Nowadays the whole society is taken over by the same antics which earlier were limited to celebrities. Whether it is people dancing on the street or public booing the ‘Nach Baliye’ dancers in the TV show – all the emotions, actions, sounds and gestures are cosmetic.

One feels the artificiality overwhelming on occasions like the New Year’s. I am not against people going to parties or discs on the New Year’s Eve (even though I myself don’t have a preference for that). But what I find objectionable is the some people partaking such activities not because they enjoy them, but just out of peer pressure – the very next day they would end up sick, tired (and not having enjoyed themselves) sullen, sometimes even backbiting about how dull the party was or how awful the dinner was.

It is even more troublesome when they choose you as the agony aunt. I am the last person who could have any solution to these problems. But, the most frustrating part is that they do not even expect you to suggest any solutions – they just want you to act as a sand bag where they can vent out their frustration and then lament – “Good for you that you didn’t join!” Allaaah !!!

On such occasions I remember “Peter Keating” from the Foutainhead. I feel that there’s a small element of Peter Keating in all of us. We all do some things just due to peer pressure – just to please others. It is at such times that we end up hollow out of the experienced – unfulfilled, unhappy and hence needing agony aunts. :-)