Monday, September 7, 2009

The Well Travelled Ones

Society has been hit by a new sort of species, the kind everyone who falls within the lower, middling to piddling income bracket absolutely despises. The Well Traveled Ones (W.T.O)

They are further identified by a plethora of badly taken pictures all across the globe, usually plastered on face book, usually featuring them drunk or wasted or drunk and wasted or posing in a neat sunlit spot with their hair flying, with the merest hint of chiaroscuro. Then they have a few standard pictures of historic buildings, taken with the view of a worm and then the view of a bird that probably shat on the aforementioned building. These pictures are in albums of thousands that no one claims to see, but everyone does.

There are also the other kind of W.T.O who make you insanely jealous by taking fabulous pictures that make you realize just how miserable and hopeless your life is. Because; a: you are penniless b: you are penniless and have exhausted all your holidays by going home and stuffing yourself with your mum's food. c: you are getting in the years and you haven't money or holidays or anything to show off about.

The third kind of W.T.O are just newly married folks who have hit upon the "honeymoon package" and their software savings. These people discover discounted romances along with each other. Their photos, I'm not jealous of. Don't know about other folk.

So while these W.T.O hit face book and the globe with a vengeance, I flick miserably through their pictures, constantly hitting the like button and consoling myself that one day...I'll maybe...own a camera..if nothing else.

*Sigh*

10 comments:

Swetha Guptha said...

Hi Meera!! Camera is not a very difficult thing to get, now a days they are available from Rs.5000/- and there is always the EMI scheme :)Wishing u a very happy Camera Shopping

Usha said...

Thanks Swetha, you made my day. :)

Anshuman Manur said...

Well, THAT's the WTO dream....!
you go to a fab destination, take a looooot of pictures, put them on facebook, and then you have some really inane comment conversations with a lot of "like"s thrown in...!

Usha said...

haha. i know. i think they look through the lens more than their eyes. in fact im pretty sure people do a WHOLE lot of things simply to upload it on face book. in the process, they probably forget to have a good time.

Anshuman Manur said...

that's bang on! I have to admit, I don't like traveling with folks who take pictures - they bloody live through the lens!
On a related note, ever felt the value of a photograph has gone down in recent times! Back when there where 30 odd shots in a roll, each picture was handled with care, and cherished! But now.... each event (party, festival, wedding etc.) generates like a thousand odd images! I call it the photographic inflation!

Unknown said...

average article

Usha said...

you are the first kind of WTO. huh.

Usha said...

and i don't know about that anshuman..as the world changes...so does out perception of art. you might own a camera but you can't invent composition. :)

malted socktail said...

am i the second kind. ?
feels guilty. mulls head in thought.
thinks.
i'll almost agree with you on this one. i think what you are reffering to are the tourists vs travellers.

i travel as a traveller and it does feel a whole lot different. ok, it maybe my snobbishness to distinguish myself from the rest who you've cleverly mentioned.
the software marrieds, the "oh my god i have money" and of course those typical ones that make u cringe and go "those indians i tell u".

for al those who dont know me and reading this, yes i do put a few pics on facebook..
but the only reason i promise, is to answer the eternal question of "so what are you doing nowadays since ure unemployed"

and oh ya btw, i can lend u my camera :)
or better still. while you pound away the hour clock in office, i shall be the wannabe WTO.
and a few years down the line, when your bank counts in all those hours u drummed away, u can buy a camera, travel and probably pay me tooo, to take pics for u :)
its at that time, that i shall pound away the hour clock at the food line or unemployment office. oh dearie me !

kitha said...

Cameras fuck up your memory =)