PIECE BY PEACE

Picture this - you are at a coffeehouse; in thoughts with latte or masala chai, becoming one with the atmosphere. The faint noise of the crowd, the breezy pop songs (probably from Youtube’s playlist titled ‘1 hour in a coffee shop’),

In the moment, all the memories that you shared with them came flooding back. You observe how the girl beside them touches their arm and they smile back at her. They make their way to the counter and smiling, you go back to what you were doing. The calmness that you have earned after the whirlwind that was the relationship, is certainly the powerful peak that you might've conquered.

Today, we associate happy endings with more than just the textual definition of what it may look like. The underlying impact of pandemic has been about self love or the many annotations it has associations with - self pampering, self motivation, self help etc. But to argue, everything starts with love and that is the universal language. The hard shift of making memes on staying
alone on the day of love to celebrating self on the same day at a coffeehouse on the corner has been the most welcoming change for many individuals post pandemic. Self love has officially achieved its aim of being more about celebration than just a fantasized quote

Pandemic confined us in four walls for quite some time but is that something we want from our relationships? Afterall, human contact is the most crucial one. That being said, everything boils down to what and how we foster our relationships. Out of all the dynamics of the countless relationships that we harbor, one thing is for sure that we have to face our demons and step out of our comfort zone.

Cheers to ‘Us’

Celebrating singlehood and embracing the change in the patterns of the traditional dating arena, Bumble coined the term ‘Dry Dating’. It focuses on having no alcoholic drinks on a date. The result of this practice opened many doors to better conversations and understanding of the person sitting across you. This practice targets self growth and fosters a holistic way to go ahead, while keeping it cool and meaningful at the start. Dry- Dating somewhere addresses the gap with the generation’s conscience and views about marriage as an institutional commitment. According to a survey conducted by YouGov Mint CPR Millennial Survey among age groups distinguished from millennials, pre-millennials and post millennials a.k.a Gen Z, brought the fact that the latter does not feel the need of children or marriage. It gives relations a perspective of not feeling the need to replace one aspect of life for many other important aspects like self discovery, unique careers, preserving hobbies etc.

Playing on my own tunes

Youtube has seen a long line of curated playlists focusing on the aftermath of ‘Self Love’. From the variety of songs featuring Indie artists at large, the playlists are creating an environment to have a good day at work and not be frustrated at yourself in any condition. The calmness attached to these playlists are generating a wave of stronger confidence and better decision making in our future relations.

Travel-some

Talking about the tiresome two years or so in lockdown, relationships are seeking what many have coined as ‘Wanderlove’. Cosmopolitan labeled ‘Wanderlove’ as holiday romance and the exploration one may feel that can cleanse our soul and body. As the term itself suggests,it is about keeping your relationship on that pedestal and keep it going with exciting travel plans, getaways, and staycations (of course with all the protocols in place). The four walls that overwhelmed us can be torn down and be given that innate ability to be more flexible, relaxed, and give the relationship that breathing tranquility. This has been captured in themovie Gehraiyaan, the Deepika Padukone and Siddharth Chaturvedi starrer, has opened up the window wide for discussing infidelity in form of little travel escapades, identity crisis, and inferiority complex. The movie spins a convincing tale of mental health during the times ofturmoil with the consequences it may have on one’s personal relationships if not addressed.The movie also mentions the subtleties of suburban lifestyle and the influence of company one may experience.

In an article titled ‘Sincerely, Me’ for Verve, Fashion Stylist Dhruv Dave expresses the journey of a gay man in the dating zone and the unfortunate events of where they had to endure body shaming. The judgment on one’s self confidence and bringing their self esteem down expressed an abusive nature of the same sex dating. Dave expresses the need to nurture oneself first rather than venturing out to pursue any relationships. This stems from the idea that stronger our belief in ourselves, we would be able to strive better for our mental and physical health. Dave also mentions about the gratifying effects of dating through dating apps, Netflix’s documentary ‘The Tinder Swindler’ brings forth the variety of concepts that you may have read here. The documentary is about a serial dater who manipulated a variety of victims into tricking them into lavish lifestyles before blackmailing them formonetary gains. This clearly has brought forth the issue of trusting dating apps and the relations built on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dazed in its article aptly puts the technical limitations of applications versus the actual human connection. This really questioned the existence and priority of App’s analytics game causing hindrance in the actual reality of relationships.

Speaking of self love and projecting it confidently, the millennial star couples have been doing rounds on social media for something that is as 2000s as it may sound. Coined as ‘Power PDA’, the act actually takes examples of Travis Barker - Kourtney Kardashian, Julia Fox - Kanye West, and Megan Fox - Machine Gun Kelly, delves into the showy-full on public display of affection. As explicit as it may come off as, it stems from the feeling of liberation of one's self replacing the uncertain feeling of confinement.

 

As it is truly said after the storm comes the calm, self love is a true aftermath to express love. Over the time, self love and love have become synonymous with each other and that’s the beauty of it. Love, as a single universal language, has survived through a lot. It goes beyond borders, languages and cultures too. The pandemic is having its large effect on how we view our relationships that are growing around us. But importantly this is what love does, it has the way of adapting to how we survive. With dating apps and other mediums falling short, you already have someone to share this incredible journey and the answer is in the mirror in front of you.

Words by Prasheel (@prsh.journal), Intern at VisioNxt.

The Team - Dr. Kaustav Sengupta, Director - Insights, Dr. Shalini Sood Seghal, Director - Creative,

Ms. Poornima S, Trendspotting Coordinator, VisioNxt.

For more information, email us at visionxt@nift.ac.in