The algorithm made me cry

I was not feeling like studying today.

There was nothing particularly wrong , but I just could not bring myself to sit at my desk and start. The weather was unusually nice, the kind of weather that makes you want to do anything except study. So I decided to take a break and I though I would read a book instead. It felt like a better way to spend the afternoon than forcing myself to study when my mind clearly needed a little rest.

But before starting the book, I made the very predictable mistake of opening Instagram.

Plan was simple, just to scroll for a few minutes , watch some funny reels , laugh a little and then get into the mood to read. I wanted to take my mind off everything for a while.

Instead, Instagram decided to make emotional.

The algorithm somehow took me straight into a completely different world. I started seeing reels from UP and Bihar , especially wedding videos . The colours, the music , the villages , the decorations, the haldi ceremonies, the families dancing together- everything looked so vibrant and full of life. I kept watch one reel after another.

Then came the video reels.

In almost every video, a sister would ask her brother before leaving that - will you cry when I leave? And the brothers would immediately laught it off.

“No, no. Why would we cry?”

They would act completely confident, as if there was no possibility of them getting emotional.

Then the video would cut to the actual vidai.

The same brothers who had said they would not cry were suddenly standing there with tears in their eyes. Parents were crying , sisters were crying , everyone was trying to hold themselves together and failing.

And somehow , I was sirting on my bed crying too.

These were complete strangers, I did not know any one of them. I had never met the sisters, their brothers pr their families. Yet I kept watching , one reel became ten, ten became twenty and somehow half an hour turned into almost an hour.

I think what got to me the most was the relationship itself.

I have brother and sisters too and while watching those videos , I suddenly started thinking about how all of us eventually grow up and move into different lives. There will be a time when the people who have always been around us may not be around every day. The thought was strangely painful.

And just when I thought Instagram had finished making me emotional , it shows me another kind of reunion.

People who had gone abroad to study or work would return home after years, sometimes without telling their parents. Their parents would open the door or turn around and suddenly realise that their child was standing infront of them.

And again, I cried.

But this time it was happy kind of crying.

It was strange to realise that I could feel so much for people I did not even know. Maybe that is the strange beauty of the internet.