Of Potatoes, Couches and Fields

Exotic places, colorful people ,delectable cuisine and a totally wonderful life. Oh!, the pleasures of being an anchor for a travel and lifestyle show on commercial t.v. "Rageh Omar, reporting from Baghdad .......". "Caroline Hawley, reporting from Gaza". "Lyce Doucet, reporting from Washington D.C". How exciting it must be to be a correspondent for an international news channel. Always packed, on the move, interacting with new people everyday, making a network of valuable contacts. The excitement just doesnt seem to end. Caught in a dilemma, as to what you want to be? Do not despair my good friend, for there is a new breed of humans, they who can be anyone they want to be. From war-correspondent or lifestyle anchor to style guru or adventure sports freak. Behold the Couch Potato, the final frontier of human evolution.

Comfortable on her lofty perch, in the most cosy of environs, munching mouthfulls of popcorn, drawing slowly on her glass of Coke, she watches the world turn. With a deft movement of her wand (remote), this high-priestess of the Information age can see images of the entire planet in her looking-glass, the fabled Televison. She devours terrabytes of information in the form of sights and sounds and all this at the touch of her fingers.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term 'couch potato' first appeared in print in a December 1979 edition of the Los Angeles Times. Since then it has been used to describe a person leading a sedentary life. It still refers to someone who is slothful and obese. But I contend that in this information age this rather derogatory term can mean a highly aware and up-to-date individual whose general awareness is much higher than a contemporary human being. She sees more and thus consequently knows more. But I also contend that just seeing more and knowing more doesnt make you a more evolved and sound person. What's missing in the Couch Potato style of general awareness is the vital factor of human interaction. Thus there exists a possibility that such individuals may be socially inept, inspite of their higher GA. A contradiction in terms isn't it?

So my dear fellow, its better to be a Potato, part Couch part Field. Therein lies the secret to an ALL-ROUND (pun intended) personality.