02 July, 2013

Flow against the current

I am so anti herd mentality, anti copying, against going with the crowd. The moment I feel, a particular trend ( and I am not talking solely about fashion per se) is become for masses, for everyone, I would not touch it even with a ten foot pole.
For about a year, I had this red streak of hair. It looked unique. The moment I saw, some trash looking wannabe copy mine and sport it, I got rid of it and decided never to have it again. When all the aunties wore bling bling designer saris, I brought in a trend of handwoven sarees with a gusto. 
If whole lot of wannabes of Delhi is on Blackberry, I am happy and contended with my iPhone. 
I was quite regular on fb. The moment I saw herd mentality there, I backed off. Now my Tango and fitness page is there more for business purpose, or my blog posts get automatically updated on fb but me personally, am out of the rut. Facebook now appears to be more wannabe scene, where people post either their travel pics or their girlie gang pics, with lots of fake bags flaunted more explicitly than their own self, or there are PDA's which again make me sick. It is a rut and I cannot be part of the rut. Infact, whenever and wherever I witness cattle mentality, I purposely withdraw in my own shell and just become a silent spectator. I and my life is too precious to be wasted on frivolous things.
I guess that is why Tango is exciting for me. Because, at least in India it is sui generis. People are still intimidated by its close proximity. People feel comfortable being part of the mob. On the contrary, I feel suffocated if I am part of one. Long time back I had known that I cannot please everyone, confirm to the norms, be miss goody two shoes. So I thought, one person, whom I can please for sure, is my own self. Hence, instead of walking on the footsteps of others, I prefer to carve a niche for myself. Learn from my mistakes, rejoice in my own success. People find strength in being part of the rat race. I find strength in being exclusive and, in doing my own thing.
I have few super good friends whom I am super close to. I have my family and I do not care a bit about large crowd and their judgements.
It is intriguing that people who barely know me personally, also come forth and judge me. They have opinions about me. And it just perplexes me as to how much void and vacuum do they have in their life. But then, I cannot do much about their opinions, judgements and vacuum. I still continue to do my own thing. Which is- to flow against the tide and come out shining and happy.