Beep...Beep...Beep... The almost inaudible sound of computer systems that most of the patients surrounding me are plugged into. I've kept my door wide open. Listening to heart beats being transmitted to a computer and then a sound system, I guess. Technology! Too advanced for a man like me who was born in an era of gramophones and 'Murphy' Radios. When 'instinct' was more dependable than computerized data as and when they slowly began to appear. The truth is, even today, when push comes to shove, most experienced Docs still depend upon instinct over data!
Beep...Beep...Beep... The sound from the computers remain consistent, reassuring attendants, nurses and docs that the people they are hooked on to are still alive. And that's the only message they can possibly convey presently, unless commanded to do something different. A virtual world with virtual commands and virtual results.But each of these patients have now become my friends. And ours is not a virtual world but a world of genuine interaction. A world of holding each others' hands and believing in the fact that with each new sunrise the physical and mental torture - a result of what we are suffering from - will somehow subside. That the continuous moaning and groaning will convert to light and peaceful snoring and that each one of us could look forward to an absolute painless night and a long desired deep slumber.
Prayers! It significantly constitutes the most important moment of our lives especially when we are about to tuck in for the night. Prayers!! It goes beyond caste, creed or religion. Here there are no falsehood discussions or argumentative outbursts so commonly found in the virtual world (After all, you can always de-friend a friend if he or she has rubbed you on the wrong side and wake up the next morning without batting an eyelid). In the real world you would need more juice in your bundle of joy than you can imagine to confront a negative than you would in your virtual world, wouldn't it? Friends de-friend friends at the drop of a hat! Family members disown each other if they've had a 'virtual' fight even though they may be still living under the same roof! And let's not talk about estranged lovers...their sob stories against each other openly flaunted in the virtual world could give Bollywood a million movie ideas!!
Prayers!!! Never ever heard them more genuinely than from the lips of the sick and needy. And in no matter which form you would like to interpret them, the meaning is the same: "God help me to remember that no matter what happens tomorrow, there is nothing that You and I can't handle together!" Simple and straight and so unvirtual. Minus all flowers and ding-a-ling backdrops. Focused purely on a genuine truth - FAITH! (Not HOPE but Faith. Hope makes you walk through the fire...Faith makes you fly over it!) This is a learning that can never be derived from a virtual world!
But I'm a child of an era that was distinctly different from today. Even though I've managed to somehow metamorphose from an era of the gramophone to the iPhone, I never really lived in a virtual world. And that has been my mainstay. And why did I not even try to live in this virtual world? Because it requires too much maturity and loads of diplomacy. And of course a hard emotionless interior since you can 'virtually' spit and get away or be de-friended. But how does that matter in any case? You are still bound to meet up with your de-friended friend sometime in the city and pretend that the virtual world never existed for both of you!! And laugh out loud - one in pure embarrassment and the other in pure revengeful ecstasy!!!
Quite frankly, I love my real world better than your virtual one. It's so simple to exist in. If I would have told you I had lost a loved one you would probably hug me, console me and make me feel good. But in your virtual world, I would have got a whole bunch of 'Likes' almost as if I had announced a promotion of sorts! And that is not the end of the story. In Your virtual world, you flaunt almost everything...from the food you eat ...to the friends you are with...from the clothes you wear...and sometimes...right down to the brand of your french inner wear! In my real world, we keep our shirts on...our belts tight...the food we eat personal...and the only thing we flaunt is our conversation with a couple of 'hics' thrown in here and there! And why not...after all the moment is not just for you and me but for all of us together!!
In your virtual world your fights terminate with each of you 'virtually' turning your backs against each other. In my real world, we argue and fight face to face...and as suddenly as we did, we are quick to apologize not because we feel someone has to win and someone has to lose...but because we love each other and can't face another day not being without any one of us! We all know what it's really all about: The Virtual World! We all exist in it...many like you without a real reason...and some like me...just for the fun of it but never taking it seriously. You know why? Because if you've heard music emitting from a record player playing an LP whose predefined grooves are lightly followed by a squeaky clean sharp stylus embedded in a cartridge which finally, amplifies the vibrating sounds it picks up, through a set of large brown speakers, you would never opt for two little wires, one end attached to an iPod and the other attached to your ears!!!!
And of course, Mark Zuckerberg, if ever this message reaches you, congratulations on creating such a wonderful platform for millions of people to share. However, the only flip side is that your platform has taken the 'human' away from the being! And oh yes, congratulations on becoming a father. I hope like Steve Jobs you'll keep your wonderful child away from all your inventions or else you will end up nursing an imbecilic geek whose entire social universe will exist between her laptop screen and its keypad!
Having said all this Folks, go ahead and down a couple of scotches, shake a leg and have a wonderful year ahead! And try getting a little more real this year. Quite frankly,It's the most genuine way to live actually!
Cheers :-)
