It was a little over 12 hours when I began to feel it... my palms were sweaty, my fingers were twitchy, my ears were sensitive to the slightest sound, my thoughts were constantly wavering... I was restless... bleary eyed. That’s when it hit me! Oh my god, was I experiencing withdrawal symptoms? Was I... an addict?
That fateful evening, surrounded by the peace and beauty of Coorg, I had to come to terms with the unavoidable truth... I, Priyanka Chopra, am addicted... to technology!
I had barely been in Coorg for a few days when I was faced with this reality. The first few days of shoot in a new location are always very busy, leaving you with little time to think or to do anything apart from work and that’s possibly why it didn’t strike me earlier. The location where we were shooting had very low connectivity, so I was unable to make or receive calls, check my mails or even post tweets! I was at sea... floating in an abyss...disconnected from the world I knew!
We don’t realise it but we are very dependent on technology... calls, sms, emails, Facebook, Twitter, chats, etc keep us connected to friends, work, family... 24x7. So, when you are cut off from it all, you realise that you suddenly have a lot of spare time on your hands! I soon began to realise that this was indeed a blessing in disguise because it forced me to connect with myself and enjoy every moment... to experience the true beauty and serenity of Coorg without being distracted by an email; to appreciate the beauty of everything I saw without the urge to ‘capture’ it and upload on Twitter and Facebook... it was cathartic in a sense! I am happy to report that as a citizen of the modern, digital world, I am one of the very few who have been cured of the deadly, “I-look-at-my-phone-every-3-seconds-to-check-on-calls-sms-emails” syndrome (at least for now!).
{{/usCountry}}We don’t realise it but we are very dependent on technology... calls, sms, emails, Facebook, Twitter, chats, etc keep us connected to friends, work, family... 24x7. So, when you are cut off from it all, you realise that you suddenly have a lot of spare time on your hands! I soon began to realise that this was indeed a blessing in disguise because it forced me to connect with myself and enjoy every moment... to experience the true beauty and serenity of Coorg without being distracted by an email; to appreciate the beauty of everything I saw without the urge to ‘capture’ it and upload on Twitter and Facebook... it was cathartic in a sense! I am happy to report that as a citizen of the modern, digital world, I am one of the very few who have been cured of the deadly, “I-look-at-my-phone-every-3-seconds-to-check-on-calls-sms-emails” syndrome (at least for now!).
{{/usCountry}}I’m really enjoying the shoot for this film and this new found freedom from the rest of the world is like icing on the cake! The results are there for all to see... after missing my deadline for more than 2 weeks, I wrote this column at my own pace and had it ready well before the deadline!
There was a call I did receive and the moment I heard the voice over the line, I wished with all my heart that my phone was still unreachable... maybe it would have changed the news that I just heard. My wonderful Dadi had passed away. She was battling an illness for sometime but somehow I believed that she would get better soon. She was a truly inspiring woman and I am so happy that I got a chance to spend a little time with her recently when we had the family reunion when I received my National Award. I remember how proud she was of me that day... she even asked for a picture to be taken with the both of us and with her wearing the medal around her neck! RIP Dadi... You will be loved... always missed and always remembered!
Keep writing to me at
priyanka.chopra@hindustantimes.com