Lessons of Life: In Conversation with an Autowalla

Too often, we are so consumed with ourselves. So much so that at times, we fail to notice the stories around us that are intriguing to say the least. It is this narcissism that stops us from getting to see how fascinating the everyday life of individuals around us is and gives us lessons that no book could ever teach us.

Following is the conversation I had with an Autowalla in Bangalore. Usually I choose to stay numb and get lost in the company of my music player during such rides. But at this particular instant, I gave my earphones a miss and got into conversation mode.

 

Kapoor & Sons – A Rarity In Bollywood!

All I wanted to do was post – ‘Please go and watch Kapoor and Sons. Highly recommended!!!’

Fortunately or unfortunately, I felt that it didn’t do justice to this gem of a movie and also its creator, who I believe is one of the finest storytellers we have in our country presently (no, I am not referring to Karan Johar). And so, this is what I ended up writing.

 

Suicides Among The Youth ‘Due To Failure In Exam’ – A Rising Endemic

While the 100% cut-offs seem to reflect the evolving intellectual capacity of upcoming generations and grab headlines year on year during the admission season, another understated but equally critical fact that seems to get overshadowed by its more popular cousin is that of the increasing suicide rate among the students caused due to academic pressure, or as the Government of India puts it, ‘due to failure in exam.’

 

Condemn Terrorism But in its Entirety

On the evening of November 13, 2015, Paris, the capital of France, found itself embroiled in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that killed around 140 people and injured several hundreds. The backlash that followed was reflected both in the print and social media with everyone condemning the attacks and coming out in support of Paris. However, another small piece of news also made its presence felt- that of a terror attack at Beirut the day before, which had killed around 50 people and injured dozens others. Unfortunately, the same people who went about painting their profile pictures on Facebook to that of France’s colors and propagating how they condemn terror attacks of any kind, where not even aware of the existence of Beirut, forget about a terror attack on it the day before. The situation forced me to wonder why such a predicament existed!

 

We, the Tolerant; Now Lets Crucify the Fellow for Sharing his Opinion

We live in an amazing country. Even before one controversy is brought to its logical conclusion , thanks to our media, we are engulfed into another one, the latter being as ridiculous, if not more, as the former.

Even before the controversy surrounding Lalu’s 9th pass son making it to the post of deputy CM of Bihar or his 12th pass son being made a cabinet minister could  die its natural death, the media took one statement out of almost an half an hour long interview of Aamir Khan (the irony being that it was at an award function meant to felicitate outstanding practices in journalism), ran it as their headlines 24×7 and managed to make it into a national issue. This, at a time, when majority of Tamil Nadu is engulfed in floods, farmer suicide is on the rise and major parts of the world are on red alert. So much for the journalistic ethos!

 

Have We Lost The Ability To Laugh At Ourselves?

“There’s no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious and it can make tragic moment truly bearable.” – Rufus Wainwright

The only way to survive is to have a sense of humour. And judging by the recent trends, it seems that our society seems to be hell bent on ensuring its extinction having lost the humour bone from its body.

 

How Mainstream Media Is Misleading The People

Few days ago, a huge furor was made in the social media after Deepika Padukone, a leading film actress, responded to an article by one of the biggest media house in the country, The Times of India, which shared a video on its twitter feed titled ‘OMG!! Deepika’s Clevage Show.’

Similar kind of articles have become endemic in mainstream media, who are willing to sell their ethos if that were to ensure a few more readers. This isn’t an isolated incident and what we have been consuming in the name of news in the past decade has left a lot to be desired. The only reason this particular news got coverage was because the actress in question chose to respond to the news by saying what she did with her life and body was her personal business. From objectifying women, to highlighting wardrobe malfunctions to wanting to be in the bedrooms of celebrities, we have seen it all in this age of digital media.