Its nice to get back to writing after a month.This one is mostly a filler as a good one is in the offing. Actually, I wanted to write couple of days ago but my 5 and a half year old laptop decided to give me trouble. Well, I wont blame it. I have literally abused it all these five odd years.Poor thing it needed to go for a service.It was then I realized how much I have been addicted to it.But, glad am not incorrigible.It took almost a week and I can proudly say that I survived that week with no side effects. Of course, I relied on my smart phone. Yet, it was'nt the same.It was then I had a sudden epiphany about the new age addiction to technology.I myself am addicted to my laptop, phone and internet and did not even realize the extent until I gave my laptop for a service.Be it necessary things like checking mails, face book and twitter(Ya, they are necessary) or checking the daily temperature, random search on google,catch up on the latest episodes of Castle, Melissa and Joey etc etc or participate in counting down the number of days for Game of thrones season 4. I have made my world revolve around the computer and internet for everything. I recently attended classes for learning MATLAB to which my brother said," hey why are you spending on classes when you can get to watch sessions on Youtube?"Though its true, I am old school when it comes to hands on training as I believe we learn better when we interact personally and not virtually. I do not deny on how useful you tube is when we do not have other opportunities. There are few things you learn better when you attend classes. This particular incident reminds me of Sheldon where he tells Howard that he learnt swimming on Youtube. It might not be the same but it did in my head.So, its alarming to notice how we have made our lives revolve around these gadgets, be it the kids or the elders. I no longer see kids going out to play or ride on their bikes gallivanting. they are allured in this whirlpool of online gaming. I still remember those days of my childhood where a gang of 20 kids played every game possible at Pradeep apartments,Hyderabad. Kids from all ages participated.We devoted 2 hours of our daily time to playing even during our annual examinations. Although we never had a fancy play area, we never thought it to be a constraint. We designed games based on the area we had to play, for eg. car parks were the best to play hide and seek especially during late evenings as it had stingy spaces to hide and would be less visible due to lack of light. If our luck favored us, some of the car doors would have been left unlocked and that would be the best spot to hide.Our other specialty was Dog and the bone. We would split ourselves in to 2 groups with equal distribution of good and mediocre players along with kids who would be considered "joker"(ha ha we loved that term) and would fight for the bone. This particular game would attract visitors. Our shouts and over the roof enthusiasm would draw our parents to their respective balconies and watch us play. It always happens that my best and a very good friend Mitra and me used to get picked for opposite teams and most of the times end up facing each other on ground. As both of us were good in this game it used to be difficult to judge who would get the bone and so we used to end up circling the bone for really long periods of time pissing off the other players.Chain cut and Taal were other games we loved playing. It was one of the few games we invented. Dragging a chain of people around to catch the others was as insane as it sounds.It was hilarious to watch those strong boys dragging kids and girls and yelling,"Common, we need to catch them ." Mitra and me were one of those girls who played almost all the games including cricket and 7 stones with guys.We gained an easy access because of my brother, Balaji.From a very young age he was a cricket enthusiast and all my colony annas(term used to address the elderly guys) loved to include him in their teams and that is how even we managed to weasel our way in. After finishing with the games downstairs, we played another round on our respective floors. We invented our very own floor game called "MAT TOUCH." Although, I was not a part of its inception, I have helped them improvise by laying rules.The denner(the person who is supposed to make others out) uses the foot mat and slips it using his foot and whose ever foot gets touched by the mat becomes the next denner. This was a perfect game to be played on those small floors.So, back to the point hitherto, we have played a lot of physical games to the point that we ended up with sun strokes during summers.I hardly find kids these days doing that. Conditions are better now. Every apartment has its own play area and there are a lot more new games that have come up. I would encourage all the parents to tell their children to go out and play rather than being a couch potato and falling for PSPs and Xboxes which of course can be played at other times. Speaking of the Youth and me being one, would totally agree that we too have fallen deeply for the techy stuff. We have developed a magnetic bum that gets attracted to the internet. Every thing we do is on the internet.Right from shopping(when we are actually purchasing),talking(when the person is actually next door) etc. Technology should only help us in connecting people but not take over and replace us.It is both a boon and a bane. Technology has definitely brought a lot of advancements like looking up and finding a long lost friend and getting back in touch, spreading of information, news and alerts and inventing new ways for helping people keep in touch. But, it has gone to an extent that parents and kids have to write on each other's Facebook walls asking them to come over for dinner or getting some megre work done. Even the novels these days are read online.Well, it is cheaper on the pocket, I agree, but how long can one sit and saccade to read it on a computer or a kindle?I did try reading books online a few times but found that I could never finish the books, as I enjoyed reading my books in various positions such as sitting, leaning, laying down etc. etc.I understood that some pleasures cannot be replaced by the upcoming technologies and can be enjoyed better only the traditional way.People have replaced their former hobbies with browsing to an extent that they list surfing(ahem ahem surfing,more like living) the internet as their hobby on their resumes too. I am very much a lover of these shiny new gadgets and apps but I am also aware of what the pleasure is to go out and have an actual chat with a friend face to face when they in town or go watch a movie with family and friends or stroll around aimlessly in malls window shopping or at Tank bund eating pani puris, maize cobs and other road side delicacies.Twenty years down the lane when we look back it is only these memories that will bring a smile on your face and not the time spent on PSPs or internet chatting.
So for all the people out there, go get a life outside the i or the e world some times before you get a TKO(duh, Technical Knock Out). It definitely is relaxing. Ok, looks like I spent an hour writing this.Wonder if there is a new tweet or comment for me on my wall..Lemme go check it :) giggles..
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