FOMO- Fear Of Missing Out , the feeling of not belonging to the league, the fear of being left out incase one doesn’t fit in, merge with, gel in or follow the trend. This is one of the biggest drawbacks of the present day social media world of which we all are an active part. Our day starts with a hoard of ‘good mornings’ from our friends and acquaintances from all across the globe which are reverted on priority with smileys and good mornings irrespective of whether in our personal space we do smile at and greet our family members in a similar way or not! Somewhere in the tug of war between the reality and social image unfortunately the latter gets all the undue attention.

I have woven my thoughts and views in a poetic story narrative form based on the social media lives and real lives of a fictional couple Shalu and Rahul.

‘Shalu, Rahul aur Social Media’

Shalu aur Rahul toh bilkul perfect couple ki misaal hai,

FB, insta par unke pictures-videos ki khoob lambi kataar hai,

Sab kehte hai lucky hai Shalu, Rahul jaisa use var mila,

Zaroor moti daan kiye honge pichle janam me jiska use yeh phal mila !

Par Shalu ke mann ki stithi kuch naa khus si dagmagayi thi,

Hoton par muskaan hote hue bhi aankhon me ek nadi si bhar aayi thi.

Achanak Shalu ke suicide ki khabar se sabke dil ko dhakka sa laga,

Rahul bechara ab kaise jiyega Shalu ke bin jo hai ghar suna.

Shalu ke saamaan me ek din Megha ko diary mili,

Padhke uske panne panne ho gai uski aankhen geeli.

Behen ke dukh dard se Megha maano bilkul hi anjaan thi,

Kya yeh vahi pyaari Shalu thi jiske chehre par hardam muskaan thi?

Rahul ke affairs se Shalu insecure thi, tension me thi,

Ek gai toh duji pakdi pata nahi kya kami Rahul ko thi?

Aapas me zhagde hote the maar – pitayi hoti thi,

Khoob akele ghut – ghut kar fir Shalu raaton ko roti thi.

Samaaj me ‘happy couple’ ke image par saare log marte hai,

Perfect hi toh normal hai, asliyat batane se darte hai.

Pressure social media ka personal life par socho hai kitna gehra,

Andarse chahe tuta ho, pictures me muskuraata har ek chehra.

Likes aur comments ke piche saare log deewane hai,

Dost toh hazaro hai bane hue par bhitar se anjaane hai..!

Kaash Shalu saccha dukh apna kisiko toh bata paati,

Social image aur saamaajik expectations ke bhaar ko apne kaandhe par se hata paati.

Shaayad waqt rehte Shalu ki stithi ko koi pyaarse samajh leta,

Jhooti duniya ke chakaa-chaundh se use yu bemaut marne na deta.

– Sonali Bakshi

26/10/2020