It’s that time of life, when there are a bunch of reunion invites – school(s), engineering, MBA. The sudden influx makes me realise that it’s halftime. We are pausing – to collect our thoughts, to take a deep breath. I wonder aloud to D if the journey is like a mountain, and halftime puts you closer to the peak. The way is downhill and you can read that in more ways than one. Maybe that prompts folks to look back at the journey and savour the moments – the significance and insignificance, the hits and misses, the gains and losses. Or maybe it’s just a moment taken to catch our balance in a world that’s changing at a dizzying pace, and to seek the anchor of certainty that the unchanging past provides.
Tag: nostalgia
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“Let them know you’re thinking about them”
You’re familiar with that – it’s one of Facebook’s birthday reminders. Until some time back, I used to religiously wish folks on their birthday. But I have stopped that, it felt like cheating. To me, this sort of wishing reduced the significance of the event and the wish, and almost brought it to the level of an already degraded currency on the network – the ubiquitous ‘Like’. I know, this can be argued quite a bit. At a very simplistic level, wishing someone on the birthday could be like a little shot of dopamine for them, and easy for you to provide too.
But I have at least two perspectives against this. Call it over-analysis if you will. The first is where I draw a parallel with travel. In the case of places, increased access and convenience tend to bring in people with motives different from an earlier set. From travelers to tourists. Right or wrong is subjective so let’s just say that the character of the places, and their residents change. Arguably, the first set of folks had a deeper bond with the place and more of an interest in its well being. And so too, with the wishes on Facebook. My birthday is off Facebook and I know that those who wish me now really have me in their thoughts. (more…)
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An account of statements
In 2010, would the name Ramdev be familiar at all to you? 7 years is a long time, and we’ll come back to that. But don’t worry, this isn’t an ayurware post. This is actually a sequel. It features the successor of a companion of 7 years, who called it a day last month, after 7 years of service that began in January 2010, when the world was a different place.
The first month in this genre of books is always an eye opener because it all happened far back in time. Even the mundane makes a story – the ‘maid + cook’ is now paid close to 3.5x, but the mobile bill has actually fallen! Spar became Auchan and then Spar again. But the more profound ones lie beyond the routine accounts of a month. The inverter we bought in January 2010 was with us until last month. But the house whose EMI we used to pay now belongs to a different family.
We haven’t been to Blossoms in years, but it’s heartening to see that it’s still around. So is Woodstok in Indiranagar, a place that hasn’t disappointed us. My early days in Myntra are marked by a series of visits to Grigliato. Sadly, 3 Storys, a lovely coastal food restaurant off Lavelle Road can barely be found even on the internet, and cannot be found offline anyway! Through the years there are others who have fallen by the wayside – Veekes & Thomas, Sahib Sind Sultan, Huckleberry, and so on. (more…)
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Bitter/sweet
My “nostalgia analysis” post had an excellent comment – “I have noticed that nostalgia happens for certain things when you are satisfied with how things turned out. And then there is bitterness…” I am not really convinced by the first sentence, and think it’s a little more nuanced. Broadly yes, when everything turns out well, nostalgia is ‘easy’. But as I mentioned in the post, I think the mind also reconstructs and reconciles what it can. In a way, taking memories into dreams territory. A vision of near-perfectness. Probably a device used by evolution to help the organism cope, survive and thrive. Ok, that sounded cold. Moving on. It is the second sentence that really caught my attention.
“..And then there is bitterness..” Bitterness. I can remember many brushes with that phenomenon. It has made me miss several years with people, though thankfully, sanity prevailed in most cases. I reached out, and time healed. It has happened in the recent past as well. The only difference these days is that I am not blind to it, and have tried to understand it, so I can try to minimise the damage it causes. But maybe I was missing something. (more…)
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Making sense of nostalgia
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The other day, when discussing brand communication, we noted how nostalgia was such a broad platform that it would appeal to almost everyone.One moment you’re in the present, and sometimes, even without the slightest provocation, you’re off with a reconstruction of events that transpired. For instance, just a week before that, when I learnt that Kammatti Paadam was releasing, a lot of my excitement was because it was set in Kochi from the 1970’s onwards. Until 2003, that’s pretty much my life. Before and after I watched the movie, quite a few hours were spent recollecting my life in my hometown across a couple of decades. (more…)