The Much Needed Asteroid

I heard a piece of news on September 3rd, 2020 – about an asteroid (Asteroid 465824 2010 FR) passing the Earth’s orbit on September 6th, 2020. It is surreal to even wonder that something like this had vanished the entire ancestry of ours. 

Of course, this news was very rare to be heard! Our Indian media is right on the edge of cracking the SSR case, and hence there is absolutely no time for covering news on COVID-19 cases (our country being the highest in recording active cases), floods in India, or the decision of conducting exams for the final year students. More than thousands commit suicide in India due to depression each year, and you care for the justice of just one…why? Because TRP daily soap channels ko nahi, news channels ko chahiye.

This is unfortunately our reality, where everybody is in a race to prove the cause of his death. While I wish for him to get justice (if there was anything wrong), I am really fed up with the witch-hunt that is taking place in the media. Everybody (and I mean everybody) is divided into three groups – people who believe that he took his life, people who believe that someone killed him, and people who don’t give a damn. The first two groups are in this unsaid race to prove who’s story is better and plausible than the other.

This somewhere also relates to a life that we humans follow on our social media accounts. Let’s agree on one point that, for most of us, Facebook was the first platform, where we’ve done all sorts of bullshit, and it really gets embarrassing when Facebook shows our Memories from the past. Hence, when we chose our next platform, we knew it has to only have the most beautiful parts of our life. For most of us, it was Instagram, where we, like the 2 groups I mentioned above, are in a race to prove: my life is better than yours. Initially, it used to just be your place of fame, and the number of followers, friends, or likes used to (or still) boost your daily morale. But now, it has become a place to meaninglessly scroll the entire day, put our opinions (or repost other’s opinions), troll and judge people on their life decisions, show off what you got, or pretend that you’re a totally different person.

In the initial days of the lockdown, it was really funny and bizarre at the same time to see how people were reacting to staying at their own homes. I am indoorsy since the time I was a child and I will give up anything to just curl in the corner of my house with a book (which is what I do now). I’m glad that I got this lockdown as a chance to rethink my lifestyle and thought process. Being locked in the house, I could see the bigger picture and realized that my life has more to do with putting up stories or posts on Instagram. I recently heard this podcast of The Internet Said So on Social Media, where they talk about how pretentious and fake we’ve actually made our Instagram. I’ve never connected with anybody the way I do with Neville Shah now. The irritation he expresses of teens and adolescents (and adults) having very little (or no) knowledge in things going around us is so relatable.

This lockdown, which initially looked like an asteroid for me, was the most beautiful thing that happened. I really believe that this has or will change us to being more mature and appreciative of things we have around, and not fall into the pits of discrimination and status quo when we greet people.