Selfie to Soulfie

A Cultural Shift in Self-Portrayal

It’s been more than two decades since the word selfie was coined, originating in Australia and in 2013, it was announced as the “Word of the Year” by the Oxford English Dictionary. Around the same time, selfie culture and solo travelling began rising in popularity, often going hand in hand. The smartphone industry quickly caught on, with front-facing camera technology advancing rapidly to meet the new demand. Suddenly, users were more interested in the clarity of the front camera than the back, marking a significant shift in user preferences.

Smartphone brands like Oppo gained immense popularity, particularly among women, for their selfie-optimized features. Samsung, OnePlus, and later, Nothing, co-evolved to cater to this camera-centric demand. As the tourism industry flourished, so did the race to build phones with high-quality cameras. As camera technology progressed, so did the way people shared their lives. People no longer just traveled, they documented their experiences, initially through platforms like Orkut and Facebook, where photos were shared as posts. Later, these moments found more dynamic expression through Instagram stories and, eventually, reels.

This transformation wasn’t just technological, it was psychological and cultural. Social media turned everyday users into the protagonists of their own narratives. Ordinary moments were dramatized and shared, often mimicking a celebrity lifestyle. Many did, in fact, gain fame through these platforms, especially those with the creativity and talent to capture attention in the form of likes and views.

The selfie era marked a shift from interpersonal interaction to self-presentation. For some, selfies became a tool for building confidence and self progress. For others, the pursuit turned obsessive, and in extreme cases, bordered on narcissism. As the trend matured, it diversified: mirror selfies, gym selfies, couple selfies, pet selfies, food selfies, content selfies, the list kept growing.

This hyper-focus on external appearance, on curating the perfect portrait for the world, gradually started taking its toll. With so much energy directed outward, there was little left for inward reflection. The soul, in majority cases, was left out of the frame.

As with any cultural wave, saturation eventually sets in. And now, the selfie seems to be giving way to a deeper, more meaningful alternative: the soulfie. Unlike the selfie, which fixates on how we look, the soulfie invites us to explore and express how we feel and who we truly are beneath the surface. It’s less about framing the face and more about revealing the soul.

Each one has a self so probably expressing oneself isn’t unnatural. Perhaps, the shift from selfie to soulfie marks the beginning of a more conscious, mindful era of self-expression, where how we see ourselves finally matters more than how we are seen. A soulfie is not just a photograph, but a pause, a moment to turn inward through practices like meditation, journaling, blogging or simply being present with oneself. It’s an invitation to reflect, to reconnect with one’s inner world, and to express not just the face, but the feeling. In this evolving culture, the soulfie becomes a mirror to the soul, quiet, authentic, and deeply human.

Harder right over the easier wrong!

Recently I happened to meet a school mate and we both remembered an incident, let me share with you. It began when I was a child who went to a convent (Christian) school, about 30 years ago. Back then, the number of schools was limited, and this one had an international reputation, since its head branch worked outside India. It offered high-quality education and ensured the multifaceted development of its students.

However, a few rules, originating from missionary sources outside the country, were hard to accept. One such rule forbade girls from wearing a tikli (a circular dot on the forehead). While the school welcomed students of all religions and castes, this rule was met with resistance, not just from students, but also from a few teachers.

Along with a few other girls and the support of some teachers, I stood united against this rule. Despite being told not to, we continued to wear the tikli fearlessly. I was too young to understand what happened at the administrative level, but a few days later, discussions must have taken place. The rule was revoked, and we were never stopped from wearing the tikli again.

That small, symbolic act became a lifelong metaphor for me. Because I stuck to the tikli, the tikli stayed stuck to me. It came to represent holding onto what is right, no matter the circumstance.

After school, I chose the science stream in Gokhale Education Society’s Bytco College for my 11th and 12th grades. I was an outlier, most of my school friends had chosen commerce. I was fascinated by microbiology and went on to graduate in the same subject from Gokhale Education Society’s RYK Science College.

In the final year of my graduation, my father was diagnosed with an incurable liver disorder. Around the same time, I was selected for postgraduate studies at the Department of Microbiology, Pune University, in the very first merit list. I was allowed to pursue it on one suggestion: that I enroll in the ‘Earn and Learn’ scheme. Most of our finances were directed towards my father’s treatment, so affording my education in Pune was nearly impossible.

Under the scheme, I worked to support myself. In the first year, I assisted in the medical certificate section for foreign students, health centre. In the second year, I distributed tokens in the girls' refectory. I earned ₹15 per hour. It was enough to afford two meals a day, but not breakfast. On Sundays, there was no dinner in the hostel, I would either have a ₹5 vada pav or a packet of Parle biscuits, or sometimes, nothing at all.

I wasn't preparing for UPSC or MPSC exams, so I never thought of writing a book about my struggles. But the struggles continued, into my PhD as well. I chose a research topic close to my heart, even though it received no funding. To survive, I worked as a visiting lecturer in Manjri, Hadapsar, and completed my PhD alongside. I then worked as a lecturer in Gokhale Education Society’s college. I maintained a habit of reviewing every lecture of mine and correcting the flaws or gaps in it. With this precision and honesty, we were also involved in testing samples for covid. In the pandemic we accurately analysed and reported 1 lakh 40 thousand samples in a government hospital. 

Throughout this journey, I’ve consistently attempted the harder right. And yet, I have often watched others settle comfortably, smartly, even by choosing the easier wrong.

But here's what I’ve learned: comfort may come easily, but courage creates meaning. The road I chose wasn’t paved with ease or certainty, but with values, resilience, and self-respect. Every obstacle, every hungry night, every difficult decision stitched together the fabric of a life I can call my own, with pride, my skin! 

A few people don’t settle for easy wrongs, they choose the harder right. Life, in turn, tunes itself to a frequency of constant struggles and hardships for such individuals. They still don’t give up.

Because sometimes, sticking to your tikli is not about tradition, it's about identity, conviction, and the quiet strength to stand tall in a world that often asks you to bend.

Fidelity is our फ़ितरत!

 

While the world has been judging over the cover of the book, the confidence, presentation skill and the showbiz side of it, our biological inclination has always been about proofreading and rectification. How meticulously our body has the organised system of tissues and how every tissue has the smallest cellular unit in biochemical conversation with itself and each other. The energy and temperament of our individual cell represents the whole of us. Cell is clever and wise when it comes to storing and recruiting its energy for a cause. It invests the energy based on cautionary measures and maintenance. Just the way we work, save money and expend it, our cell invests and utilises the energy but wisely. We humans, have a schedule to follow each day and we plan calculated months without really reevaluating ourselves for the moment which is gone. Our cell, on the contrary, counter checks every minute activity going on inside it, it works, supervises and audits every second of a process happening. Our genetically inherited particle, DNA, doubles up by the process of replication under a proctor-enabled system. The coordinator is the polymerase enzyme with a team of small proteins assisting the crew to cook the original form of DNA, proofread it and correct it in case of any mistake. Fidelity is the goal during making of a DNA, transcribing it to RNA and finally translating it to proteins. Every step is monitored seamlessly and paused briskly incase of any abnormalities. Cell is always open to learn its mistakes, correct the minor and major errors, relax and move on, keeping a memory of it and not grudges. This is the basic फ़ितरत of every cell. It’s when we humans overthink, the toxic species and stress hormones accumulate in our body compelling our cells to quit its regular job temporarily and  divert lot of its energy to express the fox family genes meant to control the stress pathways. The continuous stress and hence the limited energy also probably holds a gun on the cell’s head and forces it to walkthrough the errors in regular processes ultimately causing lifestyle disorders and diseases like diabetes, hormonal imbalances, obesity and cancer. The key lies in the balancing act. Internal bathing, mind training, yogic practices, meditation and mental hygiene. Anti-stress decorum in our mind and inside every cell will represent as whole of you. If the cell is happy, the individual body is happy. The status of a cell represents the status of the entire body. 

Fewer is better

This was our 12th annual visit to Gharkul, a home for the disabled at Nasik, to celebrate birthday of our late buddy Sumit. This time coordination had been a bit difficult since kaku who is the incharge, was out of communication. She came to settle further plan for Gharkul girls in the time span between the 2 chemotherapy cycles. Her meeting was on and I was waiting downstairs. I chose not to disturb her and let her know my presence, and wait until the caretaker thought it was the best time to inform her. Meanwhile I gazed at the lovely collection of plants outdoor. A Gharkul girl was trained to attend the visitors and hence she would come to me to and fro, offering water, and tea and just a round with a friendly stare and would ask me to enter my name in the visitors book and would come again for something or the other. Some lady guards were cutting bamboos to make a bouquet of it. There were many handcrafted products kept for sale. I offered the donation on behalf of my friend circle and received a call from kaku. I went upstairs and greeted her for the new year by touching her feet. In a big auditorium, I and kaku sat next to each other on a sofa, munching on the pieces of apple. I had come just to be a listener. She told me about her chemo sessions and emphasised on the fact, how the true relations is the real estate of life. She continued that, it’s okay if you may not make new friends or relations but it is so so important to keep time and commitment for the pre-existing people or the inner circle, or line in life. It is so important to offer justice by giving time, care and attention to the handful of already existing relations in life. Maintenance, repair and revival of the older relations is always preferable over making new relations. Making new relations, promising the older relations and finally finding time for none will make our life miserable. Keep the energy invested and channelised for that tested and tried older bonds of life. In human relations, quantity will not go along with the quality. I understood her say and I continued as a listener. When silence starts speaking more than words, the conversation goes beyond speech and lots of feelings though unsaid are yet conveyed. With confidence in my heart and light in my eyes, I bid her bye as I logged out in the visitor’s book. 

माया: A Tailor-made Concept

 

They say, a goal without a plan is just a wish and also a very good plan, but no work is a plan wasted. A plan if made very hard and fast, can generate a peer pressure, psychologically and eventually, physically too. If we make a plan using a pencil, then there is a flexibility of erasing and replacing a part of a plan. So if we keep a margin, then we get a scope of modification and it also relaxes our mind with an opportunity for creative thinking. Everyone should have this plus or minus possibility of deviation from a standard factor and why not? Even a tailor keeps a margin while stitching an outfit. Margin is the seam provided inside the garment after the stitching edge-line which gives the flexibility for any kind of alteration in our body in future. Every blouse has a minimum of 3-4 marginal stitches allowable from the edge-line, it is called as ‘maya’. Such a beautiful concept which allows you to simply fit-in with no judgements and looking-down phenomenon. Peaceful psychology loves back-up or alternate plans and this leads to minimum hormonal disturbances. The changing body seasons with pre, post menstrual stages, the peri, the menopausal and the post menopausal phases, the teenage, the adolescence changes the physical structure too. Every change calls for concern and adaptation, hence traditionally the concept of ‘maya’, margin has been adopted for the blouses. It’s like saying, don’t worry, it’s normal to have that scope of a change, you can still wear what you have, not only fabric but also smile, confidence and beauty. Keeping maya is normalising a situation which is undergoing a change. It’s okay to gain weight that your body can effortlessly carry. There is nothing that one can compare with. As far as you are eating homemade food and homing good food-for-thoughts in mind, with reasonable movement of body-machine, nothing can disturb the peace of mind. If your mind is luggage free and psychologically cushioned with flexibility to accept the situation around, consistent implementation of productive and creative work will be the result.

The squiggly duckling!

Friends, I was invited as a guest speaker in a known college of Nasik. I was explaining MSc Microbiology students a technique which was worked upon by David Deamer as a result of close collaboration between industrial and research fundings. It took him 25 years of a process to come up with this working model and it was named as nanopore sequencing. This technology allows sequencing the DNA base-by-base. It seems the DNA squiggles due to obstruction created just as it’s strand passes in through a protein pore under the electrical influence, like a thread slides through the hole of a needle. Squiggle is a haphazard pattern developed just like a short line that curves and twists in a way that is characteristically unique as a result of getting exposed to some external factor. Our mind too has this ability of drawing such patterns. In clinical psychology the kind of squiggles scribbled on a paper depicts the status of a mind, whether scattered or focused. A pencil-and-paper technique used by English psychoanalyst Donald Woods Winnicott to help humans express their feelings and thoughts. The game is unstructured, allowing one to share the ideas freely. It has no rules, the journey is from subconscious mind to the surface of the paper. It depicts the state of the thoughts going in the mind. Doodles that include circles and curved lines depicts more relaxed mind whereas dots and random squiggles may represent confusion, ambiguity, or a lack of clarity, and the act of drawing them may be a way to organize or make sense of chaotic thoughts. Symbols represent intentional state whereas angles and lines represent anxiety, stressed situation. Like an action has a reaction, every thought is squiggly and there is a pattern to it. The way DNA in every living cell produces a squiggle pattern, macro form of our body and the mind also squiggles as a response or reaction to a situation. Squiggly lines suggest the middle-ground between direction and exploration. You may know where you need to go, but not how to get there. Angular zigzags are different. Their straight lines and sharp corners denote aggression or impatience, and are commonly associated with masculine traits. More the mesh and complexity of the thoughts, more complicated squiggle will be generated. Under a stressful condition, creativity switch gets off and every painful thought will give a characteristic, unique squiggle helpful in the psychoanalysis. It is said that regularly chanting the beej mantra (om chanting) reduces stress, anxiety, restlessness and promotes the calming effect. Healthy rhythmic heartbeat brings with it mindfulness and eventually, spiritual growth. Regular meditation reduces anxiety, post traumatic stress and squiggling. It optimises the rhythmic patterns of breathing and balances the thought process. One becomes sorted, focused, self-aware and concentrated. Meditation and om chanting is reported to decrease the toxic oxygen levels and maintain the length of chromosome endings, telomeres, thereby increasing the longevity. From the DNA to the cellular signals to the behavioural pattern of human, everything is so linked to each other. The status of one cell can represent the status of the entire body. Healthy cell is an identity of a healthy body.

A game changer: To be or not to be!

Mindset matters the most! 

Let us see what is the difference between the alpha and the beta kind of a mindset. Our mind is swinging like a pendulum between alpha and beta form majorly. Alpha is more about being alert, perceptive, relaxed, with an activity of taking charge of yourself, executing it and sticking more to being wise, then morality. Beta mindset is more of getting carried away with the flow, desiring a label of ‘the nice person’, full of anxiety, at times panic mode, and inflexibility in the thought process, more of the rigid kind internally though. 

It is okay if our mind inclines to swing towards the beta mindset, but far more important is taking charge of our mindset and guiding it towards the alpha mindset.     Alpha mindset helps us control our thought process, tracking it on to a strong mindset, with adaptation and stable evolution. In ability to take responsibilities, constant tendency of acting as victims, waiting for the world to tell what to do, and what not are associated with the beta type of mindset. This kind of mindset leads to depression and inability to coexist. To spark the beta form into an alpha kind of a mindset should be our goal. Alpha mindset gets developed and maintained over a time period. Alpha mindset is a winning mindset, a lifestyle and a constant way to life. It is about releasing from something that is holding you back, it is about widening your horizons and possibilities and it is about coming out of your comfortable zone. It is about taking chances and not giving up. It is about realising that there is always choices, and the option which we choose mindfully and attentively will mould not only our mindset, but also our life. Alpha mindset is about being calm, but also alert, exploring your full potential, it’s about human maintenance, it’s about charging relations, it’s about finding your mission and at the same time understanding the dangers of the modern life. It definitely has nothing to do with aggression rather it has something to do with meditation and special breathing techniques (pranayama). It is about delimiting your thoughts at the same time understanding the restriction of limits.