Nadeem Farooq Shah
After two years of incessant use, I was growing disinterested with Whatsapp – the famous instant chat application. My disinterest was driven, primarily, by my concern for my aching eyes. I remember staying awake till wee hours of the night during the early days I installed this application. All of my friends were plagued by insomnia and I was no exception. Phone calls were replaced by messages and the barrages of them. Exclusive groups were created wherein the conversation veered around university, girls and sometimes studies.
After the Facebook fever had abated, Whatsapp disease took root. Social life was the worst hit. The messages came at odd times- at 3 a.m. in the morning, at dinner and Lunch time, invariably, much to my mother’s dismay. Occasionally, the government’s clamp down on internet provided the much needed respite. But as soon as the e-curfew was lifted, things returned to the ‘abnormal’. Rebukes became common as my hands were always occupied by my phone, eyes poring on to the screen. The faculty of sight suffered the most: I could not distinguish a gay from a guy. Eyes had to be narrowed in order to focus on something. Dark circles engulfed the under-eyes.
And finally, one fine morning, after deep contemplation, better sense prevailed and I uninstalled the ‘bloody application’. Days passed into weeks and my eyes began to recover. I felt a sense of peace and tranquillity. But my joy was short-lived. Things turned awry: Message tones got replaced by ring-tones. Friends called to inquire about my sudden disappearance from Whatsapp. Morons asked ‘why I wasn’t replying to their messages?’ and a few intelligent ones questioned “why I had deactivated my account?” I tried to reason with them but they wouldn’t listen.
Slowly I was beginning to experience the symptoms of ‘Post Application Uninstall Stress syndrome’: while walking through a busy street, I impulsively shoved down my hands in my pockets to check if any friend has messaged. My mind began playing tricks on me. What if my friends are bitching about me in my absence, I thought. The urge to message someone was surging inside me. I was growing restless. My mom now began to question my ‘Normal behaviour’. “Why aren’t you receiving those irritating messages now-a-days?” she finally asked sarcastically. I was dead silent as a stone. Why do people envy someone’s peaceful life so much, I was growing paranoid. Then one very dark night, I quietly reinstalled the application and posted messages to a few of my close friends. I was back in the virtual jail after enjoying few memorable days outside its narrow confines and my friends felt happy for me.
P.S: These days my dark circles have grown darker, my eyes gone narrower and everything looks dim and obscure and I envy those who do not have a cell phone.