Letters: Opting out

Keya Sarkar's column "The art of opting out" (People Like Them, November 9) was an extremely observant piece on urban metro-centric societal mores. However, such mores are not limited to geographical options of opting out. It is considered quirky to opt out of artificial societal hierarchies created by the professional world. There are those who are without a desktop provided by someone else; sans a visiting card with a famous logo and their name followed by alphabet soup - the key determinants of success.

A phone call to such a breed from long lost relatives starts inevitably with the question: "Where are you?" A reply such as "walking along a field", "watching the sunset" never satisfies the curiosity, however honest the answer may be to an assumed prima facie question. The hackneyed, desperate follow-up query:"What are you doing?", elicits replies such as "playing music" or "reading a book" that are either considered impudent at best or dumb at worst.

Maybe a question such as "How are you making a living?" would receive an honest answer that would sufficiently quench the curiosity. In the art of opting out, the maxim could well be - ask no questions and you will be told no lies.

Ajoy K Das Kolkata

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