The curious case of Whatsapp forwards

 This post has been brewing for a long time within my mind. Now that my close relatives are retired, I find that my post has gotten lot of inputs to add and I hope that you understand why. The ubiquitous family group that is almost a regular feature in everyone's Whatsapp, is the breeding place of these forwards. My mom sends a minimum of five to max eight forwards on the family Whatsapp group on a wide range of topics from religion, health, cooking and well being. Well, some of them are sent to me by other 'well meaning' folks as well but what beats me is the fact that everyone who sends these forwards take it upon them to tirelessly champion the case of anything they find remotely useful. They mean well. I don't blame them but what gets my gut is that no one verifies whether the messages are true and worthy to be circulated. Also these forwards are deemed useful by the sender in almost a zealous fashion like the early missionaries who spread the gospel of Christ.

Now, this syndrome of forwarding messages is quite common among a certain age group of people - mostly retired, with time and active data available and a willingness to imagine that many will benefit by the message. I do understand that they want their loved and not so loved ones to be fit, fine and religious, but they hardly think whether their message will be read. They believe and imagine that their messages are welcome and read. Well, I for one, never opens any forwarded messages unless my mom specifically asks me about it otherwise I don't bother. But I am quite impressed that for the forwarder, it is important that message is sent - I guess the mental satisfaction of having sent a message is far more important than knowing whether the message was actually read.

Sometimes I think that after retirement, the forwarding of messages gives a certain purpose to life and that explains the fervent offloading of random stuff in family groups. Well, I guess I should not judge the offloading of forwards if it gives a purpose to someone but I still think that the individual should refrain from sharing messages without checking the motive, authenticity and source.

Until the next time, let me ignore the forwards on our family group and since today is Sunday, you can imagine today's quota!

Image courtesy: Internet

Eternal hope of a holiday during work days!

It has been raining incessantly for the past 48 hours and there is an alert for the coming few days; the schools have a holiday declared by the Government unlike colleges. I hope that a public holiday is declared for the state of Goa - this thought brings me to the topic of holidays which is savoured by almost many individuals that I know! Unexpected holidays on a working day have a special flavour to them. The thought of remaining home on an otherwise working day with classes, students and following time is definitely a welcome break, even so better if it is the middle of a week. Forget middle of the week, any day of the week except the mandatory Sunday offers an unexplainable glee to individuals of diverse age groups. My students are happy, my colleagues are happy and my dog is happy to have me home.

Why do we crave for these sudden unexpected break days from work, I have often pondered. Is it the relief from the clock, or the relief from the humdrum of everyday shenanigans, or the sheer joy of an unexpected burst of time at home to indulge in some extra minutes of breakfast, hot lunch and any time siesta!

My partner likes it when I'm home and vice-versa. Our breakfast conversations are longer, making us linger for tea in the dining table and staying long after the tea is drained; We stand for minutes together admiring the garden - the flowers, fruits and birds while exchanging notes on how the ash-gourd looks healthier than the last one we harvested; our Feni (our non-human companion) is happy to walk around with us matching our step and basking in the warmth of our leisurely strokes and lazy hugs.

All in all, an unexpected holiday is stretching the usual idleness while savouring it!

So, do you enjoy these welcome breaks in the course of your week?

Why are you studying?

 Yesterday as usual, I prompted my students to probe into why they were studying and shockingly most of them mentioned that they did not like to study. On being probed further, they admitted that they came to College only to satisfy their parents. Most of them were first generation learners whose parents had never stepped into the portals of higher education and hence wanted their children to be at least a B. A. pass. But the students who had the least interest in studying were unsatisfied with the courses that they had to study.

What are we doing as instructors?

Many students expressed that they would like to become artists - sketching, painting, etc. while some wanted to become professional cricketers or actors. Well, I did explain to them the other side of the 'passion' part which among many other choices of professions does not give them money! They seemed to have a fleeting knowledge of the struggles but I don't think that they thought deep enough about what they really wanted. Unlike our time, where we had a goal and a path planned ahead, the Gen-Z does not seem to take the whole idea of 'ambition' seriously. Money features as an integral part of their plan unlike our generation which did not discuss money that much. The Gen-Z also seems to discard many values that we held dear, which is understandable given that each generation has its own design and path. 

I still hold on to the question of 'How are we to motivate the present crop of students as instructors?'

While the students realise that becoming an artist is not an easy endeavour, they are willing to try. One student has several side hustles to earn money which I thought was quite fascinating. But unlike our generation which did not give much thought about money, the present one seems to focus a lot of energy into thinking and making money.

Well, there are exceptions in every case and this is also another. What have you to say on this topic?

Stray thoughts compiled

 I wanted to eat an orange,

but you weren't there,

So, I asked my help who was mopping,

Both of us shared an orange,

and both of us spit the seeds.

Afterwards,

She mops

And I mope!

At least the words sound similar!

Things that I might never experience again

This post is an inspiration from an Instapost which left me melancholic and nostalgic. I thought that I would make my list before I forget some of these things completely. This is an age of forgetting, you see.

First love, visit to the corner shop run by a Nadar, receiving letters, MTV when it first began, leisure to wake up in one's own time, crispy vadai and tea without thoughts of cholesterol, homework, birthday cards, swings, mystery film endings, running to find a meaning from a dictionary, 90s vibe, time to travel without thinking of work, patience with predicting what people would say, not overthinking, eating ice-cream because I wanted to, MCC life, WCC vibes, the beauty of landline phones, the running to the phone booth to make an 'urgent' call, the magic of taking a flight, the slowness of a train journey, the sharing of tiffins, the happiness of five rupees, drinking paneer soda for one rupee, radio, intellectual arguments of my young mind, meeting random people and talking to them . . .

Do you resonate?

Let me know in the comments.

Leaving you with a poem by Mary Oliver

                                                         Don’t Hesitate

                                      BY MARY OLIVER

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

      

               Picture courtesy: My own

Lessons from Barbenheimer

 The past week since 21/07/2023 has been one of high intensity debates, reviews, observations and fun activities revolving around two films - Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie. The word Barbenheimer, a portmanteau of the titles of the two films has been coined by by the internet to discuss and partake in the conversations around these two much anticipated films of the year! For me, these discussions triggered many points of self-realisation which were pretty unpleasant.

1. The idea of shallowness

I have never played with Barbie or any kind of dolls so in the stereotypical manner, long before I had read about the movie Barbie, I had decided not to see it because I believed that I was not shallow! Well, I was proved wrong when I read the reviews and saw how shallow I was in judging something that I did not even know of. Well, the shallowness that I had associated with Barbie was me in fact! 

2. The grand idea of 'Nolan'

Another stereotype that is cringeworthy is assuming that anything by Nolan is obviously woke! Well, it is! And Nolan is a great story-teller but to decide long before the release of the films, that I would watch Oppenheimer and not Barbie, goes to prove that my assumptions were coloured and biased. Well, I am ashamed!

But this trend is seen among many peers and fellow people! An assumption that anything associated with Barbie is shallow (pardon by repeated usage of the word!) and the colour pink is detestable but anything associated with Nolan has to be intelligent and deep!

Well, I guess a doll is shallow but an atom bomb is worth it if we go by the comparisons of the objects that these two films focus upon. At the end of the day, both cause destruction - dolls on the inside and bombs on the outside (and inside too) if you know what I mean!

I hope that many of us have decided to move on beyond our judgmental attitudes and view everything with an open and kind mind. Have you seen the films yet?

Picture credit 1: Internet

Picture credit 2 & 3: Wikipedia