Just kidding
Do you remember how bored you were as kids? If yes, you must have noticed how bored kids appear nowadays. The only difference between your…
Do you remember how bored you were as kids? If yes, you must have noticed how bored kids appear nowadays. The only difference between your childhood and theirs is you didn’t have much to distract your idiotic self with. The children of today have way too much to get distracted by, and yet, somehow, magically so, they seem supremely bored.
This phenomenon, if you can call it so, can be best seen on roads. The kid’s dad, or maybe his mom, is driving the vehicle and he’s in the backseat against the rolled up window. He is not supposed to breathe the air of the lesser mortals. The divide is clear and everyday is a training for him on how to treat those who aren’t as advantaged as he is. His face is almost pressed against the glass and totally lost in the moment. He is not looking at anything in particular as the four-wheeler chugs on the fuel. Maybe there is nothing interesting enough to note outside. But, in all fairness, the expression that he carries is a ubiquitous one. It’s everywhere, in all the cities, spawned by parents who pride themselves for being true to the meaning of success. Their offsprings in the rear window are designed to appreciate their success in the finest way possible and that is by replicating it.
There is no escape from this equation.
The kid is obviously loved and, in more cases than required, pampered beyond disguise. He is simply not capable of acknowledging how lucky he is. His parents are working their collective butt off to ensure they maintain a comfortable life residing in a cozy apartment while driving a luxurious car. We shouldn’t talk about the oxygen of personal growth (read: EMI) here. The only tragedy about this particular scenario is a bank can’t laugh all the way to the bank.
Anyway, coming back to the boy, he doesn’t blink even though the picture in front of him keeps changing. Maybe he is daydreaming/nightdreaming depending on how hungry he is at the given moment. Or maybe he is so consumed by his fading reflection that nothing else entertains him any longer. He has some of the latest electronic devices at his disposal but as of then, he’d rather stay zoned out of his skull.
At his age, I hadn’t even been in a car like that. I am on the wrong side of 30 and the status quo remains. There remains a mighty canyon between his realities and mine. The only thing that bonds my youngest self to him is the desire to disappear while not being absent to others. All his privileges count for nothing here. After all, neither death nor economy, is the greatest leveler. Boredom is.
Speaking of which, I often wonder why young Gaitonde killed his mother instead of his father in Sacred Games (2018). From the beginning it’s obvious that he despised his dad while liked his mom more for her temerity. Then, why the heck would he murder her? My theory is he did so because he understood the extent of his father’s weakness. He knew his mother was the stronger unit in the family. And as a matter of principle, it didn’t make sense to get rid of somebody who is weaker. He had to eliminate the stronger participant and then make the weaker one pay the bigger price.
Or maybe he was too bored to care anymore.