my uncle had some medical problems. he could not work, and he spent a lot of time indoors. like a lot. he’s been living with us for years.
the latest piece of tech he owns is a nokia n70, and a philips sound system with a cassette deck and a CD tray.
i mean, you kinda get it.
bro was in the stone age.
and he started practicing quarantine way before covid.
so one day, we were talking about $RANDOMSHIT,
and i asked him what his favorite songs were.
and i offered to play it on my computer.
and he was like:
“oh, as if you have my favorite songs stored in your computer!”, he retorted in a challenging way.
and that’s when i realized that he has no idea the internet exists. and that i can pull anything up within seconds. that i have access to almost all the collective art in the world, right in my fingertips. and that too, for free! (hehe 🏴☠️)
and here he is, still living in the era of 128kbps AACs, thick memory cards, cassettes and CDs.
this is gonna be fun, i told myself.
and then i introduced him to youtube. almost all the movies he mentioned, even obscure ones, were uploaded to youtube by some good soul. he spent two weeks rewatching the movies he watched in his childhood and youth.
and then i introduced him to youtube music. (sonora ofc.) i could look up any song in the entire world, regardless of language, genre, whatever, and at the same time, i could see the lyrics at the same time! heck, it even highlights the current line being sung!
he recalled that, back then in his time, if he wanted song lyrics, either he’d have to listen and write them down, or he would have to wait in the theatre & get hold of the lyrics book being sold there. and that was all malayalam songs. maybe they’ll get tamil and bollywood song books too. not sure about english songs.
i remember my father telling me that when his uncles came from the Gulf, they bought cassettes of Boney M and ABBA, and that’s how they got famous in the coastal areas.
i mean, even 15yo me couldn’t imagine such a world at that time.
and then i showed him Google fucking Earth.
we “explored” where he worked in the Middle East (cue malayali - middle east joke) before he was diagnosed. he showed me the boats and the beach and the buildings and the offices. obviously, things have changed a lot, but he could make out some of the places.
this suddenly made me realize how lucky we are to live in this timeline. we have access to an infinite amount of resources, and we could basically do anything.
but what’s sad is i have wasted a lot of time doomscrolling and passively consuming.
a part of me feels bad because i introduced him to this. because he was living without all this.
and i have lived a life without smartphones, computers and everything. i was in the seminary for 3 years. (wasn’t a good seminarian though.) no distractions, no FOMO, no rectangular devil in my pocket. life was simple and peaceful.
i don’t wanna whine like a lil bitch though. i am grateful for everything in my life. and i should be accountable with how i spend my time.
but 2026 is so good.
Deo gratias!
