SABARI GANESH

We all are born with some taste for music in our hearts. Few say that music brings peace to our mind. But how could it would be peaceful while listening to music when you travel in a crowded metropolitan bus stuck in traffic in scorching heat. But for Chennites, it is a wonderful experience.

I have witnessed many people who seem to be fond of music, piercing headphones into their delicate eardrums. Even it is a five minute walk, their legs must be throttled with music banging their ears.

However, this was not the lifestyle a decade ago. Smartphones have become affordable today which come with a pair of headphones. In addition to that, there are few exclusive manufacturers whose earphones when pierced into ears does not allow even air into the ear finally making us completely deaf from the surroundings.

Coming to youngsters, who are much obsessed with their smart phones, I wonder what the hell do they do all the time with smartphones. Unnecessarily, they always flaunt their gadgets in the public.

One fine day, with unbearable enthusiasm, I had an opportunity to sneak into the smartphone of an young IT professional who stood beside me in a bus. She took her smartphone, swiped it left and right and top and bottom and again left and right. She opened WhatsApp and Facebook to check for any updates (there was nothing). Two minutes later she took it back, swiped left and right, right and left and literally did nothing. Then I realized the fact that half of the time, most of us irrespective of the gender, would be swiping the screen of our smartphone for nothing.

Oh my god! What the hell are these smartphones doing to us. I agree that every citizen in India is bestowed with a right for liberty and freedom. He can do whatever he likes under the jurisdiction of Indian law. He can buy and use anything. I agree. But how could you have headphones pierced into your ears all the time? Are you the greatest lover of music? Does music sounds good while you are in traffic in a crowded bus?

Image a world with out headphones. Half of the urban youth would go mad. This is true. Even though they have free unlimited music subscriptions, young Indians will die without headphones. Save young India from headphones.

When was the last time you had a conversation with a stranger during a travel. I remember while I was a child, I had to travel 20 kms in a government bus to school. During that short journey, I came across different people from different categories who offered some room beside them to sit and asked about my studies as well as my well being. There was some unseen gentleness in those conversations. Even today when I travel in a country bus, I can guarantee that at least one passenger will strike a conversation with me.

But in this bustling metropolis, whenever I travel, I can see no stranger at least throwing a smile upon my face during a short travel in bus or in a train. The only smile I encounter is that of a small school going girl who sits besides me. And in few occasions I will get a disgusting look from bus conductor when I give a hundred rupee note for a ten rupee ticket.

My opinion is it’s better to have a conversation. If you are a reserved person then enjoy the surroundings. If you really feel that listening to music would let you go into solace at such a discomfort, then go ahead with what ever you like..

But irony is that I am typing this in my phone while travelling to Thiruvanmiyur and without uttering a word to an old man sitting beside me.

Feature Image by ClearFrost, in Neuchatel, Switzerland. CC BY – SA 2.0.

All the views expressed above are my personal and I have no intention to hurt anybody.