We have heard of the popular adage - "A picture is worth a thousand words" but yesterday I realized the corollary makes a lot of sense - "A thousand words is worth more than a picture (or a video)".
10th Aug 2019 - the day when I checked off one of the items in my bucket list. Yes, the day I attended ARR concert a year ago! Instead of going through the pictures and videos I took that day, I went through the post I had written down. It reminded me of the wonderful memories of that special day. As I shared this post with a few people, the conversation veered into cricket. Memories of Sachin hitting a century in 2001 in Chepauk Stadium came gushing back. It was such a memorable day for me and am glad I jotted down my experience in 2005 in a blog post. As I revisited the post, I could literally feel myself sitting on the stands amidst the crowd, cheering and doing the Mexican wave.
Such is the power of words! They transport you to a world of memories. They help you relive the exact moments. I doubt whether photos or video can capture the memories as beautifully as our own words. I'm glad I have captured many such moments in this blog.
Another insight I realized is that photos (or video) only capture what something is and not how we feel at that moment. You take a picture of a beautiful sunset. The photo shows as it is. But it can never capture how we felt while watching the sunset - the surreal feeling, gratitude for the Sun, the peace we felt, admiration for nature etc.
Words are magical, they help us time travel to various moments of our lives. It is sad that when we witness something beautiful, we immediately reach out for our phones to grab that moment - clicking in various angles, changing multiple settings, adding filters and what not. Instead, if we just witness it with our eyes and our minds, the moment gets truly absorbed for a lifetime. We can then jot down our experience in a journal or a blog - not just about what we witnessed but also how we felt, what made it so special and the range of emotions we experienced.
I used to diligently write a travelogue after every trip but for the last couple of years, I haven't been doing it. Whenever the next travel plans materialize, I'm gonna make sure that I write a travelogue at the end of it. It is not for others but for myself to read after many years and relive the experience. Just like how I time traveled to Chepauk yesterday!
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