You
know that times are bad when headlines are obsessed with the Duchess of
Cambridge’s bum. Apparently she had a wardrobe malfunction during her tour of
India that may or not have revealed her bare bottom in all its glory and it was
all people wished to talk about. Those who could not care less for Princess
patootie may have skipped these articles only to be told that Kangana Ranaut
and Hrithik Roshan are currently engaged in a mud – slinging match with gobs of
the stuff landing on the pope when the odds of a pretty boy landing a date with
him was raised. If you were to persist in trying to find something else to
read, you may be suckered into a long drawn discussion on the odds of Virat
Kohli and Anushka Sharma getting back together because the latter has unlocked
the secret to preventing dandruff as well as hair fall in addition to losing
another two kilos on her derriere.
Could
it be true that deep down at the core, we are all just shallow, superficial
twits? Is there no way to help our inner wannabe intellectual who has long been
drowning in the dumbness we imbibe on a regular basis? What about the Zen
Philosopher seeking enlightenment or the curious scientist who seeks to solve
the world’s pressing problems? Needless to say both are doomed to die as well
if we keep feeding them pointless information shovelled out by celeb watchers
involving boob jobs gone wrong, leaked videos that chronicle a starlet’s sex
life or torrid affairs that bit the dust.
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It
is now more important than ever to embrace the inner geek and nerd we are
capable of being rather than limit ourselves to being hopelessly enamoured of
those who play geeks and nerds with such effusive charm on the Big Bang Theory.
After all it is the clever ones among us who figure out ways to solve the
problems that plague our planet and invent remarkable gadgets that make our
lives so much easier.
Surely
we would rather be the genius who figured out a simple, inexpensive, non –
violent way to end poverty, racism, illiteracy and disease rather than the
vacuous thing who devoted his/her life towards achieving a gym – ripped body
that is the envy of pudgy neighbours, bathing in fairness creams so that
someone says ‘Wow! You are too fair to be an Indian!’, buffing the body to a
fine sheen without gross cellulite or stretchmarks, all so that a prefect Facebook
profile pic which comes with a guarantee of 1000 likes might be clicked?
If
yes, it is time to make the effort to become a smart person who knows enough to
discuss world politics, science, mathematics, philosophy and current events
(excluding the shape of Kate Middleton’s abs post the baby) without aid from a
smartphone. To do that it is time to read more sensible shit, eschew buying
stuff that promises to get rid of the dusky skin you were born with, try and
learn something that will make you a better person and less of a greedy,
grasping moron and finally encourage cleverness in yourself as well as in
others so that it may grow wings and fly us all away from the morass of stupidity
in which we have gone and trapped ourselves.
An edited version of this piece was carried by The New Indian Express.
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