiddling their fingers and stretching their necks to see if dinner had been announced.
Uncle’s wife was the only one listening to him with rapt attention. She even made a video of him singing.
When the song ended, everyone dashed into their own directions as if all statues had been simultaneously released. They briefly complimented uncle and moved on.
This saddened me. Where had all the antakshari days gone! Did film director Sooraj Barjatya stretch it too far or did we really not have the patience to enjoy a good moment in life? We were so engrossed in ourselves that we had failed to appreciate some beautiful family time.
When my aunt posted the video on social media, there was a flurry of accolades and ecstatic messages from the same clan. It made me wonder since when have we started preferring a recorded version rather than a live one.
One cannot really blame the young brigade so much as the old guard has also lost its moorings. We have all fallen into the trap of missing the real moment.
When we go on a trip, instead of enjoying the picturesque view, we start capturing it on a camera. I too plead guilty as I have often missed watching my daughter’s dance performance simply because I was adjusting the camera.
We perhaps do this for the sake of posterity. But to what use? Even Kishore da would have hoped for the same and so would have all our forefathers!
Today, we may ‘like’ a memory if it flashes on our screen but we rarely sit down to spend some good time together.
So in an era, where we are always looking ahead doing things for future’s sake, we tend to trip over so many magical minutes, hours and days that just slip by. It is only later that we realise that those were the precious moments but alas we can’t go back in time!
I am on the next train to Shimla to meet my parents to talk to them, to hear them speak and to catch up with two childhood friends. There will be no camera recording and no flashy updates. Instead, all the moments will be captured in my heart, for posterity.
WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING AHEAD DOING THINGS FOR FUTURE’S SAKE AND WE TEND TO TRIP OVER MAGICAL MINUTES, HOURS AND DAYS THAT JUST SLIP BY