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“Sashi Tharoor was the pioneer in the twitter wars. The first twitter war started in the year 2009/10 with Tharoor and Modi leading the front… “, this may be very well a chapter about Indian Social Networking in the subject Internet History. I think we are almost done with the classical or stone age in the world of Internet. Man is learning to speak in the internet; he is learning to communicate, form societies and groups, trying to show his likes and dislikes. Tweets are for minute by minute update, facebook for hourly, blogs for his daily journal entry. The invention of social networking has sparked a virtual fire around the world.

The Stone Age man rubbed stones together and created fire. Our internet man exchanged few tweets and created controversies. What does this mean to us? We have started using internet more than as a medium of entertainment to medium of everything except physical (hope research is being carried out there too). He is turning more inwards, into his computer/laptop/mobile. The wheel of information has started to roll. Hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second bytes of information circle around through various websites. You get up and find your toothbrush being chewed by your dog, you update your status first not thinking of buying another brush or washing the existing one and using it. We are still exploring what we can do with this internet, as the pre age man would have tried with the wheel and the fire.

We are also forming communities, castes, groups in the net world. A whole lot new social structure is being created through specific websites for specific purposes. Hackers, developers, leechers, seeders, bloggers, downloaders, gamers, blah blah, it goes on. From cooking to sex, from fitness to movies, barter to trading all social human activities are brought into internet. Television might soon become a thing of the past. Youtubes and metcafes will broadcasts TV sops and sports, ads will run through all around the sites giving people relief of the ad breaks but reducing the viewing screen. Parents will poke their children in fb to call them for breakfast/dinner. Relatives will save money on gifts and sweets for ex. “Ranganathan and Family sent a Home theatre to Prem & Aruna through giftyrelatives”… and the reply would be “Prem & Aruna received the gift with thanks and send a box of chocolates through chochychochy.com”.

After the movement of tectonic plates and the setting up of earth’s crust, we are laying the fibre optics like grated cheese on pizza and setting up the movement of internet which is going to redefine the world. And mind you, we are going to get excess lazy with the excess cheese. But mind you, this cheese is going to hold people together. Internet a very much needed fat.

Oops

I woke up little dizzy,
cuz yesterday night I got boozy…
started to walk around hazy,
and yo!!! Ma mama talked to sissy…

Looked up the mirror in the bathroom,
and saw my face was blown up like zoom…
Started performing lavation,
with a free soap solution…
Cold shower needles prickled all over
as I over came the hangover…

I wanted to know what happened,
as I couldn’t remember the party’s end…
So turned on the net to have a look,
if there are any updates in facebook…
But I gave a big yell and told the f word
as I forgot the f**kin password (oops…)

oye machar

never had one before,
never will have again…
for she was one who shared my smiles and pain

Sometimes sad,
Other times mad,
Used to be a bubbly…

Talking all nights,
Having few fights
There grew a bond from strength to strength…

Is she a friend,
Or is she my mother,
Who seem to bother for she can be my daughter…

Those small dinners,
And those downloaded movies.
Now I seem to miss her dearly,
Who told to me join early…

never had one before,
never will have again
for she was one who shared my smiles and pain…

(gettin too senti eww...)

The Indian Perception of Education

A line which has inspired me from my childhood...
"... true purpose of education is to train the mind to think .." - Albert Einstein

I wanted this to be a formal essay. Organized points, structured with coherence and all that... which our teachers expect in lengthy question & answers ... but now I realised that I was also blinded by the rules which were taught to us... this is what we were trained to become. Followers of rules, established procedures, methods.
This what is the Indian perception of education. We are taught rules, procedures, methods about everything. Boundaries are drawn. "You can only do this", "this is how it must be done", "dont do like that", "this is not in the rules"...may be this made to be think a lot for all these days to write a structured post. Like prose, like a comprehension, like an essay.

But in this post I am coming out of it. The post is going to about few arguments, few thoughts which will not be sequential nor structured. So here we go

1. Education is only for getting a job. At home you are still a kid. No matter you are from IIT or IIM you have to get approval from the elders. You might have comprehended the quantum physics or black scholes model but still you need to ask permissions for simple things.

2. Status of women and men : You might read in social science , moral science and others texts , that men and women are equal. At home still there is a difference, partial treatment, girl child is a burden. This is still prevalent among educated parents.

3. Parents want their children to get educated... but themselves???

4. Take any civics or social sciences book - "India is a secular state". But do we really follow it? Why dont we encourage inter-caste marriage? Kids learn this, give exams and get good marks - Parents are happy. Kids learn this, get married - Parents and unhappy. As long it is theory we are happy. Put into practice we complain...

Education is perceived as a ladder to financial freedom. Study more, get good job, earn a lot, live comfortably. But does it free ourselves from the constraints imposed by age old traditions, false belief, caste and gender inequality?

Let us educate ourselves and our children not only to become qualified but civilized too...

A Loooonnnnnggggg Hibernation

Where was it? What happened? Why such dormancy??? these kinda questions buzz me as I start blogging again now.. this moment!!! I feel the trembling of my fingers, wanting to vent out, type some gibber and my mind getting distracted by the other time eating devils of the internet ( gtalk, facebook, orkut).

Obviously it all began when I last posted. End of summer training, the relief of escaping from a 'D' grade, nevertheless still unhappy with the least qualified grade which I got for my project work. Then the turn of the final year in my student life (unless I do a doctorate) wanting to enjoy every moment, I knowingly suppressed this blogging part of me and tried to stick with the fast pace of the life. Time passed on with making new friends, doing derivatives, slogging for CFA, celebrating a wonderful b'day, gifting friends, boozing and listening to loud music. But still in the back/front or inside of my mind, there was a neuron inside dying in vain wanting to burst out (may be that was the reasons of my rare sporadic headaches).

Started sleeping in every other classes. Got the signal from my body "Dude your are too old to study now. go get a life...". All was hazy, where would I go from here, what will I do? what more should I do? Answers came, got placed unhappily, gave the CFA exam. Emptiness, void, what next? classes weren't that interesting (they weren't quite happening either), it was just boring shooting hoops, no real game. Finally came the signal, a man's impressed life brought a light into mine. Those words, that voice made me amnesiac, insulating me from the past and future. Is this what I wanted? I dunno!!! Is this going to be my future? I dunno!!! Now all that I know is the present. And I wish to live day by day, hour by hour, minute my minute, moment by moment....

hoping for a comeback in blogging....

Rain....

o thy dark clouds,

covering our worries with shrouds

o thy drizzle,

that makes many romances sizzle...

o thy falling bulbs,

that lighten our spirits...

o thy fragrance,

the wet earth - an unique incense...

o thy barrage of piercing needles,

questioning our sins and thee an absolving apostle...

o thy sound,

that causes hearts to pound...

o thy flash,

in front of which our shiny prides become ash...

o thy epilogue,

that makes the sky a colorful dialogue...

Eternity

I wake up at my second alarm,

with the sun shining bright and warm...

i join the world which is so rash and fast,

after having a dull breakfast...

passing through the market street,

watchin the butcher chop the meat...

smelling the garbage and the fruits,

i try to quickly pass by the route...

travelling over rivers of tar,

reaching another place not so far...

I feel the pure air in ma lungs,

where there aint no dumps or dungs...

settling in a small corner,

in a chair that aint no recliner,

All the day I stare at the comp

and all i do is starin n

chattin n

playin n

tradin n

sleepin n

movie watchin n

yawnin n

time passin 

the day goes on

i start packin

getting back home all alone,

and draggin a 170 pounds

I finish yet another round...

chattin all through the night,

listening to dogs fight oustide...

I sign out past midnight

as i crash to sleep,

something gets over me...

i set my second alarm,

and doze off thinking is it insanity,

as yet another day passed in this eternity....

Summers...

Here I am still sitting in front of this all in one multipurpose entertainment providing stupid machine know as Computer. While I type these lines, the Earth is on a mission to reach its climax (don’t ask with whom) i.e. its hottest season ‘The Summer’ or astronomically perigee. During olden days i.e. my childhood, the word summer used to create a sense of happiness, like cheating in an examination without getting caught or sharing an ice cream with a beautiful girl. Oh no!!! I am just over reacting. The word ‘summer’ just gives a sense of relief which one gets when relieving, after sitting in a 3 hour session in an air conditioned hall. Summer during old days was fun. Running to the ground immediately after the last annual exam or rushing to the theatres to get tickets to the latest movie, whatever it may be, there was always the excitement like coming out of a prison term. One used to start planning what to do in summer, losing hours of precious study during the exam time.

Once the summer holidays get started, an extra boost of nitrous oxide kicks into the engines of kids. The kids, who found it difficult to get up for school, woke up early in the summer and everyone rushed to the play ground for their share of sport. After the breakfast there was this hour of video games at a friend’s place, the new sensation in the upcoming digital era. The worlds of Mario and Contra were explored pixel by pixel till the thumbs and joysticks were broken. Then came the season of Prince of Persia,
Need for Speed, Roadrash and the Ages of Empire which swept away the time like dust. Moving into higher secondary, not one theatre was left behind during the holidays. Passing time standing in the ticket counter, watching even the dumbest movies, afternoons were spent in the cool abode of theatres. Roaming the streets in the evenings in the deadly bicycles, passing through houses where the girls resided, commenting at every girl passing were arguably the entertaining activities during adulthood holidays.

The one most prominent thing in the summer holidays was visiting relatives. It is this summer time that the railways were in fullest operation, transporting each woman to her maike(mom’s house) and all husbands making happy arrangements for a short period of regaining their bachelorhood. Holidays at relatives was always fun with grandparents pampering, roaming out with uncles and aunts, playing with cousins and breaking something or the other with your parent not able to thrash you. Some were lucky enough to go on a boring tour, visiting beautiful places amidst venturing into numerous temples which were the prime aim of the touring party. The most profitable business during the summer was the numerous “CRASH” coaching classes that tried to make kids master of various arts in an unbelievable time period. Kids were sent to the classes mostly to keep the trouble away from home, or when the ladies wanted to watch tv soaps peacefully. In addition to these activities, numerous so called sports like carom board, playing cards, business-trade, kites keep off boredom. Of all these sports, terrace cricket was arguably the best athletic sport involving breaking windows, jumping over terrace and roof to fetch the ball earning all the well wishes of the neighbours.

Whatever it was, those summers were always meant for taking a break from the year’s activities. But as I am living through this summer, a sense of boredom creeps in. Being grown up, engaged in more serious activities like doing a PG course, undergoing an internship, time passes slowly through the windows (Microsoft). Now getting glued to the internet, all I do is checking my gtalk every 5 minutes, changing the playlist mechanically, downloading and watching loads of movies to the extent of turning into an insomniac. The body aches for action, the mind for the thrilling excitement which as of now is only provided with Counter Strike and FIFA08. Hope to see some action soon….

A few of my Murphy's Laws

Hope Murphy wont mind...  :P

You always get a green signal when you go with your girl friend,

but you wait for aeons when you are alone...

The film is always screened early when you go with your girl,

but you get to watcht loads of ads in other cases...

Friends always bump into you while shopping with your girl,

but you dont meet a single soul while shopping alone...

you stay at a far away place,

your boy friend and parents decide yo visit you on the same day!!!

While I was in the bathroom

Bathing in the rain of hot needles,

singing aloud and bold.

I am out of the world,

while I was in the bathroom.

Cold was the beer,

fanatics were my peers.

As the cross was being set-up,

I chucked up.

Thus sent off to bathe,

I missed my club scoring a goal.

Back from muddy rain,

my clothes were covered with stain.

Taking a shower,

as the dirt ran of the bathroom floor,

I missed the drenched girl who knocked at my door.

With knees weakened,

and after watching many things happened,

I got tired and stepped into the shower.

Bathing in the rain of hot needles,

singing aloud and bold.

I slipped and fell out of the world,

while I was in the bathroom.