That feeling of joining the bandwagon!

“Hey! All of them are taking part in this event. How can you expect me to miss it?”

“Look at those guys in the software industry. Even though there are too many of them, they are enjoying their lives. I also want to join it. That would at least assure me of a guaranteed job and income. Once I join, I can keep searching for a better job, what say?”

“If all those guys can get a girl, why can’t I? Is there something which they have and I don’t?”

“These days, guys around us are developing six packs left, right and center. Look at us. We are good for nothing”

PS: This post deals with examples related to the effects of joining the bandwagon in our daily lives. It doesn’t deal with joining national or the Indian independent movements and examples of that kind.

I am sure there are many of us who must have come up with at least one of the above statements at some point in time. Is it really necessary that we must do the same what everyone has done for years? What is so special about joining the bandwagon? Is it a fad? Does it really give us a high when we just do the same thing what millions do? Lets check it out.

Is joining a bandwagon the best way to solve a problem?

Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal movement, Terrorism, News coverage on any issue by our TRP loving news channels etc. etc. – Wondering what am I talking about? How can all these things have any relation at all, right? WRONG! There is a small but very important thread which connects these things which are generally as diverse as chalk and cheese. Joining the bandwagon is often referred to as ‘copycat’ behaviour in blunt terms. But is copycat behaviour really bad? Obviously for something like the Anna Hazare movement or cricket fanaticism it shouldn’t be bad, right?

A lot of people in this world are normally jobless. Obviously jobless really doesn’t mean the people who are actually ‘Below the Poverty Line’ and don’t really have any work at all. I am referring to people who have jobs but just love to fight for a cause however good or bad it may be. And they may fight for a cause despite the fact that they may not know much about it.