Why can't I write? - 1.5

Ever since the last "Why can't I write?" ponder - I was constantly thinking and looking for inspirations to write. I had an intense story shape up in my mind - probably set in early 70s, in some remote town in India. - I think the knowledge of visuals and fashion that I acquired from the movies of those era would help me whip a nostalgic tale. It is indeed hard to imagine and that makes me wonder how J K Rowling or Stephanie Meyer churned a whole series that inspired a generation of writers and readers alike. So, apart form the idea to write a short story, I also thought about many other things that I wanted to write about - recipes, parenting vows, growing pains in the process of being in the new role as an art teacher - and then of course about something very spiritually philosophical - all these ideas sprouted and withered - well, some are frozen in the sprout state and might become seedlings soon but it puts me back to square one when I sit to put my thoughts. So, this would be an attempt to write - which means that it is not going to talk about anything in particular ;-)

I am not much of a movie goer, or telly watcher - but there is something about dramas and daily soaps that traps the most disdaining of audience.  I was trapped too a few months ago, when my sister visited and started watching a daily soap that had a title which was  the length of a marathon. The characters were either too good or too bad - none believable. They all looked like caricatures. I did a mental roll of eyes all the time I watched but there was no stopping me from watching it - so in the classic spirit of one thing leading to another, I started watching another serial that debuted in the same channel - a story that told an unusual tale of love that reaches over generations. A young  accomplished doctor finds love in her much older senior and the journey unravels the many hurdles of this unconventional relationship. The sensible viewer in me was charmed and it helped that the leads were very talented and the narration was very believable without women dripping in jewels and business tycoons of men buying industries and aircrafts with the same ease I shop for groceries. My next logical step as an internet savvy viewer was to find if the lead actor had a facebook page - no prizes for guessing he did ;-) and that search added another like to the "growing as we speak" popularity of the actor. This page of the actor, in the evolving stages, with a few likes felt like a class room discussion. He posted statuses asking for daily feedback on the episodes and many viewers from across the globe and social circles participated. The addiction prone soul that I was, I was addicted to treading the way of that page to diligently give my long, painstakingly observant reviews. It fed the yearning I had to think and to write. The trap that the soap caught me in seemed hopelessly small when compared to the lure of the FB page. Soon, the page unfolded to me the many vows of social networking and sadly, the page turned out to be a drama pit - an unfortunate mess of unruly, impolite and utterly ill mannered group that attacked the actor for the technical flaws the soap had and every time there was a sad twist, the group wailed in mass hysteria, yet again dragging the actor into it and putting words into his mouth by interpreting the statements made by him the way they wanted and attacking him because they did not like their own interpretations:-D At first I was surprised to see the level of immaturity people have, then I was shocked and finally I was disgusted to no end which promptly drove me out of the page into a never return road. I still tread that way, just to see if by some magical words or wands the page got back its charm. The other day the actor posted a condolence message about a director friend of his who passed away. The condolences poured in profusely and amid all that sadness, there came a man who disapproved - and disapproved in high octane drama filled verbal attacks, the number of "likes" the message got. He probably had a point - How can someone like a condolence message that spoke about someone's passing away? I paused for a moment and thought - have we all gotten way too holier than thou or are we just falling into a circle of "attention seeking" by being those self appointed messiahs of internet etiquette? There were clarifications from some people as to what those "likes" mean and they don't demean the departed soul. The man who raised the objection went in circles, attacking with one verbal weapon after the other and that probably put a permanent "the end" to my hanging on that page. I would personally not "like" a sad message - but who am I to tell what people should like and what not? Internet seems to give me a peek into the psycho analysis of the homo sapience. I encounter many forms of stupidity - some mild and some intense - I bite my tongue every time I am tempted to put forth my two sensible cents and move on with my life. I am probably one of those "I don't care if it doesn't affect me" types - but I did learn a valuable lesson in the process. People talk what they want to talk - no amount of convincing them to see things through another angle, a possible sensible angle will coax them to oblige. Sometimes, I tell a silent prayer to shield me from committing such peccadilloes of life.