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!