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Journalism of Courage
In the 2003 comedy, Nothing, the two protagonists who are sick and tired of their lives wish for the world to go away and for everything outside their house to vanish, and it does. It8217;s replaced by a huge white void and their house becomes the centre of their universe.
Cut to 2006. The home is the new luxury retreat for an increasing number of urban, upwardly mobile people. With the onset of the festive season and the holiday rush, as the rest of the world plans year-end getaways and binges, there are those who are retreating inwards, choosing to stay back at home to avoid the urban battlefield.
If you have the money and the means to spend on a vacation, and yet use the hard-earned time allotted away from work to do nothing more adventurous than curl up at home, read on. You are not alone. You may be what urban psychologists have identified as a 8220;cocoon.8221;
Cocooning was a trend was predicted by American trend forecaster Faith Popcorn in the mid-nineties. It typified people building safe harbours at home to escape from the uncertainty of a chaotic and dangerous outside world. According to Popcorn, it stems from a need for security and safety in today8217;s chaotic world, as people feel the need to insulate or hide away, manifested by the growth in home delivery, home shopping and home businesses.
Popcorn predicted the trend8217;s comeback in 2006. In a post-9/11 world, with the threat of terrorism lurking at every corner, the need for security becomes even more urgent. Indeed, lifestyle across the board have seen an evidence of it. Fashion8217;s most marked trend this year has been the voluminous, tent-like silhouette, with designers like Prada and Marc Jacobs providing a sort of protective, 21st century armour8212;- layered tops, loose scrunched pants and mushroom style caps 8212;to cocoon the body. Even reality shows on TV like Big Brother and now, its Indian avatar Bigg Boss 8212; where a group of people are locked up together in a house for months 8212; symbolise and glamourise the cocoon.
Call it cocooning, hiving or nesting, inside is the new outside and home is definitely beckoning people back. Even as nightlife explodes and travel agencies offer hard-to-turn-down vacation options to woo the new Young Indian Spender, 8220;as urban India grapples with high-stress and lifestyle-related diseases, staying back at home is the remedy for most,8221; explains Dr Ekta Soni, psychologist at Apollo Hospitals.
After a hectic five-day week, on the weekends, the home becomes a sanctuary and a means of escape for most people. The most common example of home-based cocooning are 8220;DVD Weekends8221;, that is, staying back at home on weekends and watching DVDs back to back, instead of going out to the films. For Madhumita Deb, creative director at Leo Burnett, her home is her holiday destination. 8220;My work schedule is so hectic and with crazy traffic jams, if I ever do get time-out, I can8217;t bear the thought of stepping out. My husband and I have stocked up our home and what8217;s the use of buying fancy gizmos if we cannot enjoy them? We watch movies back to back, listen to music and just retreat from the hustle-bustle.8221; On extended weekends, they choose to stay at home, instead of heading out for a holiday. 8220;I have everything I need at home. Going out on holiday can be more tiresome. I8217;d much rather be in the comfort of my home, with my family,8221; she adds.
With this homeward-bound migration, the home becomes the epicentre of many activities including, work, relaxing, entertaining and shopping.
As media pundit George Will put it, 8220;The harassments of daily life8212;looming nuclear incineration, rude waiters 8212; have driven people to cocooning.8221;
With advances in technology, cocooning has become not just easier but also more tempting. Work-at-home options like the internet, mobile phones and Blackberries and home entertainment technology are quite the norm. There is even a website cocoonzone.com which lists a survivor8217;s guide to a stay-at-home lifestyle, from easy home furnishings, home office, home spa and gym and interesting hobbies to pursue, to purchasing your own jukebox and pool table. In short, you can hole up at home and never step out.
The home as haven is something that stems from the need for both privacy and escape. It8217;s what sociologist Shiv Vishwanathan calls 8220;happy ghettoisation8221;. 8220;The home is more than just a home now. It8217;s the new definition of luxury. In a world full of risks, people are eliminating those factors and leading a happy, antiseptic life. You get all your friends together, whether technological or human, escape from meaningless social interactions and enjoy your privacy, away from irritants like traffic jams and parking problems.8221;
In fact, with cocooning catching up and consumerism being the dominant trend, the new catchword is 8220;insperiences8221;. With the home being the most prized possession for people, it sees people bringing high-end gizmos at home, as opposed to experiencing the high-life outside. From sophisticated home spas to well-equipped home bars, people are stocking up on high-end leisure and entertainment amenities at home. 8220;The idea of leisure as public engagement is over. People are now looking for entertainment and leisure in the privacy of their home,8221; adds Vishwanathan.
The home, therefore, is not just a retreat for agoraphobics. VJ Cyrus Sahukar, though an extrovert, is a confirmed homebody. 8220;Because of my job, most people would not believe that I8217;m the sort of person who8217;d rather stay back at home on weekends or holidays. Yet, not only am I like that, I see it with all my friends. We just get so tired by the end of the week that holidays are all about being at home.8221; Sahukar celebrated his birthday recently, and though he and his friends planned for a whole week about where to go, they finally decided to stay at home instead. 8220;We just played board games and chatted through the day,8221; says Sahukar.
Sahukar sees it as a reflection of how people are paranoid about their own space today. 8220;I wrote a play a few years back about how people want to live in their own bubble and how once in a while we step out of it. The alarming thing is that the bubble is now getting smaller and smaller.8221;
A lot of people are also into 8220;clanning8221;: they like to stay at home, yet interact with like-minded people. Model Sameer Malhotra says that he is tired of the hassle of going out and thus clans with a few of his friends every evening at his home. 8220;We have our mehfils every evening. It could be anything, we sometimes watch movies, play games, sing or just have inane conversations. At home, you8217;re not at the mercy of unforeseeable factors, like traffic jams, cramped spaces or getting stuck with people you don8217;t want to be with. At home, we can entertain ourselves the way we want.8221; Clanning through technology with the use of internet communities, chatting and texting has led to a phenomenon called digital cocooning.
It is this desire to control the environment that appeals to most of these people. 8220;There are no hindrances at home. It8217;s secure and hassle-free. It is an environment which one can control. It8217;s your own intimate, private and aesthetic space,8221; adds Dr Soni.
Which is why, not just for leisure and entertainment, people are also choosing to work from home. Take photographer Manushka Khisty, who quit her office job to work from home. 8220;I can get so much more done from home. I cut out on all the extra travel time and I have all the privacy I need. It gives me a flexible schedule where I can take an extra long lunch, as long as I get my work done.8221; But there8217;s a flipside to all this, as Maureen Nandini Mitra, an environment writer who works from home, points out: 8220;The good thing is that I have freedom and privacy. I can sit in my pajamas and work. But, the flipside is that my entire world revolves around the computer and there are times when I crave company. Sometimes, after an entire day at home, the thought of stepping out is daunting, as one becomes more sensitive to the external environment.8221;
But for most, the minor hiccups more than make up for the luxury of being at home. They say 8220;a man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it8221;. It couldn8217;t be truer for this generation.
Types of cocooning
the socialised cocoon In which one retreats to the privacy of one8217;s home, but may maintain contact with others through telecommunications, etc.
the wandering cocoon In which one travels with a technological barrier to insulate oneself, like those who walk around while plugged in with earphones to a private world of sound.
the armoured cocoon In which one builds barriers to protect oneself from external threats, like network firewalls, virtual private networks and surveillance cams.
