#DayEight

Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human.

-Aristotle, Politics

To be honest, I have never been the social animal Aristotle expects me to be. Thankfully, my parents were large-hearted enough to let my antisocial bum be lost in the world of books instead in unknowns faces at baby showers, birthdays, weddings, and funerals. Never being a member of any boys’ gang, any false ideas of manliness did not corrupt my tender heart, for which I feel grateful even to this date.

Unfortunately, not all of my antisocial friends (yes, being antisocial does not mean not having friends) have been this lucky. Not all of them had parents recognising their disdain towards attending fufaji ke chachere bete ke mausaji ki shaadi and were dragged along to face relatives asking questions about what they wanted to be in future, when all they knew at that instant was to run and hide away in their peaceful abode (sauce: let’s have a stay over with lots of popcorns and hear these stories first-hand, of course once this quarantine ends!). I remember a fellow Austenian telling me once how her books and bookmarks are subjected to potential agonizing torture whenever her parents invite relatives over with their little devils, otherwise called kids. I have never sympathised with anyone more.

Sadly, the likes of my kind constitute only a small part of our society, thanks to the culture and traditions who stress the importance of being one of the crowd through every religion, epic, festival, ritual, and beliefs. So, as the phrase social distancing has become a worldwide sensation over the span of just a few weeks, practicing it in real life as the days pass by, proves to be a challenge not nearly as easy—especially in a nation where Atithi Devo Bhava is the mantra of life.

We are already missing on the true spirit of today's Durgashtami and in coming months, we better be ready to miss out on many  such things. So, my sincere apologies to all those social bums out there crying after reading this post, or maybe not so sincere;).