“You have no right to live!”
No, I am not a criminal. I have never broken the law. In fact, I have never, ever been politically incorrect either. Or, so I’d like to believe!
My one and only crime is that I watched the Game of Thrones finale, a day later than most people.
In my defense, I was already hyperventilating about the fact that my Wi-Fi package exhausted, one night before the finale. And just like The North, I knew that I was about to face a world which would remember this crime forever.
But this is GoT, a phenomenon that has transcended the realm of the Seven Kingdoms and conquered our real world.
So, how could I miss it, right?
Frankly, while there are multiple shows with multiple seasons, there are also sleepless nights, a dead social life and weeks of FOMO to live with!
Remember how there was a time, when your mom would allow you to watch Disney Hour every evening? TV time was leisure time but now it’s more like pressure time. That’s a lot of ‘time’, right?
Ironically, there’s hardly any left in my real life!
I’m a working professional, with a job that goes beyond 9-5.
While this has pretty much left my social life cringing for some meat, my personal life has been flooded with the pressure to keep up with TV shows.
“Have you seen Stranger Things?”
“Do you know that Westworld is the new GoT?”
“The latest episode of The Crown is all you need to watch!”
Sadly, that’s not all I need to watch. Because whatever little social life I have left, it thrives on conversations about new TV shows every week.
To be able to meet people on the weekend, I have to spend the one before, on my couch, with a new man every hour. From Sheldon Cooper to Frank Underwood, I catch up with all of them, just so I can contribute to conversations!
When I finally finish the show, it feels like a promotion.
Over 3 seasons and 28 episodes, you feel like a trainee who has finally advanced to the managerial level. And just when you think that you can call the shots in the conversations, your fellow managers have moved on to a new project.
Now there’s a new big thing. And like the iPhone, this one is better than the previous one. You might’ve spent ₹60,000 on an iPhone 6 but it’s still going to be irrelevant in front of a 7.
Just like the countless sleepless nights and weekends I managed with all my men. Do I get no credit for this? Not even the opportunity to make at least ONE statement in the conversations that have pushed me to watch something that’s now passé?
Speaking of passé, remember how #YOLO was a thing?
You should go on a solo backpacking trip cuz #YOLO! You should have a one night stand cuz #YOLO! You should follow your dreams cuz #YOLO!
A year ago, YOLO was the way to go. But today, my YOLO is being haunted by FOMO. I’m trying so hard to experience all the TV shows that somewhere, I’m losing the whole essence of enjoying my one and only life.
No wonder, I miss the times when conversations were shallow and I didn’t have to do any homework.
