The Technology Gap

A few months back, on a weekday, Dad and I were waiting in a large office building, to attend an errand. To fight the boredom, I pulled out my then brand new IPOD, plugged the BOSE in-ear into his ears and made him listen to Ganesha Pancharatnam. He was all but smiles. Then came the obvious question - “How is this possible?”

I was just about to start with the regular jargon to explain the technology, when I had to stop. “Arrr…this wouldn’t be worth the effort” I thought, and it flashily occurred to me, to cook up something.

Nevertheless, my heart didn’t give heed, and I decided to give it a try. I went by the basics, like cassette tapes, “1s and 0s”, types of storage etc, until it looked a bit convincing. To be honest, seeing his face, didn’t look like he had clue.

This is one of many occasions, where the digital world has come face to face with my folks, leaving them clueless. Be it the personal computer, or sending a text from a mobile phone, they always decided to stay away from it.

My brother did take up computer lessons for my mom, until she started bunking it. After ages, she now knows to use a cell phone sans the messaging part. Dad’s not too far. He had computer basics training at work. He had happily flaunted his email-id before me, until he forgot the creds, and then, eventually lost interest.

I guess we have similar cases with people in their generation, and older than them. If we try to find the root cause of this ignorance (rude, but the apt term), feel it has do with both us (the genx) and our folks.

Us: The good enough reason is not being a little patient in trying to explain things to them. Not that they are techni-deficient. They are just not aware. (I must confess, that I haven’t done any good either)
Them: Merely a lack of interest.

Most of the time, our elders learn to use the PC or mobile, out of sheer necessity. Son/daughter abroad, regular calls not possible, Skype looks inevitable. With time they do get the hang of it.

Special cases do exist, when they have great interest in learning new things. Like a grand mom of mine, who had ordered me to teach her messaging, on the mobile. Or his thatha, who would use Outlook with great ease!

My final take on this: The gap is prevalent throughout, but will narrow down, if the techi-brilliant youth and the oldies do their respective bit.

The Rangeela Bus

The modes of transport in Bangalore still fancy me. The best one I would vote as of now, is the Rangeela bus. These buses as you should know are privately operated and ply from the city to the nearby rural areas. We affectionately christened them as 'Rangeela', owing to their colourful and mosaic/marble appearance.

My first stint with of one their kind was shortly after my return from Vides and initial travel to a new office. I had missed my company cab, and had to reach there by all or any means. The final destination seemed unreachable with the 'ric's asking you the sky, for a short distance fare. The very efficient public buses were not to be seen.

Then somewhere near the corner of the main road, I could see a couple of colourful looking buses, parked back to back. The drivers where roaring the engines of the stationary vehicles, giving you an indication that they would start off anytime. They looked, as if they were set to drag. The green and yellow bus bodies, added to the effect, momentarily giving you flashes of "The Fast and the Furious".

Nonchalantly I walked towards one of them. I was not able to hear a thing, owing to a cacophony created by the constant chanting of the destination(s) and the engine roar.
I was able to figure out that all of them were heading in the same direction and via my office. Left with no other option, I decided to hop onto one of them.

Trouble was to decide on, which one to choose. Considering the time factor, I chose the first bus in the row, brushing away wooing bus agents, with promises of DVD, luxury seats et al. This was, hoping that it would the first one to leave. Yeah I tried to put my Engineering brain into work :)
Murphy proving that he is the best, made me wait until nearly all the other buses left. I had got me Math wrong. Of course, it didn't take me long on realising how I was outsmarted.

Firstly, as pointed out earlier, the first buses in the row, give you an impression that they would be the first to leave.
Secondly they play one of your favourite movies on DVD, and make you forget about the time.
Lastly and probably the best tactic- The whole of the rear-side glass is painted, so you wont be able to make out whether the buses behind you leave or not!

So as it happened, I reached office much late than planned, thanks to the debacle experienced by me.

I vowed that I would never set my foot on another private bus again. That vow or promise that I made to myself diminished with time, thanks to more of cab misses. With time I got used to these Rangeela buses and actually started to have a liking for them. "Come on, no one offers you free movies within city limits!" :)

With experience, as you can say, I was able to figure out the buses which left first. Simple as it would seem, the first ones to leave were the ones which were most crowded! I was also able to figure out the signals given the agents (yes, there are more than one for each bus) to the bus driver.To any new passenger, they all seemed similar and made no sense. But, on close observation I was able to figure out the final signal for take off. It would be a shrill whistle, with constant banging of the bus frame. (hey hey ah ah!)

I now even have an acquaintance with some of them, who just issue a ticket (a dull piece of recycled paper) on seeing me, and blow the whistle, when my no one gets down stop comes.

The five minute journey to office on these buses, on days when I don't make it to the cab, is arguably the most enjoyable part of the day. I would owe it to the full entertainment on a DVD movie, and to more specifically the variety of people I see. Let me not go into detail, on the latter part. You need to see it for yourself. Believe me, its worth the effort.

The picture of a typical bus shown above, was I picked up from here.

A MSS Classic

This post doesn't talk anything about the legend. Merely a pointer to one of her classic recitals. It's called Kurai Onrun Illai, penned by another great, Rajaji. A rudimentary translation would be - 'I have no shortcomings, Oh Lord'.

Everyone's got a source for a morale booster. For me, I would say, this is one of them. Makes me feel gifted, for whatever I have.

Let me not put the lyrics or the meaning here. There are many close to correct interpretations available for the same. A fairly correct one, as I think, is available here.

As for MSS, this is easily one of her best.

The *Star* Experience

After much coaxing or our sheer shamelessness to be honest, the plan that we hatched to 'tax'the 'brothers' did shape up.

The treat at the Taj West End had materialised.

More than the class, there something more historic about the West End. A la British styled buildings surely gives you a different experience.

I wouldn't say I am a foodie or a hotel critic, but surely something to point out;

Pros

• The Ambience for sure...Trees and all
• The Lobby...woooowww
• The fluids...they all looked so colourful, you see.
• The candles in the loo ;)

Cons

• The dark and dingy entrance.
• The lighting in the restaurant...reminded me of the street lights.
• The food...if you really look back...they sucked big time
• The loo...nothing automatic...The boys forget to flush...

I don't have to talk about the hospitality et al, as that's something implicit, I guess. Let me not talk about the moolah too, cos that didn't bother me(us). We didn't foot the bill you see!

For a fairly middle-class upbringing, my previous visits to * hotels were only during wedding receptions etctctc. That as I told some people was a gumpnalli govinda feeling.

Thanks to the gulti bros, I now KNOW. If you think, that I got a little childish during all this, the answer is YES. I was spoilt you see! :)