A Barrier That CONNECTS
It was 5pm in a chilly as well as gloomy January evening, roughly a year after the lockdown had started. A notification flashed on the screen of my phone. Somebody had followed me back on twitter. Somebody whom I had been following since the last 3 months. Somebody full of life whom I respected a lot.
After squandering away much time during the lazy afternoons and nights alike during the lockdown, due to a sudden gust of “productivity” and in an attempt to imitate Dad, I forced myself to log in to a rarely used account in Twitter. Never did I know it was one of the best things I would ever do and that it would open world full of information on various topics to me, basically a Pandora’s box but in a positive sense. I still remember the day when I logged in for the first time during the lockdown. One of the first things I did was congratulate the lead actors of the American Web Series ‘Gortimer Gibbon’s life On Normal Street’ which I had watched in the spring of 2019. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal for the actor, but it felt nice when I could find a way of letting them know that I liked it too. Maybe I was just one of the million people who congratulated him, but the mere thought that I WAS one of THEM, felt great. What was even nicer — — he liked my tweet. And I clearly went GAGA over it.
By the time I had learnt to use twitter properly and not get triggered by a post which represented a contrarian view, I managed to get a humble number of followers and many of them remain good online friends to this day. I met a lot of people on twitter, a lot of them, across all boundaries. I still cherish my memories of a few interactions on twitter. Twitter interactions have been my stress relievers during the darkest of days. I have talked with friends on DMs when I had sleepless nights. I was always made to feel that I am loved. I was always reminded that I had people who would lend me an ear, that I had the most precious thing on this earth — -friends.
But what has been particularly overwhelming, was #HumanTwitter, where people celebrated HUMANITY above all. However, all was not hunky-dory. During the last few months COVID-19 cases have hit the stratosphere and production of medicines and medical oxygen, sadly as it seems, have been clearly insufficient. Thousands of children have been orphaned this year. To make things even worse, some stooped low enough to start the black-marketing of already costly drugs which are in high demand given the circumstances. So many souls have been lost which otherwise could have been saved had these people shown a little bit of compassion and put human lives before their personal gains.
Just as each dark night ends into a glorious dawn, volunteers have come up on twitter to connect people in need and people who are working physically to help. A shout goes on in twitter “PLEASE AMPLIFY” and it is retweeted numerous times until and unless someone comes up with desired help. It is wonderful to relish the bliss of helping someone in need, and gifting them with a new life. On the other hand, failing to help has its own fiery and painful sting. Handling so many SOS requests is no joke, nor is a good exercise for the mind. I have seen many such volunteers undergo a massive emotional breakdown when they are unable to help, and rise up again, while broken, so that another precious life is not lost. After all this ends and normalcy is restored, the people who will continue to live in the horrors of this ‘COVID-19 Age’ are these volunteers. Many a night will pass when they would weep for the lives that could have been saved, if luck, sheer dumb luck permitted and if not more, at least some medical assistance could have been provided.
Maybe Twitter or any social media platform isn’t all about political hashtags, some random celebrity making controversial statements or two people arguing over something of no importance at all. There’s a bigger world outside the cheap corners of social media. The picture is larger than that. The picture was always larger than that. Only a fool would agree that social media didn’t contribute in relieving at least some of the COVID-19 stress. May be a crisis as catastrophic as this was needed to inject in minds of people that social media is an INVALUABLE resource and when used judiciously, is capable of producing wondrous outcomes.
But what gave Twitter, arguably the fastest information source on earth, this miraculous power? Perhaps the answer lies in the reason why humans triumph over any other creature on this planet. Since time immemorial, humans, as pointed out in the book ‘Sapiens’ by Yuval Noah Harari, possess this rare ability of exchange. Exchange of views, thoughts, opinions, called ‘socialising’ or exchange of useful materials and resources called ‘barter’. Humans have always exploited this power and have evolved continuously, irrespective of difficult circumstances, where even mere survival was tough. In the dawn of civilisation when dangers like a tiger attack knocked the door, humans alerted each other by making specific noises, the first predecessor of ‘language’. They CONNECTED with each other. Twitter did the same. Twitter CONNECTED people. Twitter helped people to SOCIALISE. Twitter brought people CLOSE. Twitter decreased the post-modern era’s ‘awkwardness’ when two strangers meet. Twitter, most importantly, made human interactions less tedious, efficient and easier. For the nth time, it was proved YET again, that the very humane power of SOCIALISING is indomitable. As long as humans USE this power, nothing can come in their way.
The terminally ill patient who had followed me back in that lonely January evening died recently. Till the end of his life, I had seen him keeping the fire in him to live freely, joyously. I had watched him fight his way through. I, like many of his admirers were silent watchers of his daily struggle. I have seen his most painful and cheerful days alike, even though for a very less time. I didn’t know him for a long time but the impression he left on me is indelible. After all this time, when I look back to the day when I logged in to twitter, I realise my life wouldn’t have been half as enriched without it, as now.
Maybe he didn’t make it in the end. Maybe God had different choice. But what matters is, he lives on. His soul lives on through us, the people who always looked up to him. People who witnessed his struggle and his death. He lives not only through the people who were physically close to him, but also through the people who looked at him through a transparent barrier, called Social Media. These are the people who are like inter connected nodes holding his soul in a mesh spread all over the world. He will always live on. “Nahanyate Hanyamaane Sharire”, the soul is not destroyed when the body is.
