Lonely or just….. Alone.

We have been taught in school “Man is a social Animal”. What connotation does this have in our present day and age of instant communication…Are we moving farther away by being in constant touch?

I remember my school days, when I used to wait for a letter from my granny telling me news about my cousins, summer holidays when I used to write a letter to my best friend and eagerly wait for a reply with bated breath, when I used to send my poems to the local newspaper and watch out for my column every day , when I used to find that “I am sorry” note from my sister. That actually felt special, someone taking the pain of actually writing a long mail. Today it either a voicemail, a scrap or even just a status on your Gtalk or Facebook which conveys what you are going through to your friend or the entire world for that matter. Are these just the means to convey “I am thinking of you” without too much effort or are we converging more and more inside, that we don’t know how to share anymore. Is this quickfix going to stick ?

Most people in today’s fast paced world lead lives of silent isolation. They laugh, talk, eat , party and go out like all of us , but when it comes to their innermost feelings, only their heart or some online journal knows the whole story. Have smileys made way for genuine human emotion? Can the sheer intensity be felt through a :-(. Its like we are going back to the caveman days come to think about it, when the power of language and communication hadn’t yet been discovered, and all we had were signs. Has the internet made even feelings …Virtual??

A lot of people mistake loneliness with being alone. They are different, trust me on this. There are occasions when you wait to be alone at home, so you can do your most fave stuff. For me , it’s a hot bubble bath , just reading in the tub and eating a bar of my fave chocolate. I can do that when everybody’s home too, but there’s something about the knowledge that nobody’s home that makes it a lot more special! Plus my mom would say its grouse :D I like to have dinner at my fave Italian place Alone , just sipping on my wine , and watching the families talk, or watching two lovers who are so oblivious to the world, or just smiling at the kids running around . Or a long walk in the moonlight, just listening to all the fave songs on my iTouch, that’s how I would always love it. It’s a great date with myself and I love every min of it …Loneliness is far away from my mind, I just want to be Alone.

But we all feel that emptiness ..at various phases , the pinch of loneliness. When I see Titanic, see a shooting star, read my mom’s email about a new recipe I should try , buy a new dress and don’t have my best friends to show off, alone on a Friday night, when my bags are packed and I look back at my home for one last time , I feel alone, Like I am the ONLY person in the entire galaxy ….But the next instant , I pick up my phone and call my best friend, oceans away and just few words “Its gonna be all right babe”, or “You KNOW I am more screwed than you are ;-)” or "Tell me what happened " makes you feel that you are not going to go through this alone. That someone always will hurt more for you than you will for yourself….. I wanna wish that friend a Very Happy Birthday …N sorry I missed celebrating it …Will , as soon as you get back :D

Maybe even all that evolution did not change the basic foundation of human nature , man(more so Woman in this matter) is as social an animal as he/she was ….He just changed his language again :D Just like how bell bottoms came back in fashion ......