Caught in the Web

Five years ago I did not know much about this thing called the internet and did not use it except to read the occasional email. Then I went to the States on an assignment and everything changed. I was hooked from the word go...well, once I got to take my office lappy home anyway.

Initially I used it pass on electronic money to vendors who seemed to have the most amazing deals just sitting around in cyber space waiting for me. I bought my first camera, car, SDs online. I was in cyber heaven; I had discovered the joy of shopping while lying on my lazy ass at home. Then I learned to use my online banking site and online statements put a large speed bump in the road to becoming a shopaholic!

By then the net had become my friend when I was alone and bored. Shopping seemed to take a back step and movies were the 'in' thing. I had it all down to an art: finding movies, getting the best print and sharing this info with my friends. With my new car, I discovered that I loved long drives and somehow, though many people swear by the interactive navigation tools that you hook up to your car, I always maintained my fondness for the printed online map. Mapquest and googlemaps proved real useful in helping me forget my lack of sense of direction and memory issues with remembering routes :D Somehow though, Wassau, WI (No, this is not a place in my vivid imagination - Meghna lived here) always eluded online maps and the turn to it always disappeared and I had to call poor Megs and get directions once I was lost.

Being far away from home was also made easier! Email, written chat, voice chat, websites to post pictures, social networks all helped keep in touch with a zillion people. OK, not a zillion, but 346 friends on FB is an awful lot! Voice chat is the best, and eased the pain when I had a hard day and really wanted to talk to Mom and Dad. Skype is just awesome, I found. Especially since my webcam won't work with Gtalk for some reason :(

Now that I am back in India, I find that online shopping is not so easy here. Even the maps are not holistic and are not free!! But I still love the net. It still has so many things to offer me.

I blog, though I am no writer. It does feel good to put your thoughts down sometimes. And I get this sense of immortality that even when I am long gone, my notes will be suspended somewhere in the web.
I keep in touch with my friends (most are not in Pune) through email and social networking when long phone calls cause bank balances to go into the negative.
Entertainment is not so much online movies now. It is more in the form of music and online short stories. I keep discovering new links that offer a good variety of choices for the book worm.
And then there is the knowledge to be gained - I have learnt how toilets work, how sensor based traffic lights work, some tips on interior design, improved my knowledge on agile methodologies and play online logic games. Ever the NERD!

The Worst Days

I woke up to the smell of muffins...imagine your mouth watering even before you have time to brush your teeth...yelch! But ahhh....I almost sleep walk to the kitchen only to trip over a log on my second step. Silvia outta the way...Then there is Rashna and Naita..I smile....Sleep over after sloggin on our third year project.

College days...These happy days are yours and mine .....nananana.... It’s odd how we think that the present is like the worst, most horrible, F**KING (we thought this term was so cool) time ever of our lives. In college it was the constant assignments, dumbass Profs and paucity of printers that got on our nerves.

I think I was the joker of the lot. What with 'Uncle! Woh naraaz ho raha hai :(' and 'Alladin'. We were a bunch of 8 - Anahita, Anita, Bernie, Meghna, Namrata, Rashna, Silvia and me.

All girls’ college can sound lackluster and drab...and that is exactly what I thought at the time. Why did Mom and Dad seem so pleased? Did they not want me to have an all round experience and have crushes on guys just for the fun of it? But then College happened and it was such fun! We walked around barefoot from one lab to the other, hid just around the corner to mass bunk a class as the Prof arrived, copied assignments shamelessly and bunked Saturday lectures to get a VCD from Videotron and watch (always a romantic comedy - in other words a chic flick).

I remember crying with the tension of exams and then rejoicing when the fruits of our labor were declared. I remember jumping to the beat of the dhol at ganpati in the quadrangle. I remember fighting with some girls at IIT. I remember hugging, dancing in a circle when Silvia, Anahita and I all got into Patni in the on-campus drive. I remember the 'worst' days of my life.

Hope

For want of this one magical moment
When eyes shall meet and past be forgotten
When hands are held and peace is made
When memories flood the air around
Of sweet good mornings, long walks and arms surround

When sweetness of the past makes the future possible
When amazing journeys are planned for two
When love swells and is all that matters
When a smile renews special bond and holds strong

This one moment that dissolves past pain and hurt
When we walk hand in hand, you and me
When the warm rain bathes and cleanses us
When we embrace and turn a new leaf in the sun