Carbon

Remember carbon papers? Remember how you could place one in between two sheets to have identical copies of everything from receipts to notes? All you needed for 2 copies was the carbon, extreme proximity and pressure. Look at your immediate surroundings. Have you ever thought how similar a situation we’re in? We’re blank pages when we are born into something (born into the world, a job, a friendship etc.) Within a few days however, with the help of conversation, interest and need and of course, outside pressure, we soon start to become copies.

I noticed this with my uncle and aunt. I was incredibly young when my youngest uncle married a lovely girl. She was soft spoken, caring, shy and very much the picture of the ideal bride in the Indian society. Today, when I see her, she is just like my uncle. With years of give and take, they have managed to become carbon copies of each other. Of course they are different people, but its shocking how like each other they have become. Same mannerisms. Same reactions. Same views on life. Same humor. Same habits. Same religious values. Same. Same. Same!

Yesterday, I was baffled when they reacted towards a random parcel with the same gestures and exclamations. My reaction to their reaction changed from amused to shocked in a few seconds. How is that possible? Words often coincide. But gesture? Facial expressions? Holy cow!

I had read that one bad fish in the pond corrupts it. Bad or good. Corruption or not. No matter how vigilant one may be, proximity will induce mimicry.  So beware fellow apes! The carbon is everywhere. And it’s ready to imprint!