Social fluency redefines relations
Volunteering at the animal shelter! retreat at A a weekend holistic center! Attending discourses by a meditation guru! Going all natural with kale and asparagus salad! Wondering what these are? This is the line-up of conversations between Delhi’s socially fluent individuals. Relationships and friendships are no longer based on how much one earns but more on whether they are ticking the right social status boxes which includes the right gym, the right Saturday night clubbing sessions, followed by a quiet luncheon with a glass of sangria.
Elaborating on this pattern, Kanika Khosla, psychologist, says, “It’s no longer important what mobiles you are carrying or which car you are travelling by on as EMIs. they What are easily is important available is what you are doing after your 9 to 5pm job. Hitting that swanky gym followed by a quick drink at the club is a symbol which ups your social standing.”
For author Geeta Ramakrishnan, social fluency is an aspect that strongly influences the way your peers control your behaviour. It affects how you project your image in society and want to be perceived. “Branded clothes you use, the restaurants and clubs you are seen visiting, the social friends you keep. It starts giving you an air of superiority and confidence, even if superficial,” she says.
But will it lead to strong and lasting friendships, that requires you to be open to your true self? Khosla feels that the environment in which people grow up inscribes itself deeply into their identity.
She says, “A series of lockdowns and quarantine has made us realise that social status is not everything. That money cannot give you happiness. That money is simply a means to an end. We have finally had the time to sit and realise that we would rather spend time with our family, or a friend or two, rather than collect a heap of social currency.”