Pretentious Life

In the ghazal, "Kabhi kisiko mukammal jahan nahi milta" by Nida Fazliji there is this line, "jise bhi dekhiye wo apne aap me gum hai, zuban mili hai magar humzuban nahi milta"
This ghazal was featured in the 1981 movie Ahista Ahista. Maybe it was penned even before that film released, maybe in the late 70s. It looks like this condition of "self indulgence" has been an old one. It is always about “me” and rarely about “us”. So even if we seek likes and comments on our posts, it is still about me, my profile, my picture, my post, my happiness.

Yes we do see a lot of people preoccupied on their smart devices while sitting at a cafe with friends, or at home among their family members or elsewhere, and I am guilty of doing the same, I admit. Agree that we indulge in these social tools a lot more than we should be with the very real people around us. But then how wise it is to blame the tools? Is it the tools that are at fault or is it the self indulgence?

For a moment if we grant the ghazal the status of apt social observation, then looks like this is an old disease, back then there was no social media, there were no phones to begin with..!