Othman Adel Al -Abbasi
While I am sitting in the father’s house, may God protect him, enjoying the tea drinking session at the time of the afternoon, and the phone is far from the reach of my hand in a temporary truce of the noise of integral notifications that rest, and a desire to resist Instagram addiction, which always insists on breaking my record numbers in wasting time; The hadiths took us to an old air image hanging on the wall, to the grandfather of Jadi Muhammad Al -Khan, may God have mercy on him, located in Freij Al -Binali in Muharraq, and it was taken in the middle of the eighties of the last century. The inner house monsters and some palm trees appear in it, and next to him, a thick palm tree appears to be tall as if to guard the memories. The image extends to include the calm and adjacent roads and parts of Al -Freij homes, and the Abdul Rahman Al -Nasser School appears at the end of it.
A wonderful snapshot documented by the lens of the faithful narrator, the great Bahraini photographer Abdullah Muhammad Al -Khan, who took unforgettable moments from the history of Bahrain and the region, and reduced times in alive scenes.
And while I contemplate the details of the image, I found myself imagining how life was simple and so calm; The quiet streets of Muharraq not long ago, simple people, faces that have not yet been known, and did not try the “Snap” filters that make one of us closer to a nice cartoon character. How the photographer was waiting for a few days to develop his films in a small dark room, while we are not waiting for half a minute to receive a voice message from a friend telling us that he will arrive late as usual.
At that time, a group of sarcastic questions came to my mind: How did people exchanging her urgent news without Twitter “tweets”? How were the councils of the people of Bahrain filled and crowded with conversations without the need for the “WhatsApp” groups that are sent “Good Morning” with virtual roses bouquets? And most importantly, who was nominating the best family restaurant before Instagram assessments that have become a source of confidence dominated more than the taste of our aunts and our aunts?
The pleasant paradox in all this is that, despite our possession of all these technologies and devices, we still feel that something is missing, just as it happens when it comes out of the house and discovers that you forgot your phone, to start with a state of panic similar to forgetting the “wallet” or the key to the car.
These small devices have become controlling our mood and walking our diaries, and even documenting our personal history as well. There is no family occasion that passes except and has a backup reserved in a place in the electronic cloud. Humanity may be destroyed, but the pictures of “Instagram” will remain an eternal witness to our repeated choices from “Flat White” and “Bangkik” in the new cafes.
I return to the old scenes of Abdullah Al -Khan, and I wonder: If this modern technology was in his hands at that time, would he have photographed his shots in black and white? Or will he choose the “HDR” style to detail the faces of people, or “Valencia” filter and “Clarndon” to look warmer and generous alleys?
But far from imagination, an important idea that you learned remains and I browse the creations of Abdullah Al -Khan: Perhaps happiness lies in spontaneity, that that makes us use technology without turning into prisoners for it, just as our fathers and grandparents lived a life rich in feelings and communication without the need for a virtual assistant, we can also discover the magic of spontaneity, and restore to ourselves a world of calm in a world Everything is accelerated.
Until we reach this stage of technological maturity, your smartphone will be a witness to your confusion between the beauty of your quiet past, and the temptations of your present, which no longer gives you a chance to pick up breaths.
* Technical expert
