A few things that crossed my mind in these past few months:
1: Electronic life: Has anyone else noticed that life today is starting to resemble life depicted in futuristic movies made in the 90s and early 2000s? Tiny USB sticks, tiny computers, touch screen gadgets (remember that fancy computer thing in Minority Report?), voice recognition programmes, electronic.....everything! I find it unnerving sometimes.
The worst - e-books: I tried e-versions of books that I already own in their real format – you know, paper – and I must say, it has none of the charm of reading the actual paper book (describing a book this way is starting to depress me); and worse still has to be those e-book readers that I see everyone carrying on the tube and on buses. I was told that the e-book reader is very convenient – it does store thousands of books and takes up no physical space, just virtual; and the experience can even be real: you can turn pages ‘manually’. Sorry. I think turning e-pages, which are essentially in that format to enhance your experience of using the contraption, and hence are imaginary, is just stupid.
For me, and I agree that this need not be the case for everyone, but for me, the pleasure of reading is the whole experience of it – the act of stepping out of my house to go to a bookstore on a lazy afternoon, browsing, the smell of new books. Going home with the reassuring weight of the new tome in my bag, curling up in an armchair in a corner, and then being oblivious to the world around till someone screams for you to eat something. Funny, witty, pretty, exotic bookmarks holding back a story already read, pointing you to the new world waiting to be discovered. Shutting a finished book with a sigh of satisfaction, and looking down at what now looks like a book that has been read, tiny cracks on the spine, a very faint dog eared appearance. And most importantly: shelving it with other loved and well read volumes, all living together in a space that promises still more undiscovered delights and known comfort. Somehow, I don’t see such an experience being offered by the e-book readers and e-books themselves. Imagine curling up under a blanket with a self lit book that is unyielding in ones hands, and needs to be turned off. Jeez.
Of course, it has its pros, but I still refuse to support it.
2: Obsession with food: While in Bombay, I was and I will be indifferent about food – give me coffee and apples and I will be out of your way for an entire day. However, here in university, where no one makes food that I can eat if and when I feel like it, food has come to occupy a very important place in my life. Days are planned around food. Eating is just the final outcome of a very long and elaborate process - planning a week’s menu, preparing grocery lists, at least two hours of shopping, followed by cooking. What makes everything more interesting is the fact that I am surrounded by friends and flatmates who love food equally – so when we are not eating, we are planning to eat, swapping recipes and trying to get each other to eat. Any visitor or random flatmate entering our kitchen is offered food; a friend who was offered snacks by three different flatmates of mine one evening asked, “why is everyone in this flat trying to feed me?!” We even plan elaborate flat dinners at least once a month; any reason to organise a feast, which lasts for at least a minimum of four hours, with starters, mains and dessert, followed by several rounds of very enthusiastic and sometimes violent UNO. My Facebook account is filled with pictures of food, and then of people eating said food. Happy fattys.
3. Social networking sites: I use Facebook because it allows me to be in touch with 300 people simultaneously, and regularly – no need to write painfully long emails when you can post a hello anytime you fancy. However, when people (no, assassins) offer you weapons in mafia wars, and a friend you swear is an accountant invites you to farm, or when random people send you “gifts” that you don’t get (as that hilarious facebook song goes) you can be justifiably annoyed.
And when one reads newspaper articles, starting with something along the lines of ‘serious charges of corruption were laid against the minister of state’, followed by ‘the minister, however, vehemently denied being involved in the affair when he tweeted....’, one can risk spraining one's neck due to incredulous double takes. Tweet?! Images of a tiny yellow canary with speech impediments flash before my eyes.
This new networking phenomenon has led to people discarding tact and discretion: ‘Just had lunch, yummm’, ‘had a shower’, massive hangover’ and ‘scratched my butt’ are things we really don’t need to know, you know?
Rant ends.
1: Electronic life: Has anyone else noticed that life today is starting to resemble life depicted in futuristic movies made in the 90s and early 2000s? Tiny USB sticks, tiny computers, touch screen gadgets (remember that fancy computer thing in Minority Report?), voice recognition programmes, electronic.....everything! I find it unnerving sometimes.
The worst - e-books: I tried e-versions of books that I already own in their real format – you know, paper – and I must say, it has none of the charm of reading the actual paper book (describing a book this way is starting to depress me); and worse still has to be those e-book readers that I see everyone carrying on the tube and on buses. I was told that the e-book reader is very convenient – it does store thousands of books and takes up no physical space, just virtual; and the experience can even be real: you can turn pages ‘manually’. Sorry. I think turning e-pages, which are essentially in that format to enhance your experience of using the contraption, and hence are imaginary, is just stupid.
For me, and I agree that this need not be the case for everyone, but for me, the pleasure of reading is the whole experience of it – the act of stepping out of my house to go to a bookstore on a lazy afternoon, browsing, the smell of new books. Going home with the reassuring weight of the new tome in my bag, curling up in an armchair in a corner, and then being oblivious to the world around till someone screams for you to eat something. Funny, witty, pretty, exotic bookmarks holding back a story already read, pointing you to the new world waiting to be discovered. Shutting a finished book with a sigh of satisfaction, and looking down at what now looks like a book that has been read, tiny cracks on the spine, a very faint dog eared appearance. And most importantly: shelving it with other loved and well read volumes, all living together in a space that promises still more undiscovered delights and known comfort. Somehow, I don’t see such an experience being offered by the e-book readers and e-books themselves. Imagine curling up under a blanket with a self lit book that is unyielding in ones hands, and needs to be turned off. Jeez.
Of course, it has its pros, but I still refuse to support it.
2: Obsession with food: While in Bombay, I was and I will be indifferent about food – give me coffee and apples and I will be out of your way for an entire day. However, here in university, where no one makes food that I can eat if and when I feel like it, food has come to occupy a very important place in my life. Days are planned around food. Eating is just the final outcome of a very long and elaborate process - planning a week’s menu, preparing grocery lists, at least two hours of shopping, followed by cooking. What makes everything more interesting is the fact that I am surrounded by friends and flatmates who love food equally – so when we are not eating, we are planning to eat, swapping recipes and trying to get each other to eat. Any visitor or random flatmate entering our kitchen is offered food; a friend who was offered snacks by three different flatmates of mine one evening asked, “why is everyone in this flat trying to feed me?!” We even plan elaborate flat dinners at least once a month; any reason to organise a feast, which lasts for at least a minimum of four hours, with starters, mains and dessert, followed by several rounds of very enthusiastic and sometimes violent UNO. My Facebook account is filled with pictures of food, and then of people eating said food. Happy fattys.
3. Social networking sites: I use Facebook because it allows me to be in touch with 300 people simultaneously, and regularly – no need to write painfully long emails when you can post a hello anytime you fancy. However, when people (no, assassins) offer you weapons in mafia wars, and a friend you swear is an accountant invites you to farm, or when random people send you “gifts” that you don’t get (as that hilarious facebook song goes) you can be justifiably annoyed.
And when one reads newspaper articles, starting with something along the lines of ‘serious charges of corruption were laid against the minister of state’, followed by ‘the minister, however, vehemently denied being involved in the affair when he tweeted....’, one can risk spraining one's neck due to incredulous double takes. Tweet?! Images of a tiny yellow canary with speech impediments flash before my eyes.
This new networking phenomenon has led to people discarding tact and discretion: ‘Just had lunch, yummm’, ‘had a shower’, massive hangover’ and ‘scratched my butt’ are things we really don’t need to know, you know?
Rant ends.
6 comments:
if this had been on FB.. it would have been soooooo easier to just "like" it.. now I have to go the whole hog of commenting [& verifying I am a human by typing "BEDISO"] just to say "I liked it..was funny" :P
Lol! Thanks Praveen! Welcome here btw :)
I luv ur new post..i luv all ur posts...i luv how i can relate to all of em so easily...basically i luv u.. :D
awww Neet! love you so much!
great read.. especially the technological advancement predictions and illustratons.. i say the next thing will be usb ports on our arms, heads, and what not!
And bang on about twitter!
Thanks :)
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