The Hullabaloo Of The 21st Century



Image source-npr.org


“A deep noise, a perpetual noise, a tumult of noise
I live in noise as such that it mutes my own voice
A noise, so humongous that it  disrupts my poise,
Yes, I abhor this knell of a Noise.”


We live in a world full of noises. From waking up early in the morning to climbing back to bed late at night, these commotions have become a ‘But Natural’ part of our lives so much so that we hardly hear them anymore. In every day’s rush to work, on the roads full of chaos between people humming, murmuring, muttering amidst the honk-honk of vehicles stuck in traffic, each day becomes a chaotic din that silences the inner voice of an individual. And who is this individual?


This individual is you, this individual is me, and this individual is everyone around us. We have become so accustomed to this everyday commotion that we have reduced ourselves to mere robots in the hands of daily monotony. Real conversations today have been replaced with superficial small talk with strangers without any real feelings. “I am fine” to every “How are you?” has become our reflex in our desire to appear normal in this society whose farcical norms are forcing us to lead a mechanical life. 


Who to blame?


Who is to be blamed for this? Who is to be blamed for India’s 140th Rank in the World Happiness Index? Does anyone care? Do you care? Have you wondered why is there a need for the government to spend so much money on these “Happiness Classes” especially when our country is going through an economic slowdown? Why is there a need for such classes at all? The answer lies in the unhealthy pattern of life we have imbibed. We have normalized turning deaf-ear to the voice of our own heart yearning for some relief, some love, some pampering amid the daily hubbub of life. 


If you have a close look at the society we live in, you’ll observe that while the youth is in a constant battle between the pressure of the career and the desire to have a good social life, the old have resigned their lives to accumulating wealth and the retired are yearning for a life they never lived and in all this chaos, toddlers are the ones who are truly happy for they are beyond the farcical norms of happiness set by the society.


The spat between the covert and overt


Our physical self and our inner self dwells poles apart. Our mind is chained in the memories of the past and in the fears of the future that life, in its true sense, life, in its presence, is slipping away. We are constantly trying to recollect our mind which is constantly distracted from varieties of thoughts. We’re constantly engaged in a battle with ourselves to bring ourselves to focus, to concentrate on the present, on the task at hand. Haven’t you been so overwhelmed with your own thoughts in between a lecture that you forgot that you were attending one? Or haven’t you been enticed to open social media while reading the news on the phone?


This constant vulnerability of the human mind to be distracted is because of our real-time and our psychological time is always at odds with one another. Our inner self is always engaged in this cumbersome battle to coincide with our inner reality with our physical reality, but we all know that battles are never easy. It is a constant wheel that keeps on moving.


So, how to break free from this wheel that never stops? Or, will this wheel ever stop? The answer to this, I leave with you to contemplate. It is up to you to see whether the driving gear of your life is in the hands of your conscious self or is it governed by your unconscious self, because who can take control, but you. 


This article is in no way a “tips and tricks” article. It is a call to realization, a call to introspection, a call to break free from the hullaballoo of life you have prisoned yourself into. If  Pablo Neruda were to have it 

“We were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could perhaps a huge silence       
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death”


 It is a summon for the human beings of the 21st Century to be humans and live and not be robots and operate.



- Written by Vasudha Sabharwal
- Edited by Maitreyi Mehndiratta



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