The urge to make cynical analysis of situations is far more
tempting than reading abusive comments below Youtube links or watching TVF videos
(vernacular) during prime work hours. Even as I took this rare opportunity to
sip a cup of filter coffee in a Bangalore mall, my mind raced. Entrepreneurship
in the past one year had added fizz to the functioning of the mind, while
meditation played a balancing act annihilating it, bit by bit. Today, the mind
raced still.
“What’s happening to this generation”, I heard myself speak
this cliché. Turning 30 is about a year away, which still qualifies me in “this
generation” – I consoled myself. Young working men and women resting their physical
mass on escalators; humming three-words-run-in-a-loop-several-times-turned-into-chartbuster-hindi-rap-song;
hopping from one store to the other. Then to the food court, confused between unhealthy
choices. “We are turning into a socially isolated, well profiled, routinely scrutinized
pieces of data”. The thought suddenly made my coffee taste bitter. We have
every reason to be worried.
Step 1: Eradicate
their brains - Large KPOs luring young talented minds into factory-work of
coding, desk search, dashboards. Giant products and services firms outsourcing routine,
mind numbing, low-value “tasks” to the east. Odd night shifts. Templatized, hackneyed marketing
and communication materials. Life coming to a halt only during traffic jams at
crossroads where superiorly morphed astral projections of 3BHK flats, just
about 1.5 Kms from somewhere, with all amenities; stand unchallenged in
hoardings. All creating a fictitious projection of something one must attain
tomorrow at the cost of today. Illusion within an illusion.
Step 2: Slow’em down
– From just about 30 ODIs per year back in the 2000s to gallons of T20s and
domestic premier leagues each month. And then the corporate-enterprise-celebrity-backed football
and hockey leagues. And the 4th season of
how-I-met-your-two-and-a-half-thrones. The large LED TVs available at EMIs –
all ensuring you stay back at home throughout the weekdays and the weekends
gazing at the glitter of semi-scripted theatrical work.
Step 3: Own their
lives – Your favourite mobile chat app just sold your itinerary to the
e-ticketing company as you pinged your friend about your plans to Ladakh. The
online shopping portal auctioned your contact details to the scores of real
estate developers who profiled you as a 2BHK-seeker vs. a vilament-aspirer. Your
chamber of secrets, just paraded in the open.
What flashed in front of my eyes was apocalyptic. A cocktail
of scenes from one of those Hunger Games genre of movies (read Maze Runner,
Divergent, The Giver ..) where the big bosses watch while the average human
leads an isolated yet scripted jungle life, following the herd and the commands.
The coffee had turned into a saccharin potion. With routine clinical precision,
I took the last sip, crushed the paper cup and threw it into the black garbage
bin. Then to the escalator, the basement, the parking lot, the traffic…
