I was reading this interesting book called “Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh” By Shrayana Bhattacharya. I was engrossed in it and was enjoying it thoroughly when suddenly, there was this weird noise that came from a corner of the room. I was in office and relishing the time when I had no students around me and it was a relatively free time. A friend was playing was this fidget spinner which looked like a distant relative of bey-blade. Maybe the mele mein bicchda hua bhai. Who knows? As I looked at her, she smiled and stopped. I thought, oh she is very understanding. And then I started reading the book again. The person started to spin it faster and the noise increased. I looked at her and she smiled in an evil manner. I smiled back and now we were at checkmate. She cannot help her anxiety while I would not be disturbed for reading.
As I went back to read the book, I thought about these two distant things that had nothing in common. But there is nothing in the world that has nothing in common if you are an imaginative person and know how to network things. (just like how people have contacts for everything in the world)
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Fidget toys are these interesting new age invention which are simple yet effective ways to channelize your anxiety to a simpler thing. Let us say that it is just a more expensive method to substitute the constant leg shaking nervousness that people have. I have zero clue about its efficacy but if it works, it works! They are in a way helping you to calm down and become more relaxed. This is also common with books.
I cannot define books. It would be a crime to boil down the gateway to a different world to something as basic as a collection of papers bound together to form a chronological and a logical connection in form of a topic, story, imagination, or a narrative. But I would not be jailed for this crime because I did not speak it loud and no one reads these long newsletters at one go to remember enough and more importantly, get offended by it.
What connects these two seemingly disconnected extremes is the ability to evade yourself into a different mindset. Of course, books are much more powerful as they can make people cry, laugh, roll in the floor, jump, get in jail, and sometimes even get shot. Fidget toys are simpler. They just clear your mind or help you manage it better. These toys rocketed very recently. There were toys that existed before but the name was very different. Also, we just did it in cheaper ways. Remember clicking that click click pens or tonging the tongs? Those were the OG fidget toys. We just do not do things like these more because certain people say that if you keep clicking the scissors, fights would happen in the house. I am like what nonsense is that and my mom started to explain me that and I debated the logic behind it. Now, I have to wash utensils and bear the silent treatment for a day. I hate scissors.
( No, I do not but that is the way to avoid fights. Get it?)
The beauty of books is that they stay eternally relevant. A story told today will become history tomorrow and a point for political parties to alter and use it for their agendas. It is an interesting tool for doing anything. In fact, there is a book as to how to read a book. Oh, the irony of it is two-folded. Do I read the book again after reading it for the first time or if I read it once, I have nailed the logic of reading a book? These are the things that induce anxiety in me and encourage me to pick a fidget spinner.
And as I pick up the fidget spinner, I look at it. Sometimes, I feel so tired and think the toy as so much mehnat and efforts to put in. Why would I waste my energy in spinning the toy or clicking the dice? I mean, come on! Look at me. I am so calm and chilled. I do not need these. Overthinking is where I spend the energy at. I do not need a toy for it. I do it for free. 24x7 It definitely did not work for me so I started looking for my book
I looked at the usual places and as I sat down on my chair, I received the book. But in my face with a hit. Stealing the fidget spinner and spinning off in the office was a bad idea. She took the revenge with the book in my face. Now I definitely know how much fidget spinners work. Also, I regret needlessly clicking the scissors in the office. Oh God, life is so hard. I wish I had not ignored the forward to 12347 people on Whatsapp and Facebook.
It is not late for that anyway. Let me go and do it.
Ciao and take care!
Love,
Harsh
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