Metro diaries

‍‍‍MobZie generation....
Kuch na dekho... Kuch na suno... Kuch na bolo
zombie  is a person who is under a heavy, trance-like influence, walking and acting like a living dead. Zombies are usually associated with witchcraft movies set in Caribbean locales or in ghost stories.

But there are plenty of MobZies walking or travelling in Delhi metro....Their trance is in seeing and not perceiving. They see the world around them. The details. The beauty. The trash. But there’s no response — no perception. For all they care, there might as well be absolutely nothing around them..... As they r in with their life possesion smart phone n ear plugs.. .

It seems that in metro must of people their business of life to them consists of getting by, preferably with the least amount of effort.. Kabhi line todne me...seat nahi dene par...or ogling a.....
It looks as if do your job, eat and sleep. Pass the 24 hours of the day.....ie the motto...of life.... Not only of metro MobZies but even when I meet people around in Delhi... No one smiles... Everyone is angry with a self loathing...
MobZies have created any number of activities for themselves to just make time go by, without arousing them to any semblance of effort (beyond the occasional complaining about how things are). Movies, TV shows, Netflix..amazon prime...YouTube etc..aiming for the lowest common denominator of zombies as their sacred guideline.

Within their content is nothing terribly offending (as long as you’re in the target demographic), but also nothing that stimulates deep thinking or activity that aspires to change the status quo.

Instead of living personal lives, zombies... they watch people on TV ...moblies...and in movies..
We...zombies entrust our problems to a call-in show or the advice column in a glossy magazine, or some chat group online. With a phone call or tweet, an instant solution is provided and accepted as the pronouncement of an oracle.... N gospel truth

It means nowadays we only see but no more perceive...
Seeing is an ongoing process.
Most of it is forgotten rather quickly, which is just as well. How would we store and categorize that much information in a meaningful way? Much of the time, our eyes function like a security camera. We see our surroundings, take appropriate action and forget what we just saw. Because it has no long-term relevance.

In that function, our eyes do a great job. They keep us from bumping into things and getting hurt. Like other people on a sidewalk or other cars when we’re driving down the freeway. We walk to work, to school, we drive around town or across the country, all without hitting anything. Our eyes have fulfilled their function as sentinels.

However, once at our destination, we promptly fail to remember much of what the streets looked like today. Were there many cars? How did the sun shine today?

On the other hand, perceiving a beautiful day means more than just realizing that an umbrella is needed...the aroma of sand...water dripping from metro train windows...fresh air ...
The reaction itself is the main thing. Reacting is part of truly perceiving.

Our old friends, Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes, illustrate the difference between seeing and perceiving quite well. There’s no doubt that Dr. Watson is very able to see everything around him. He’s a doctor and has been trained to observe.

But it’s Sherlock who perceives the minute details and draws astounding conclusions from them. The kind that once  we hear them explained, we are likely to say but of course! Why didn’t I think of that?!

Thing is, you or I don’t. Because we are busy seeing, like Dr. Watson. Looking at everything around. To be sure noticing many of those same details. Certainly not stumbling and bumping into things. Even drawing conclusions about some things and making decisions from that. That’s seeing.

But it’s Sherlock who perceives what each item signifies and goes deeper looking for meaning. In that process he combines his vast knowledge with the new information and voila, he has a clue, an answer, a result.

I’m not saying that we have to become versions Sherlock Holmes. That might get really annoying after a little while.

But there’s value in going beyond just seeing and moving into perceiving what and who is around us. We become more engaged in life, in relationships. We are more “there”.

We build more memories when we truly perceive the world around us. The kind of memories we can recall in vivid Technicolor to our mind’s eye many decades later. Because they imprinted in our mind so strongly.

What would it be like, if  as an experiment we decided to go through a regular day perceiving instead of just seeing?
Let's not become MobZies... Current generation zombies