Social Networking site has made our life very comfortable. It has enabled communication and simplified revival of contacts facilitating us in “keeping in touch” with everyone – even with those whom we accidently met in that long queue in the bank – common friend of your company who happens to be a common friend of yours. We will not have to tell our kids about how “Once upon a time, I had a friend” or even “Once upon a time, I met this person”. Life in the future, as I see it, is much easier. But looking back at those days when social networking site was not existent, the days of our parent’s youth and our childhood, I sometimes have a feeling that these sites are nothing but parasites.
Long gone are the days when it was a pleasure to hear people call you on your birthdays and anniversaries. – “Oh my God! You remember my Birthday. Thank you so much!” and now all you have to do is just be online every day. A complete no brainer and no strings attached.
Long gone are the days when a couple staying far-far away from each other, would wait impatiently for that one hand-written monthly letter and read it a hundred times till the next one arrived – just to know what the beloved is upto – even when the letter was all about how painful the year ending balance of payment in the tax return was – they all sounded so romantic and wonderful.
Now all one needs to do is update their status message daily and he/she can tell the whole world what his/her problems are. The element of suspense in life is missing. We are all deprived of that element of Romance in our lives. Mechanical beings – we just put a “I LOVE YOU” and “I MISS YOU” in each other’s profile and eventually, it becomes just a habit.
That wait for that long distant call from near and dear ones to hear how much he/she misses you is much easier now. Facebook, twitter, Skype, GTalk – I love all of them. I can talk to my family nearly every day – watch them talk – but this easy accessibility of every person in our lives has resulted in us taking each other for granted. We know too much about everybody and therefore those precious few, you deserve that extra bit of attention from all of us – and even vice versa – i.e. we the precious person deserving that extra attention from someone – that Romance in life – that emotion of really missing someone - suddenly feels so archaic. Because the whole world now – Is Just a Click Away!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Six months in London: Facts and Experience
This note is dedicated to the completion of my six months in United Kingdom. I have penned down ten notable experience of mine in this country.
1. English: I was amazed to hear the hundred different version of the same language. For the first 4 months I refused to take the tube and travelled in busses to study the city properly. I would sit at the upper deck (if the bus had an upper deck) and carefully watch the people and listen to their accents. Sometimes it took me a whole 20 minutes to realise that the language the person was conversing in is actually English.
2. Expression incapability: They are inherently incapable of expressing any emotions. I have never seen any voice modulation and that sometimes amazes me. “I am very happy.” “I am very sad.” “I am so annoyed.” And they all sound the same to me. For someone like me who’s mannerism is extremely flamboyant (Ref: Shiladitya’s testimonial on orkut), my visit to this place seems to be God’s own plan of mellowing me down. If that is the case then He/She knows that the plan is failing.
3. Problem – Solution: The relationship between Problem and Solution is really bizarre in this country. The simpler the problem, the more complex is the solution. Similarly, complicated problems have simpler solutions. For example, if the zip of your bag stops working it is a “freak out situation” because it will cost you 6 – 8 pounds to get it repaired. You rather buy a new bag instead. However, if you have the gravest of illness, all you have to do is muster the courage and get to the hospital and your treatment is absolutely free.
4. Common Words: There are some words that I have been using here more often than I ever did in my entire life. Some of them being
• Please – Else it is deemed rude. For instance, you enter the shop and say: Can I have a pen, please? [For which I am paying an outrageous amount of money, and yet I have to say Please.]
• Indeed – It is the Indian version of “very much”. Example of its usage is Thank you, indeed. This is the maximum ability of expression of feelings, by the way!
• Stressed – Everyone here is always so stressed. It could mean anything from tiredness to mental breakdown. Example: I have an assignment. I am so stressed (meaning tensed). I had 3 bags with me in the tube and I was so stressed (meaning overburdened). I have not slept last night properly and I am so stressed (meaning tired).
• Around the corner – Every place in this city is just around-the-corner: “Can you tell me where the station is, Please?” “It is just around-the-corner.” You would walk for minutes and yet fail to trace the corner. After walking for 7 minutes when you ask another person the same question you will be surprised to hear the same response: “It is just around the corner.”
For the love of God, tell me how far is that corner? This seems to be a more polished version of Hyderabadi lingo “idharich hain!”
5. As Punctual as the Brits!: As a child, I was always told that I should be as punctual as the Brits! Look at them, they are always on time. They are, indeed, comparatively more accurate. But they don’t lead a military life where their daily life is dictated by the hands of clocks. They get late as well. You will find busses, coaches and trains running late as well. It is the proximity of delay that varies.
6. Every time is Beer Time: “We can meet at 12PM and discuss this issue over a glass of beer.” “Do you want to go to the Waterfront Bar after the 4 o clock class tomorrow?” “I finish work at 6. Let’s meet up at Leister Square at say 6: 30 and we can have a couple of shots!” “Do you want to hang out in Camden Town this Saturday? I know a really cool place where the serve awesome beer. 9 ‘o’ clock then?”
7. Work – Life Balance: I am extremely impressed by the way the people here maintain their work-life balance. They work hard the whole week. They don’t work 18hours a day. They stick to their 9 – 6 schedule and get back home. And they have equal amount of fun on weekends.
8. Fashion Statement: When I was two years old, my mother (apparently) literally struggled to teach me colours. “Repeat after me: The colour of hair is BLACK” Little did she know that in some country in some other continent, people had blue, green, red, yellow, maroon, purple hair as well. Straight, Curly, Beaded, Wavy or a mixture of more than one of these. A guy in pink pajamas and red jumper is not deemed gay! You can wear anything and you will be deemed as a person from different school of fashion and not as a fashion disaster. You may not wear nearly anything and even then people will not think that you are obscene. You can smell unadulterated recipe of Freedom here in terms of lifestyle – INDEED!
9. The Sun never sets on British Empire: The eighteenth century phrase that we studied when we were in school in our Social Science classes on Indian Struggle for freedom, I am amazed at how the teacher somehow failed to see the pun intended in the statement. It is true that the sun never sets here because in past six months, I never really saw it rise.
10. “It happens only in India”: Last, but not the least, no matter how high the level of income is here, how much freedom one gets here, how much facility they are provided with, it is always better to stay in one’s own country. If not for anything, for the level of comfort, for the accessibility to many non-material facilities and for the unlimited supply of varied collection of food, India is the country where I would want to live. The more developed the country, the more harsh life gets for the middle class. Life is always a luxury for the rich and place is of insignificance for the poor. It is the middle class who goes through the “stress” of adjustment.
1. English: I was amazed to hear the hundred different version of the same language. For the first 4 months I refused to take the tube and travelled in busses to study the city properly. I would sit at the upper deck (if the bus had an upper deck) and carefully watch the people and listen to their accents. Sometimes it took me a whole 20 minutes to realise that the language the person was conversing in is actually English.
2. Expression incapability: They are inherently incapable of expressing any emotions. I have never seen any voice modulation and that sometimes amazes me. “I am very happy.” “I am very sad.” “I am so annoyed.” And they all sound the same to me. For someone like me who’s mannerism is extremely flamboyant (Ref: Shiladitya’s testimonial on orkut), my visit to this place seems to be God’s own plan of mellowing me down. If that is the case then He/She knows that the plan is failing.
3. Problem – Solution: The relationship between Problem and Solution is really bizarre in this country. The simpler the problem, the more complex is the solution. Similarly, complicated problems have simpler solutions. For example, if the zip of your bag stops working it is a “freak out situation” because it will cost you 6 – 8 pounds to get it repaired. You rather buy a new bag instead. However, if you have the gravest of illness, all you have to do is muster the courage and get to the hospital and your treatment is absolutely free.
4. Common Words: There are some words that I have been using here more often than I ever did in my entire life. Some of them being
• Please – Else it is deemed rude. For instance, you enter the shop and say: Can I have a pen, please? [For which I am paying an outrageous amount of money, and yet I have to say Please.]
• Indeed – It is the Indian version of “very much”. Example of its usage is Thank you, indeed. This is the maximum ability of expression of feelings, by the way!
• Stressed – Everyone here is always so stressed. It could mean anything from tiredness to mental breakdown. Example: I have an assignment. I am so stressed (meaning tensed). I had 3 bags with me in the tube and I was so stressed (meaning overburdened). I have not slept last night properly and I am so stressed (meaning tired).
• Around the corner – Every place in this city is just around-the-corner: “Can you tell me where the station is, Please?” “It is just around-the-corner.” You would walk for minutes and yet fail to trace the corner. After walking for 7 minutes when you ask another person the same question you will be surprised to hear the same response: “It is just around the corner.”
For the love of God, tell me how far is that corner? This seems to be a more polished version of Hyderabadi lingo “idharich hain!”
5. As Punctual as the Brits!: As a child, I was always told that I should be as punctual as the Brits! Look at them, they are always on time. They are, indeed, comparatively more accurate. But they don’t lead a military life where their daily life is dictated by the hands of clocks. They get late as well. You will find busses, coaches and trains running late as well. It is the proximity of delay that varies.
6. Every time is Beer Time: “We can meet at 12PM and discuss this issue over a glass of beer.” “Do you want to go to the Waterfront Bar after the 4 o clock class tomorrow?” “I finish work at 6. Let’s meet up at Leister Square at say 6: 30 and we can have a couple of shots!” “Do you want to hang out in Camden Town this Saturday? I know a really cool place where the serve awesome beer. 9 ‘o’ clock then?”
7. Work – Life Balance: I am extremely impressed by the way the people here maintain their work-life balance. They work hard the whole week. They don’t work 18hours a day. They stick to their 9 – 6 schedule and get back home. And they have equal amount of fun on weekends.
8. Fashion Statement: When I was two years old, my mother (apparently) literally struggled to teach me colours. “Repeat after me: The colour of hair is BLACK” Little did she know that in some country in some other continent, people had blue, green, red, yellow, maroon, purple hair as well. Straight, Curly, Beaded, Wavy or a mixture of more than one of these. A guy in pink pajamas and red jumper is not deemed gay! You can wear anything and you will be deemed as a person from different school of fashion and not as a fashion disaster. You may not wear nearly anything and even then people will not think that you are obscene. You can smell unadulterated recipe of Freedom here in terms of lifestyle – INDEED!
9. The Sun never sets on British Empire: The eighteenth century phrase that we studied when we were in school in our Social Science classes on Indian Struggle for freedom, I am amazed at how the teacher somehow failed to see the pun intended in the statement. It is true that the sun never sets here because in past six months, I never really saw it rise.
10. “It happens only in India”: Last, but not the least, no matter how high the level of income is here, how much freedom one gets here, how much facility they are provided with, it is always better to stay in one’s own country. If not for anything, for the level of comfort, for the accessibility to many non-material facilities and for the unlimited supply of varied collection of food, India is the country where I would want to live. The more developed the country, the more harsh life gets for the middle class. Life is always a luxury for the rich and place is of insignificance for the poor. It is the middle class who goes through the “stress” of adjustment.
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