It all began with a clock…
…A round, twelve-numbered, three arms ticking on different speeds, garden variety clock. I found it, dusty and in disrepair, at the bottom of a pile of rusted artefacts in an antique furniture market, where I was hoping to find a wish granting genie or at least a lamp that could hold one. I had no guarantee it would work but I liked the mint green colour and had some long lurking notion of wanting to reduce my phone dependency, so I bought it.
It took many more months and the second wave of the pandemic before I got around to buying the right type of batteries, cleaning the clock, and calling someone to fix it up and voila, I had a working clock on my walls. And yet every morning, amid my frenzied alarms, my hands dejectedly reached out to my phone and through squinted eyes I looked at the too bright screen only to groan before I jumped out of bed.
And then one morning, after a rare early night, my eyes naturally opened to see the leaves gloriously twinkling outside my window and I lay in bed (god knows for how long) leisurely observing the playful shadows they threw on my wall, that itself was bathed by the morning sunlight, and my eyes naturally travelled to my prized clock, and it just felt perfect.
Now that snippet was obviously just a loose representation of reality but that’s what I (and many others) mean by analogue; not just nostalgia for pre-21st century inventions, but things that slow your life down when you need it— early morning quietude, sounds of nature, a walk in the park, cooking for yourself, reading a book no one recommended, finding meaning in the mundane, observing and reminiscing and reflecting. All things that need time and time that’s greedily encroached upon by 21st century inventions, digital or not.
Most of my mornings still vanish in the blink of an eye, I have an unholy amount of screen time under my belt, and I have days where I feel as if I’m on autopilot. This blog is a small attempt to create and sustain the intention to ‘go analogue’.
As part of going analogue, I am staying away from strict digitally mandated definitions of what I want this blog to be about. Right now all I have decided is to sincerely follow my curiosities, write everyday, and see where it takes me!
About Me
Hi,
I am Radhika and I am the author of this blog. Like many of you, I too am a conflicted, easily overwhelmed and tortured 20-something who is trying to make sense of the world in the small time between work and bed. I started this blog to chronicle my attempts.
So thanks for reading, hope to see you around.
Analogue Living 