Each time you turn a newspaper's pages, more and more of it... and then you realize how the very NEED to read a newspaper arises out of the need to feel like a part of "something bigger". to believe that reading the news is causing the few inches inside your skull to permeate the boundaries of distance and unite with those that are "like minded". So what happens to us? RK laxman's "common men"? What does that trivial news really bring? a satisfied NOD if the death of kar sevaks is avenged? a disgruntled "hmmph" when thackrey thinks he OWNS the city (if not the state). I'm not being a cliche here and saying "all you can do is read the news. cant cut across and actually do something about it". Just want to know "the inconsequentials" of life.
Would we want to correlate news with our own lives? so when one reads "stray dogs attacked and killed 5 yr old boy" one avoids walking too much on the streets. So for that period it is in fact "somber"(subsequently trifling).
But context changes everything doesnt it? the tsunami is damn important to me if i' stuck in a water clogged hole near CMBT. But it is of a 60 minute (contigous) consequence to me if i read about it somewhere. My reference point matters. Or does it?
200 deaths are non trivial in every world, every species. Infamous politicians talking rot cant be affecting anyone too much. So i devote 5 mins to MNS and its rubbish and 15 to Haiti. Maybe two to the kid ravished by dogs and 30 seconds to Moshe- the son of the Rabbi at Nariman Point (remember him?).
The Mumbai carnage which was ones a line is now a dot to me. Having moved so far away from it, will I be able to recall what i felt when i first saw the footage? What was once important is now trivial.
This leaves me in dispair. For if Massive occurings feel trivial at some point. and if the nature of their significance changes against a timeline (effected a little by some stupid "media" parameters), what do i do with my life? I cant abandon it- love myself too much. But i cant really be solemn about... well about almost anything! Cause everything is a bloody sham! Its a wierd feeling. Somewhat like "man on the moon, world's too small".
However considering that it MUST be important from SOME reference point (since i want to justify my need to feel important), i draft my ONLY consolation- the fact that if it mattered somewhere to someone at some point of time, it DID matter somehow. A life saved is a life saved.
Would we want to correlate news with our own lives? so when one reads "stray dogs attacked and killed 5 yr old boy" one avoids walking too much on the streets. So for that period it is in fact "somber"(subsequently trifling).
But context changes everything doesnt it? the tsunami is damn important to me if i' stuck in a water clogged hole near CMBT. But it is of a 60 minute (contigous) consequence to me if i read about it somewhere. My reference point matters. Or does it?
200 deaths are non trivial in every world, every species. Infamous politicians talking rot cant be affecting anyone too much. So i devote 5 mins to MNS and its rubbish and 15 to Haiti. Maybe two to the kid ravished by dogs and 30 seconds to Moshe- the son of the Rabbi at Nariman Point (remember him?).
The Mumbai carnage which was ones a line is now a dot to me. Having moved so far away from it, will I be able to recall what i felt when i first saw the footage? What was once important is now trivial.
This leaves me in dispair. For if Massive occurings feel trivial at some point. and if the nature of their significance changes against a timeline (effected a little by some stupid "media" parameters), what do i do with my life? I cant abandon it- love myself too much. But i cant really be solemn about... well about almost anything! Cause everything is a bloody sham! Its a wierd feeling. Somewhat like "man on the moon, world's too small".
However considering that it MUST be important from SOME reference point (since i want to justify my need to feel important), i draft my ONLY consolation- the fact that if it mattered somewhere to someone at some point of time, it DID matter somehow. A life saved is a life saved.
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