My ‘weird’ interests- Things that have kept me going over the years

Throughout my life so far, I’ve found it hard to concentrate on one particular thing for too long. I’ve tried learning both the guitar and piano, trained for cricket, football (soccer), tennis and badminton and even taken a stab at debating, but I always found my mind moving along to the next new shiny thing. It’s spilled over a bit into my career as well, I trained to be an accountant for a couple of years, then switched to part-time sports journalism, dabbled with the idea of a public policy degree and joining my country’s Civil Service. After all this, I ended up in Market Research which I’m, you guessed right, looking to move out of as well!

On the flip side, I’ve had periods where I’ve been obsessed with a certain thing, some more obscure than the others. When I say obsessed, I mean truly obsessed. I was always an introvert, and the internet and social media made me go further into my own shell for about 5 years from the late 2000s to the early 2010s. During that time, I had 2 main obsessions. World War 2, and South Africa. Military history has always fascinated me, and there’s no conflict better covered than World War 2, it’s an almost bottomless pit of information through documentaries, Wikipedia articles, books and movies. I remember watching a particular documentary on The History Channel at least 10 times and being more amazed by it each time I saw it.

My obsession with South Africa, on the other hand, started off with sport but was intensified after watching the film Invictus, which is still one of my favourite films of all time. It tells the story of how Nelson Mandela, early in his term as South Africa’s first post-Apartheid president, sought to heal the wounds of the past through the white-dominated sport of Rugby, particularly focusing on his relationship with the young Afrikaaner captain, Francois Pienaar. Mandela’s story is inspiring enough on its own, but watching the film ‘sent me over the edge’. I was soon on South African chat forums, would check news from South Africa everyday, watched their stand-up comedy, and learnt their national anthem, which consists of 5 different languages, a fact that I still find pretty cool even today! We all have our bucket list of countries to visit, and while the obsession with it might have died down, it’s certainly right up there for me to visit!

Which brings me to my next big obsession, national anthems! Over time, I’ve learnt the national anthems of 17 countries, not all of them in English. I cringe sometimes when I think of that time, I would record myself singing these anthems and send it to a few friends and cousins. They were all very appreciative, but I’m sure a few of them were tempted to check on my mental health every time they got those voice notes! While watching sporting events, something I look forward to the most is the playing of the national anthems before the game. I’ve heard that it’s a forgettable piece of the puzzle for many, but for me, it actually makes the experience more complete.

And of course, my most recent and lasting fascination with The Beatles. I’m aware it might be a cliché, but The Beatles are far and beyond my favourite band. And they’re so much more than a band to me. I heard only a few of their songs growing up, primarily due to the ‘Why would I want to listen to my parents’ music?’ phase that all of us go through. I only started listening to them seriously over 5 years ago, and boy, it’s like I’m experiencing them through the 60s. I don’t think there’s a day that’s gone by where I haven’t either listened to a Beatles song, or sung or hummed one, or watched a Paul McCartney interview, or watched yet another George Harrison interview for the 500th time. I don’t even like music that much, but with them, I can listen to ANY of their songs as many times as you’d want me to.

I don’t know if having these almost random obsessions is a good or bad thing, but it’s an integral part of me. I used to think that it was weird, especially when I was younger, or that I’d be looked upon differently, but that’s what makes me unique! What are some of your ‘weird’ obsessions, that make sense only to you, but that’s all that matters? I’d love to hear about some of yours! Thank you for reading!