Oh that sameness!
Few days back, someone whom I follow on Twitter tweeted this and I replied to her this. For the ease of reading, I’m just pasting the content here:
@mathur_vaishali: It scares me, this evenness of spaces. The sameness of flats and buildings; of cars and malls; of people dressed uniformly in brands.
@kanupriyasindhu: @mathur_vaishali and the aspiration of people to achieve that sameness, to do the same as others are doing! Scares me too.
Almost a month now and I again remembered this tweet today morning. A look at my Facebook timeline, pics shared on Whatsapp & the Tweets – oh that sameness, the same sameness and the rush to achieve that sameness! It’s scary!
I know the person above was referring more to infrastructural sameness all around but trust me if you take a closer look around you, this sameness is there now in almost everything. The sameness of aspirations, the sameness of our lives, the sameness of passions! Not that I am not a part of that sameness. I’m sure that at times, even I have tried to achieve that sameness and vice versa. There are moments when I have felt aghast by actions of some people who have tried to do things to be the “same” even without evaluating where their interest lies or estimating their own potential.
On many of those introspecting and self-conversation moments, I actually now wonder why? Is it because we really want to be like the other one or is it because there is this competitiveness for anything and everything in our lives now? Is it because we actually aspire to be the same, or is it because there is this feeling within that if he or she is doing it, then why not me? Is it because now we know too much about what others are doing or is it because we are informing too much about ourselves to others? And when I say too much information about us, of course we are informing mostly those ‘hip & happening’ updates of our lives, part of which might be true and part of which is how we would like others to perceive our lives. Is it because we not only aspire to be the same as one person but also like many others with whom we really would not have been in touch with ever if not for Facebook or Twitter or Whatsapp! Is it because we are too much connected, with too many people, almost all the time and at every medium possible?
Just think about this – in your friend’s list on Facebook, how many do you actually think are your friends? On your contact list of Whatsapp, with how many of whom you think you would have chatted or would like to converse on daily basis if not for those jokes or forwarded messages?
Imagine this – On any normal day, ‘A’ logs in to Facebook and sees posts from ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ & ‘E’ on his/her timeline. Here’s what happens inside the brain of A thereafter – “Oh B went to holiday at this place, looks like an exotic destination, I must go there soon and let me try to find a better resort than B”. “Oh C has posted these photographs that look great but it must not be her skills, it’s actually that NiCan camera which she bought recently! Huh, with a camera like that, even I can be a photographer for sure. Must buy that same camera with better lens soon”. “Oh D has posted pics of his baked goodies, looks yum! Must try to bake these soon. What the heck, when he can bake, so can I and I will be definitely better than D”. “Oh E has started running a blog, well I have been thinking to do it myself for so long, after all it looks good on resume. Must start it soon, I am sure I can write better than E”. And the list goes on & on and see how much A has already burdened her/himself with “to do soon” list just because someone else is doing it. Few triggers here and there, and one “A” is trying to go on a vacation, become a photographer, baker, writer all at one go! And this is only when A saw things done by 4 friends, how about if we just take even 10% of our social networking contacts whose lives or updates are actually influencing us! Impressive stats of self imposed pressure on us to achieve that sameness, no?
Ummm, I think my wondering is actually going beyond one post, maybe I can write a complete chapter of a book on this. Have I got any fixed conclusion from my musings? No! But the more I think, the more I am sure of few things – too much influence of anybody and everybody can actually be a whole lot of pressure on life! Anybody can do anything but everybody cannot do everything! Don’t be same. Just be yourself because everyone else is already taken! Whosoever wrote these were just so right!
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