The new normal with forwards and instant communication.

Change is happening. WhatsApp forwards have heralded the change first. WhatsApp forwards are now the drums of warning and announcement, in deference to the changing times. Back then tom tom and now a forward and a smiley.

Okay, I forgot to say what is the crucial change that's happening. We are quickly conditioning ourselves to large numbers and large happenings. Small happenings are useless. It can happen anywhere. Let's talk big numbers.

We talk only numbers and the emotional hit of what those numbers can mean to actual people who are being affected is not hitting us or shaking us at all.

You may call it numbness from constant flow of information.

Remember those films where a boy used to run with the day's newspaper? Aaj ki taaza khabar! And everyone used to run to buy. Stand and read. Then whisper among themselves. Or talk. And argue. Even yell. Then go back and resume their quiet lives. A daily life that involved bringing in the provisions, taking care of the young and old, having a chat with the spouse during dinner.

That's over. Now ceaseless information is being forwarded. You are at a book reading. 761 messages pending. You have gone to the loo. 38 messages pending. You are in a meeting. 141 messages pending.

Then the content.

18 children killed. 384 Crores due from a pen businessman. 11600 Crores pending from a diamond merchant. 19 bank officers suspended. 180 shell companies are found with diamond trader. 1 office in Calcutta has 1227 registered companies tied to it's address. ED recovers 5500 Cr in 1 day.

Who comes up with these numbers?

Media? What's media? Where do they get these numbers from? Is there a Press Conference or is there a systematic process of getting the numbers that matter.

Like, in sports. A sportsman creates a new number everytime he plays the sport. Those numbers are seen, flashed, discussed, compared and called records. Some numbers get talked about. Others don't. Then humans get into the picture. Some numbers become adorable. Others don't. Sachin's numbers are preferable to Kaif's. Kohli preferable to Raina. LeBron preferable to Thompson. Salah preferable, not Mata. The numbers get better. Get bigger. There's more happening everyday. And new normal start to happen.

But yet, sports is the most uncorrupted form of human endeavor as yet. It's why it's loved, watched and discussed.

Think of the other spheres. Then, think of what humans would do to numbers before passing them on to you. Because of motives and charlatan objectives.

And you believe the numbers. Your mind numbs. Though there is no press conference announcing the right numbers, you have started to believe what has been passed on. It could be above. It could be below those numbers.

No one considers the affected organizations. A bank. A school. A college. A firm. The people within. Now tainted with the same brush. Instead of a guided missile, a town has been strafe bombed and the whole town is dead. You would say, forward came and I just forwarded.

To me, if you did that without sense or understanding, you're equally culpable.

Culpable. For the disaster that strikes others.