His LinkedIn might say he’s a Special Projects Manager at Reliance but Orry ain’t having none of that. “I’m a singer, I’m a songwriter, I’m a fashion designer, I live—I’m a live-r” is his famed declaration. He informed a confused Salaman Khan “I’m playing the role of a very thin boy.” “Where but?” exclaimed Salman. “In life” said Orry. You  might think a certain obfuscation is afoot. But really it’s just complete one-ness with the times. Orry commits to no one version of himself because he presents himself as a perfectly non-linear being--the image on the scroll, a series of non-sequiturs, dis-connected from any past or future. Context is an encumbrance—as any White news anchor talking about Palestine demonstrates. It needs you to engage.

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The selfie has many meanings. One of these is a way to signal connection while avoiding it. In such selfies people are the art-direction, the location. Orry turns celebrities into backdrops and in turn provides himself as a cute, non-threatening accessory, a must-have in their selfies. There’s no manipulation or malice involved. To quote Orry, “friendship is not just about liking pictures”. It’s about you looking good in my photos and I look good in yours. You edit me how I like to be edited and I edit you well.” We help each other not be distracted from the deep trance of self-absorption for more than the fleeting ten seconds it takes to consider something before continuing on the carousel.

You could not design yourself better for a world devoid of curiosity, attention span and eye-contact, or in Orry’s words “I forgot your question but I think I answered it.” A joke doing the rounds imagines Orry encountering Narayanamurthy with his expectations of an 80 hour work week. But being a live-r means always working it. You are the Special Project and the Special Projects manager, 24x7. It’s no joke babe. 

Paromita Vohra is an award-winning Mumbai-based filmmaker, writer and curator working with fiction and non-fiction. Reach her at paromita.vohra@mid-day.com