IMIGHTDEACTIVATE MYACCOUNT, IF NECESSARY
Calling it his way of “social media detox”, actor Shashank Vyas recently unfollowed everyone on Instagram and shared it with his followers through an Insta story. “To my friends and family, I am ALWAYS a phone call away. And to those I unfollowed, please don’t take my action otherwise. Be kind and spread positivity,” he wrote.
Amid so much social media toxicity, Vyas wanted to distance himself from the unnecessary information available online. “Our brain is occupiedid withith ththe present t crisis. I felt it’s time I focused on my thoughts and not on what’s happening in everyone else’s life. If necessary, I might even deactivate my account,” says the actor.
Outlining the duality of social media, Vyas, 33, calls for nurturing relations in the real world. “The fact that we check on each other via social media does bothers me. The other day, I called some seven people that I know and when I started talking to them, I realised their state of mind is different from their posts,” he says, urging everyone to talk to each other. “Baat karo ek dusre se, like karne se responsibility khatam nahi ho jaati,” he adds.
Perturbed by different narratives being peddled around actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, Vyas raises some pertinent points. “When Sonchiriya (2019) released, how many went for first day, first show? Agar log jaate toh film chalti. Not to forget, when Sushant was alive, there were many negative comments against him. You’ve to understand some people are sensitive and we need to be sympathetic…,” he explains.
When he was in college, he would ensure that he saved some money out of the fixed allowance that he would get from home, and try new cuisines and dishes. “Soon, I happily bagged the label of an expert, who was reached out for recommendations by friends and family. That’s exactly the time when I decided to start the journey of Hungerpangs_mumbai (October 2015). I was very clear with my inputs as well as the outputs with respect to the page. And eventually, with consistency and hard work, the page became popular and within a period of six months, it earned a good number of viewers and that led to invitations by restaurants, for authentic reviews that would help audience to know the place better before visiting or trying,” says Chudiwala.
The blogger adds that this journey has been special for him and he has since, expanded his horizon as well. “Through blogging, I got the opportunity to be acquainted with people who are equally or more passionate about food. I got to spend time with really talented chefs such as Sarah Todd, Gary Mehigan, Rakhee Vaswani, Kunal Kapoor, Sanjeev Kapoor, Harpal Singh Sokhi, and many others from across the country, and relished their signature dishes,” says Chudiwala.
With consistency and hard work, the page became popular and within a period of six months, it earned a good number of viewers and that led to invitations by restaurants, for authentic reviews. AYUSH CHUDIWALA, FOOD BLOGGER
He adds that the digital boom in India has led to a lot of positive things. “Currently estimated at 574 million, the number of monthly active internet users in India has grown by 24% over 2019, thanks to the Covid-19-induced lockdown that has forced people to stay indoors. Be it social media, surfing for data on Google, making purchases, or streaming content online, India has transformed this medium into a full-fledged market. This market has flourished into creating digital marketing as a prime source of bringing a large percent of business online with its promising ability to create a global network and grow even the small businesses internationally,” explains Chudiwala.