Self Discovery 30 Day Writing Challenge
Day #28 If you had a chance to dis-invent something what would it be and why?
To begin with, I'm quite old world so I'll go with---
The DVD! The VCR! The Television!
The golden era which I relate to is from the early 80's to mid 80's when the only entertainment outside of family bonding over board games were the movie theaters. Movies then were a novelty, maybe an annual episode or at the most a biannual one which were mostly the much awaited blockbusters.
It was the thought of getting ready to go to a movie on a Saturday evening than watching the movie itself that got me looking forward to it. It was a family outing!
What a treat it was to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or The Fox and the Hound on the big screen.
A Walt Disney movie coming to town? Our weekend would be booked!
Though I was not a big fan of Hollywood movies as a child, the first couple of them which we went to were Jaws and Superman. Oh boy! The jaws of the 'Jaws' terrified me to extent that I had stopped eating fish for a long time until I had got over the fear.
Raiders of the Lost Ark! It was an edge of the seat movie, yes, but apart from that, to this day I can't forget the look of excitement on my father's face when he watched the thrilling adventure movie on the big screen. It was so endearing to see him enjoy the movie with a childlike enthusiasm. And the awe lasted long after we reached home and we had discussions about it for days to come.
Our family friends then--Hussain uncle and his family were our steady companions for all these movie outings. His daughter Meher was the same age as I. She and I were thick buddies through our childhood, although we were from different schools.
When there were no worthwhile movies showcasing, every weekend saw us going to the local park in the evenings which overlooked the Arabian Sea and the ships sailing in the far distance. The adults would just sit around and have conversations while we, the children would just run around and play with nothing in particular.
Meher and I would mimic dialogues from the movies we watched together or role-play Bambi or Fox and the Hound. The park was our set! We would pretend to be the animals from the animated movie and that the trees and shrubs were a forest.
Oh my! Wasn't it fun. Weren't we imaginative!
When the sun set into the sea and the sky turned into ribbons of colors, we could see the lights coming on in the ships and it was so dreamy!
But! Every happy story has the proverbial villain! He made an appearance in most of the houses during the mid 80's. Weekends were spent in front of the idiot box...
The movie outings too dwindled around the late 80's.
Dinner time was set according to the prime time TV shows. And we bonded with the fictional families in complete silence engrossed with their unrealistic issues, completely unrelated to us. The nineteen to the dozen talk over the dinner table died a slow death.
Boooo Television!!!
When we progressed on to higher classes the park too held no more enthusiasm. Meher and I were headlong into school leaving exams.
We were in touch with frequent home visits though. It was a friendship forged through childhood, the root starting with both our parents.
The VCR, DVD and all the other gizmos descended by turns like a deluge on all the households and there was no looking back. We had the movies coming right at our doorstep.
After a while, well into my late teens and early twenties, I lost touch with Meher. I still remember her fondly and that's the point of this lengthy story in tribute to the good times before all these inventions came about.
That speaks for the '80s, '90s and early 2000.
What do I want to dis-invent at this moment?
The Internet!
The Handphone!
The Laptop!
We are so connected in a disconnected world--- that we can't even have a meal in peace without holding a gadget in our hands and tapping away on it. Or walk on the road without a handphone in our faces! I'm clueless as to what is the pressing need that we can't let go of the darn thing even for a moment and watch where we are going?! Enjoy the nature for a change? Be present in the moment and ....just be with our own heartbeats?
Dining tables were for family dinners and to have conversations with each other...not to gawk and giggle at a handheld screen. The villains of happy stories are inching closer and closer. As if the idiot box wasn't a constant display in living rooms.
Enough was enough. I had seen enough of this witless behaviour to caution myself to discipline Babylou and avoid this addiction at the bud. I was successful to a point of her early teens before school work and projects in high school demanded high usage of the very things I was protecting her from.
Though on a restricted screen time now which encompasses only official work, I constantly wonder if it is fair on my part to deny her the umpteen variations of social media?
Balancing out is key and I'm trying my best to gain leverage here.
At what point do I say "Enough now, you've overshot your privilege" when everything is online and the conversations too...are!
Babylou has managed to gain a foothold on that flimsy plank as of now and I thank heavens profusely for the early '80s style communication and interactions that we both still have.
CALL ME OLD WORLD...I want real conversations face to face without a handphone making its unsightly appearance in the middle of a heart-to-heart.
I want to Dis-invent...! Un-invent! All of these! I wish I could!
----Sangeetha Kamath
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