Being Together

It’s said that Family that eats together plays together. I wonder how true it is in these days we are living in. This reminds me of the family dinner I was invited for last month. It was my cousin’s daughter’s fifth birthday. It wasn’t a grand show but rather a quiet dinner party just to catch up with all our family and extended family members who lived in the same city but were too busy to meet each other regularly. But the scene there disappointed me too much. After the initial greetings, we ordered our favourite cuisines and meanwhile the conversations went on. But one thing that prevailed over our conversations was the beeping smartphones. Everytime a cellphone would beep, its owner would pick up the phone to take a short tour in his/her virtual world leaving behind the conversation in the real world. Others were busy clicking selfies or as they called it, making memories. I wonder when they will look back at those pictures some years from now, would they even remember how the party had been.

I guess this scene is observed everywhere at each and every gathering. Nobody is able to free himself from the clutches of the technology that  actually disconnects us from everyone around on the pretext of connecting us to everyone that’s afar.  Most of the time it is a WhatsApp group or other social media that keep us updated about each other. Though I am not aloof to be not affected by the social media fever that has gotten to everybody now but I do prefer catching up with people in real life as in meeting them in person rather over calls and texts, atleast whenever possible. So, a week after the said party, it was an extended weekend. So, I was the first one to hop on this opportunity to plan an outing with the cousins to a nearby national park which also had the waterfalls. It seemed to be an exciting place but I knew the presence of our smartphones would ruin the beauty of nature. But Nature had different plans. It happened to be a no-network zone. So everyone had to put those phones in their bags and forget them for the rest of the weekend. Though everyone was anxious about it earlier but it turned out to be real fun later on.

We made real memories there. We went for cycling through the trails in the forest. We did trekking and had extreme fun playing in the waterfalls. It was like living in a piece of heaven. There were other adventurous sports that were specially offered to build team spirits and bondings. Spending time in nature’s lap helped us find ourselves and each other too. We sat around the bonfire and talked whole night, revealing our secrets and shedding our inhibitions. Nobody was busy staring at their phones, they were really there listening out to each other. We learnt what being together meant. That’s how it should be. That’s what being together really means : being there where you are, in that moment, not trying to be at two places at the same time.

Hence, I give Nature full credit for the real togetherness. It surely helps us unwind and live in the moment with the people around us rather than with the our phones. So catch the next set of holidays and pack your bags to explore the nature around with your kith and kin and friends too. You will return more rejuvenated than you had thought to be.

Thank you Kissan for bringing out the importance of Real Togetherness.