DAYS OF SOLITUDE
-ANAN ASHRAF
This may seem to be a daily occurrence to most of us. A week ago our hostel wifi got a cold. It stopped working. Cries erupted from all three floors. Complaints flowed into the academic head's room which I happen to share. Discussions turned heated. Voices were raised against those in authority. However, nothing happened. And just like that , like every issue that is ever raised and shouted about, this too dried and died as people resorted to the unreliable dongles and mobile data.
And me, being forever bankrupt sat in the room contemplating the ceiling with no money to do data recharges even. Those seven days served for some contemplation.
Then on Sunday my phone went beep! A whatsapp message! Wowww! The wifi is working! I jumped up from bed fully awake and picked it up! My phone seemed to have a seizure as it went buzzing with one message after the other. It paused. 1078 whatsapp messages. 8 messenger balls. OH MY. I didn’t know I was so loved. Well sadly I soon came to the conclusion that now was a misconception as all the messages were people smileying away in groups. Saddest moment of life, I bet.
We as human beings are so reliant on other people. One day cut us off our ties and we are literally stranded. But these days the relationships we share with people have changed. Have we become incapable of talking our hearts out orally? But in text words just don’t seem enough. Maybe due to the hurry of them pent up emotions we have even shortened the words! One day would we all evolve and mute humans develop? Evolution changes us to fit the need of the hour doesn’t it? So why ain’t this possible? The need of the hour is a keypad at our fingertips.
Someday when we turn mute would we miss our voices? Would the silence deaf us like before did the noise? Would the silence still speak louder than spoken words? I wonder.