Monday, January 5, 2015

Selfie 101



It’s the wedding season in City beautiful. Every day there are MBA’s to attend, marriage, bhog, akhand paths and anniversaries. You name it, the city is celebrating the event /milestone, and all the more reason to. Punjabis, by nature are a happy lot and when there is music, booze well the party gets to be more fun and we all attend with Mummyji, Daddy ji, Bhaji, Bhenji, the kids, the 2.2 maids that follow the entourage with the designer baby bag and Chotu, with the latest baby pram.
In fact, what I have been seeing at all the events, is that all the women are dressed to kill with the jewels which could effectively deliver Punjab through the financial crisis it is facing. Sometimes, the diamonds and the baubles are so big and the shine so much that in the dark, she can lead the way to the car park. However, an interesting trend is the selfie.
At the last few functions, A lot of these twenty something’s, dressed and decked up with enough war paint to scare the terrorists and hair teased into weird styles that could effectively hide a bomb, start making these pouty duck faces and look at the camera of their smart phone. A bit of the flash, a style of the hand on the waist in a specific geometrical angle, a tilt of the head, and well she is captured in rapid succession to be instantly uploaded to instagram and shared via snap chat.
Forget, if the function is going on, if the marriage is being solemnized, or if the priest is chanting the shlokas, the ever-important selfie is taken.
Some of the absurd ones will carry on, right in the shamian, tent, pandal where the wedding takes place and then the giggle. Oh, and you thought men, are excused, no no, the preening of the moustache, checking the hair whether the gel is in place of the carefully coiffed hair and sucking in of the stomach and making the chest look wider, and the picture is taken along with the drink of choice.
The current trend is that one scientist / developer took advantage of this narcissist trend and invented the selfie stick!
Yes a selfie stick where you can place your cell phone in a device and use your blue tooth and sync with the remote and take pictures.
A steady hand, and practice till you get it right before you go for the functions. A London university is in fact offering sulfide 101 courses for hundred and sixty pounds! What all we can learn, forget that we need to save the world, or we have the worst time in history where unrest or there is strife. You should get your selfie right t, to document yourself in the virtual world. These days, one is so attached to this third arm – the cell phone and the virtual world, that we are always connected to an imaginary world leaving reality far behind.
An escapism to the worst or best.
At  a wedding yesterday , one of the older generation Aunty’s summed it up perfectly , she said ki fark painda hain’ no money is lost , even if one keeps on taking so many pictures!
This self obsession of taking pictures was evident at the premier mall Elante yesterday , a girl was taking pictures standing in front of the fountains and posing, she risked falling in  and was saved by her friend who saved her in the nick of time. What is a bit of pneumonia for instant fame and the largest amount of likes  on face book via status update?

I do however , am waiting to learn the right duck pout , anyone ready to give lessons?