We Are Not Interested !

When we were much younger there were quite a few evenings when we used to assemble in a friend's house to play card games - mainly rummy. The stakes were not too high but everyone wanted to end up winning some. It used to happen quite often that one of the players would have chosen a gambit that would have only an outside chance of succeeding but, as luck would have it, it would work and he would end up winning the round. The winner would be quite pleased with himself and would set about describing to others in eloquent detail the precise moves he had made and the clever strategy he had adopted to see that he would win. It would all be due to his 'skill' and never due to his luck. All of us would be guilty of this weakness at least once as the game proceeded to the late hours of the night.

So it happened one day that as we were playing a guy by name Satyanarayan won. Then he started elaborating to others how he ensured victory:

"You know when Mathew dropped a nine of spades, even though I did not have any connected cards I picked that up because I knew that he would in the next round imagine that..."

Another guy named Nair intervened curtly,  "We are not interested !  Not only do we have to shell out the money... we also have to listen to the History !!"

We all found it amusing. But then after a round or two another guy won and began "I wouldn't have won if I.." and all of us in unison intoned "We are not interested!!!"  The poor guy laughed sheepishly.

Actually, all of are seeking validation in life. As Jaggi Vasudev has said all of want to touch other's lives and would love to get a response that we indeed have touched them. But each of them is busy seeking validation for touching others' lives that it turns out that no one really cares.

Just yesterday I read in the newspapers that a new disorder that can broadly be described as 'Social Networking Disorder' seems to be spreading. People are posting what they find exciting an interesting on social networking sites and expect their contacts to 'Like' their posts, and when these do not come in, they get anxious and depressed.

I should know! I've been writing so many things and posting in my blog hoping to get 'validation' and a proof that I am indeed touching people's lives, but there's scarcely any response. There are hardly a few people who have commented on my posts and posted them. Over a period of time I have lapsed into asking brazenly and loudly and in their face, to read my blog and to give their opinion. But it never comes. As the eagerness for validation increased I even posted in Facebook an interesting short film on validation called 'Validation' and it turned out that there was no response to that either.

So it is increasingly true of these social networking sites that people are desperately seeking validation and everyone is responding "We are not interested !"

      xxx