Real Faces. Real Books.

We all have heard the ‘Frog in the Well’ story. Though it might not be the most apt tale to exemplify the experiences I have had in last 6 months spent away from Facebook, it, however, in a twisted yet magical way, sounds fitting.

It’s no secret how much we have grown to like Facebook, and, our “Facebooking” is only increasing– just like Salman’s age difference to his (always) 20 something girlfriends. Well, Facebook is good; It’s nice but, there exists a world outside of it, and that’s nice too. It’s a good thing we all remember that; what I didn’t is: people who are not on Facebook–hereinafter refereed as “FB”–tend to be a little different. For starters, they use words like “hereinafter”. They come from a different time, an older time, and, if were a super romantic, even I would call that time the “Best Time–When the Air was pollution-free and books were not ‘e’, but made of paper”. Sensibilities of these “outside” people are different. For eg: They would believe a person than trust Google. My Grandmother would rather meet a pundit (temple priest) to match kundlies over the dire strait-ed, un-updated panchaang book than match it over kundli-matching websites.

Facebook vs Reality

But when is comes to us, the Generation F (F for Facebook), comprehending the point of view of Generation S (S for Systematic, Super, Seventies…), it’s not very different from getting to like Ranjnikanth’s movies–It’s an acquired taste. The over-the-top stunts may not make sense to a lot of us, but there exists a bigger, “super” lot that swears by it. However, Dealing, unlike Watching, is a two-way process. A dialogue. And would take some getting used-to when it comes to interacting with people of a different thought school. Frowning upon their creed, their understandings may only going fill THE gap, ensuing different versions of “No! you stupid. No! No! You stupid”. Instead smiling and living it out may help in getting by–just like the trick to sitting through a Rajni Saar’s Movie. Wider [the Smile] the better; profoundly, even better.

Just like ours, every generation has a firm belief in the ideas they have learnt and have put into practice. May be it is true, the proverbial generation gap boils to: One man’s tradition is another man’s non-sense, and vice-versa. But, an understanding of it can prove to a reward in itself.

Similar to one’s FB wall, a collective thought process goes on among people who are not on FB. Just because internet is too new a trick to learn for a few, may not necessarily mean they are a brick in the wall. They are real too–realer. Even, they too, maybe are “having a bad day” and “feel like having chocolate” and have “cute pics”–but in real, tangible photo albums. And a lot of these non-FB people are near-dear ones and are as much a part of life as the great wall of FB. Reaching out and making them smile is, in a way, kinda cool isn’t it. That’s why we do it.

That’s what Being Human is all about, right?

About the Author: Dhaval Kolhapure is an alumnus of the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration. He Blogs at Nomadic Peeps.

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