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.
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;).
