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IT SMELLS 2009 OUT OF THE BLUE~ Lizaa Khan

 

I think it​ was a particular show on Netflix or Amazon Prime a few months back that made me nostalgic about the fact that life back in 2009 was nothing like what life looks like at the current moment. I mean, Instagram does have these amazing edits and pictures put together for reels and tagged posts, carousel posts and 24- hour stories that reek of memories that had just begun to sprung up with a certain 2016 trend in 2026. Of course, social media back then was still at war between Facebook and Orkut, the fans of the latter were still struggling to come to terms with Facebook features like pokes and hugs on each other's 'walls'.  There was absolutely no reason for mindless hate back then, something that the current social media platforms would never be able to replicate. As we proceeded into the next decade of the 2000s, we had been privy to the kind of 'trolling' that might happen if someone were to post something that did not sit well with the rest of the population. 'Cancel Culture' back in the day was simply equivalent to 'boycott by blocking'. Somewhere down the line we took stuff on the internet too seriously and when I watch these shows that were produced in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I realise how much garbage has gone into my head with information that has no real work in my life. In other words, I don't find films or TV shows being any different than the kind of content I see on the internet. Stuff that is now sold as 'content' is a third or fourth copy of something someone pulled off from social media.







I happen to be a fan of Stephen King's works and it is always his stories that have this vibe of the early 2000s that smells of September air with a little spicy mix going on, the Sun was harsh like it is now but the moonlit nights were brighter than today. King made it his life's mission to tell children that one should rush to the libraries to find out what "they don't want you to read". Several of his works did get movie/ Tv series adaptations and that was what we knew as OUR kind of thrill. As cliched as it sounds, but no matter how many times you heard a story about a cabin in the woods or a weird looking forest- man, you still proceeded to read the story or watch the film because the 'aesthetics' of the same somehow looked different every single time.

With the current reading communities I find it interesting that they have switched to a more nuanced form of horror- enthusiasm. There is psychology, mythology and paranormal clubbed into one single genre with undertones that need extremely seasoned makers to reproduce them on screen. In the early 2000s, what one terms as 'brain rot' was definitely something one would enjoy irrespective, devoid of logic or reason, which makes me infer that a lot of the present literary scenario is not much different. We have shows that make no sense, books that have plotholes the size of blackholes, authors using ChatGPT to pen down basic elements that a book should carry without question, stuff like that. As much as Netflix adaptations do bring in viewership from most parts of the world, literary review or film review now has become a paid business. Not that it did not exist back in the day but somehow every opinion is a facsimile of the other.

I was walking through a heavily clustered forestland and happened to reminisce on the days when watching a horror movie with a friend was a matter of excitement because everyone was on the same wavelength. Right now, even if we have that sort of company but to embark on an adventure by oneself seems childlike and imbecilic, so I have heard. The whole idea of 'adventure' is now synonymous with some trend someone noticed on the internet and then they want to recreate it with a photographic memory of it, rather than a ground- level adventure that would include eerie challenges for real. I understand the limitations of such an idea especially because there is population swarming in from every corner, there is hardly any room for mystery or need to 'solve' any puzzle-- the population is too passive and seeks dopamine from sources that are not substantial in the long run.

It started smelling like 2009 the moment I lost network on my phone. Technology sure has its benefits and brings in ease of communication but ground level activities have been replaced by games on phones, if not games there is stuff on social media-- we used to have video games that were built to last. People may debate for hours on how cellular technology is the breakthrough, things like that but now I feel elated when I can remember someone's phone number without having to recheck if it is right or wrong. Human beings did discover ease of access but then dumbed down because everything is now at your fingertips.

Because everything is digitised these days, you don't even need to go to a library or some repository to find anything. As a researcher and author, I do have my moments where I get to romance like that in sections of books and dusty shelves but can you imagine doing the same at midnight with a group of people who shared similar interests with you?

I come from a generation that survived on second hand books because we did not have Amazon readily available for us, not only that, we also had books that had an ochre-ish tone to the pages. We grew up with Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie by our side and never once wanted to see a life that had discarded them for other sources of fun. Eventually we had to let go because we didn't want to stay behind. We live through that era again by virtue of watching shows that still carry fragrances of the air back then.

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