Photo albums to analogue watches: Why Indians are moving back to the original

The smartphone arrived with a bold promise It would be everything A camera a map a clock a calculator a music player mdash packed neatly into the palm of your hand For years it delivered on that promise wrapping convenience so tightly around our lives that we barely noticed how much we came to depend on it But that dominance is beginning to crack Tired of endless scrolling and digital overload a growing number of people are turning away from screens and reaching back for the analogue Pointandshoot cameras instead of phones wristwatches instead of wearables business cards instead of QR codes mdash what was once left behind is suddenly the new way forwardOorja Khetrapal likes to make photo albums ldquolike the ones our parents maderdquo PICNISHAD ALAMOorja Khetarpal 22 is going ldquoold schoolrdquo with photo albums mdash she is making physical ones ldquolike the ones our parents maderdquo she says A big traveller she makes these albums as a keepsake of the trip Instead of Snapchat memories or ldquo1 year ago todayrdquo photo compilations she chooses to go through these albums to remember those precious moments even customising each album for each travel partner she gives it to ldquoI sprinkle them with small notes or inside jokes we made on the trip Each one becomes a core memoryrdquoHer friends too recognise her passion for creating these notebooks For her birthday a friend spoke to Khetarpal in her own love language making her a notebook chronicling all her favourite memories of her 20 years She called it ldquoa memoir for my best friend on turning 20rdquo ldquoIt feeds that sense of curiosity I haverdquo she says She sees a sense of analogue in many of her other hobbies as well ldquoI love pointandshoot cameras even polaroid cameras Something about knowing that you only have a limited number of takes really helps you stay in the moment Then taking a picture is just about capturing a memory not about getting the perfect anglerdquoKhetarpalrsquos friend made a physical book for her as a birthday giftAn important landmark of stepping into adulthood used to be getting your own business cards For most youngsters entering the workspace though this milestone is never reached since visiting cards have gone out of fashion Twentysomethingyearsold influencer and model Mishall B is bringing the practice back though calling it ldquosuch a chic way to exchange contact infordquo Inspired by another influencer friend of his Anushka anushcache Mishall says ldquoI customised it to show my personality it has all my catchphrases on it like lsquoLetrsquos try everythingrsquordquo which is a phrase he uses in all his videosldquoI grew up in a family where I had monogrammed notecards Personalisation was very important to merdquo he says ldquoI find old technology to be very cool I use film cameras wired headphones all those thingsrdquo But is this just a passing fascination ldquoWell they have been saying film cameras are over for the last 10 years and people are still buying themrdquo he retortsMishall added his most used catchphrases on his business cardWhen yoursquore networking the most important thing to do is stand out In the clutter of people we meet every day for Mishall ldquoIn a world where everyone is exchanging a million Instagram handles every day it gets so hard to remember anyone So giving a business card to someone has an immediate impactrdquo Saajan Jain 35 on the other hand is tired of the amount of devices we need even just for everyday functioning ldquoIrsquove ruled out wireless headphones electric toothbrushes even halved reading on a Kindle It seems like there are about a 1000 devices you have to charge every dayrdquoSaajan Jain has decided to stick to basics especially proud of his CASIO AQ800E1A watch PICSATEJ SHINDEMost notably despite being a marathon runner Jain never switched to smart watches ldquoItrsquos yet another screen then Then you get all those same notifications calls on your watch also Itrsquos such a distractionrdquo A smart watch however can be helpful to athletes in getting health metrics ldquoInstead of measuring heart rate and calories I would measure how many kilometres I ran for in how many minutesrdquo he explains ldquoIf I had to then I would just buy a Whoop band but that is again another device to chargerdquoAnalogue watches are experiencing a kind of comeback in the zeitgeist especially popularised by Conrad Fisher from The Summer I Turned Pretty He is seen sporting a vintage tan leather band Omega Constellation throughout the show The watch somehow adds to his oldschool yearnerboy charm further proving the fashionaesthetic value of an analogue watch Similar fame has been bestowed on the Casio D011 A158WA1Q a watch many of us may have seen our parents wear Closer to home HMT watches have also seen a revival in the recent past especially the Janata watch which shows time in the Devanagri script All these watches have one thing in common mdash instead of showing your heart rate they show others your personality making them timeless classicsThe Casio D011 A158WA1Q PICISTOCKJain works at his own digital marketing agency called Growthpep which means a 24x7 exposure to screens He grew tired of having to keep up with so many screens which are bombarding notifications at him all the time The deeper one goes into creating tech ecosystems the more stimulated you can feel For example if you owned the entire Apple suite your iPhone MacBook iPad Apple Watch AirPods all your devices would alert you of a phone call at the same time leaving users overstimulated Jain has decided to stick to basics especially proud of his Casio AQ800E1A watch ldquoI get so many compliments on itrdquo he says ldquoEven in terms of aesthetic look I much prefer my own watchrdquoMishall is an enthusiast of vintage technologies PICINSTAGRAMMISHALLBFor Prisha Chhabra her pointandshoot camera is her most cherished possession At 21 she just graduated from college and for her yearbook picture she chose to pose with this treasured belonging ldquoIt actually belongs to my dad This is my jayedad inheritancerdquo she jokes ldquoI feel the pictures I take on them are like the pictures you would see in those photo albums your parents show you Itrsquos the kind of pictures I would want to pass down to my children I wouldnrsquot show them my selfies nardquo she laughsChhabra feels even if we take out the nostalgia from these cameras even just the quality of the photo makes the pictures better ldquoTheyrsquore a little blurry somewhat scratchy The quality is really low But somehow they capture a moment better than a phonerdquo She even started a challenge last year in October to click one picture everyday with her camera ldquoIt made me get off my phone If I was hanging out with my friends I could capture that moment without needing my phonerdquo she says ldquoThe camera also feels way more communal Anyone of my friends can pick it up and take a photo The next day I get to discover all these new photos that I didnrsquot know were taken You canrsquot do that with a phonerdquoPrisha Chhabra carried a pointandshoot camera to her yearbook photoshootAs technology evolves we consistently get new feature we never knew we needed But according to Chhabra innovation has gone too far ldquoThere are some updates that are just unnecessary Like why do you need a tabletsized screen in your car Why canrsquot we just have a simple radiordquo she says getting passionate ldquoEvery time I want to play a simple song in my car I somehow end up turning off the AC or opening some random app Cars donrsquot need appsrdquo she exclaimsThe downside of these innovations is also they make you inherently dependent on them There is no choice but to use them ldquoToday I canrsquot call someone on a landline or use a physical map to navigate even if I wanted to simply because not enough people are using themrdquo Staying analogue somehow ends up meaning staying stuck in the past ldquoWhat is analogue is trusted for a reason It has worked well for so many years If you try to fix something that isnrsquot broken you end up bringing these unnecessary innovationsrdquo says ChhabraFor many going analogue is a way to preserve their legacy Khetarpal grew up with parents who were in the army Every two years or so she would move to a new city to a new set of friends to new memories ldquoThe one constant I remember is my grandparentsrsquo gramophone They used to listen to records on it all the time Somewhere along the way it ended up breaking So when I could I bought one for myself Now I listen to music on thatrdquo Preserving dying arts is an important value for her which is why she decided to start her own stationery brand called Daastan which mixes archival Indian prints with notebooks For Chhabra too her pointandshoot camera is a piece of her father that she got to bring from her hometown to college a souvenir from her childhoodIn a world where every problem seems to demand an app this rebellion lies in choosing what doesnrsquot need fixing Analogue objects mdash whether a Casio watch a film camera or a photobook stitched with inside jokes mdash offer more than just nostalgia They strip away the noise ground people in the present and carry stories forward Perhaps that is the real allure in resisting endless updates they find something timeless