When you start trusting technology more than your senses

I attended an awesome Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan concert yesterday. For the uninitiated, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a Pakistani singer, primarily of Qawwali genre, a devotional music of the Muslim Sufis. He is the nephew of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. In addition to Qawwali, he also performs ghazals and other light music. He is popular as a Bollywood playback singer too. The concert was conducted in Music Hall, Detroit. I was shopping some essential items for my upcoming trip on a gloomy Saturday and a call from my friend informed me that Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was performing in the town. Plans were made rather very quickly and we found ourselves in the Music Hall within an hour. In that one hour, I had a small cup of salty caramel yoghurt, drove 30 miles, changed cars at my friend's house, drove 35 more miles, reached the venue, collected out tickets and were in our seats just in time.

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The concert started on time and we were enjoying fine music in no time. A few of my favourites that he sang were "O Re Piya", "Afreeen", "Dil toh bacha hain ji" and "Bol Na Halke Halke". We were absolutely dumbstruck by his voice, rendition and his ability to sing continuously without even taking a drop of water. The other members of this group contributed equally with their efforts on drums, guitar, trumpet and tabla. It was an experience which any music lover would have loved to be a part of. There were people in the crowd shouting, whistling or even dancing to many of his songs. The crowd was enjoying very song to its fullest, hmm, or where they?

When you witness a once in a lifetime event like a Rahet Fateh Ali Khan concert, are you enjoying it to its fullest if you are only seeing it through the screen of your smartphone or your camera? Agreed you are recording every moment possible to enjoy it at a later stage or for someone else to enjoy it at a later stage, but what about being in that moment at that very second. How about concentrating and enjoying the music that is being sung by a maestro without any distractions? How about giving your entire sense of perception to the moment and thereby respecting the genius of the person rendering it?

When you sit in a theatre and try to record every possible moment through a camera, then more than anything else, you are distracting the other people with your camera light. You are clogging their line of vision too. If we keep these 'small' things aside, think about those previous moments when you could as well enjoyed the concert rather than 'safe-keeping' your enjoyment for a later date. A similar thing that irate me to no end is someone travelling to a whole new place and spending all the time on earth just clicking photographs. I myself have had the misfortune of travelling with such people. Any place you visit, all they want is click one pic in front of the famous monument and we are done with the place. How about just walking around the place and appreciating its beauty? I should say that FaceBook has added a lot of shenanigans to this breed. The whole concept of "profile" pic? We better don't go there.

Trying to capture every moment in the camera is not a bad thing always. You meet your friend after a long time; you may want to go crazy and click a few (hundreds of) pics. It captures the sense of happiness you feel and something you can treasure for a long time. If you both are having fun in between all the soul searching(and silly) conversations you are having, then we are all for having fun. You may want to drag him/her to the nearby photo booth and give some crazy shots there too ! Or you are a food blogger, then you would want to capture a shot of every possible meal that you ate at a restaurant. Or you are witnessing a breath-taking sunrise, you may want to capture it in a few shots. Understood. But after that few clicks, don't you want to keep the camera away and just capture all the beauty in your mind? We are not talking about professional photographers here. We are talking about common man, like you and me. Common Man who was given five senses of perception to utilise it in the best possible way.
 
Be in the moment. Live it. Please don't see that once in a lifetime concert through a camera screen. Trust your senses. Senses like sight and hearing are given to you for a purpose. There are many unlucky people in this world who don't even have the privilege to use them. When you start trusting technology more than you senses, then it is time to unplug. When you sit in front of me and make me also see the concert through your camera phone, then we have a real problem.