WE ALL LIVED IN OUR BUBBLES




“I choose to listen to the river for a while,
thinking river thoughts,
before joining the night and the stars.”

Edward Abbey

If life is like a river, then, it will make its own way to flow. Won’t it?

Flow it will, come what may!

Till the other day, almost all of us lived in our own bubbles… We wanted everything grand and glittery. I said ‘everything’ – weddings and anniversaries, birthdays and funerals, baby showers, christenings, memorial days… the sports and musical events, movies and reality shows, the businesses, lifestyles… everything had to be bigger and grander… Yes, till the other day.

And, now?

Now, the size doesn’t matter… Five to twenty people max, even less, for laying to rest your dearest one. Maybe a few more would be enough to celebrate a wedding at home… Forget the parties on birthdays and anniversaries… You can simply cut a cake or raise a toast at home, and finish it!

Till the other day, we all lived in our bubbles!

Till the other day, when a movie was released, we saw a spectacle! Its success was measured, always, in terms of ‘so many crores’!

Now, they quietly release the movies through some digital platforms… The show must go on, you see!

Till the other day, fresh graduates would proudly call their pay a - ‘Package’, not ‘Salary’.

I still cannot understand the meaning of ‘Start-ups’. What I started, many years ago for my bread and butter, was a small enterprise to carry on my business or profession. Why was it not called a ‘Start-up’, then?

Till the other day, young kids would love to value their just-born ventures – the ‘start-ups’ - in terms of ‘Worth so many crores’!

Till the other day, the price of your house decided the size of your EMIs. When the house was a mansion, the cars, the drivers, your children’s’ schools, the circle of your friends, the clubs and gyms you joined, the vacations you embarked upon… yes, everything had to match your mansions… King-size!

That’s the bubble we all lived in…Yes, till the other day.

Now, life can be managed with little… Can’t it be? We can manage on our own a lot many things… Can’t we? Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, funeral services and almost everything can be lean and simple… Can’t they be?

Well, many say, the world will have a new order… I smile!

Soon, our bubbles will return… and, while some of us may find ourselves in a reflective mode, most of us will surely love to go back into our bubbles!

Locked-down or knocked-down, ‘the bubble’ has been mankind’s most preferred escape spot…

Don’t believe me?

Just wait and watch!






GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Dom Gould

Videos: /Christina Perri/Alan Hisoka


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