Random Thoughts.. Commuincation.. then .. now..

That day, I was in my usual bus... seated next to a not so familiar looking face.... but an intersting one... my heart was saying talk to him... Like 'Baabu Moshay'.. in Anand.. but the mind warned me.. he has both his ears plugged (ear phones)... thru them he is listening to blaring music.. which was audible to me.... and he is busy with something on his IPhone... so.. do not disturb him..Mind won... I didn't start that conversation with him...

However, I continued the conversation with self... lots of what ifs started flowing in....
What if I had an app which would identify the facebook profiles around me... and I could add them and message them... hehe..
What if this person could sense that the person next to him (me) is wanting to start a conversation with him...

Then I started thinking what happend to the good old... pat on the back and 'Hello mate.. good morning... I am Pramod.. how are you doing today...?' thing...

We have been hearing a lot of these jokes or PJs these days... Son telling dad didn't you check my facebook update when asked 'How are you?'... are we getting away from the traditional ways of communication which we grew with? I still have atleast 300 letters that my friends wrote to me during my college days... I still go back to them once in a while to re-live those days... I do go back to my old emails the same way..... I guess I could do the same in my Facebook... to be honest, I have not explored that...

It is true that....without these technological advances, we would not have communiacted beyond our line of sight... With this BLOG I am opening up myself to whole world of internet at the click of a PUBLISH POST button.... with a facebook update or a tweet I am reaching a much smaller audience... with a phone call or a letter/post I would reach just one... so it is with a 'Hello, how are you?' to the guy next to me in the bus...

For me each of these are important.... however, if I try to put it in the order of my liking... the list would be reverse... :)

When I travel in a train/bus or any public transport in India, even if I am not interested to talk, I would end up in a conversation with atleast one person in my first five minutes.... (I have not done that for last two years, so not sure if it is true anymore)... Whereas here in Singapore, the only communication you have with your fellow passengers would be 'Sorry' 'Excuse Me' when you need some space.... and a rare smile to a familiar face... and that's it... However, almost 80% of the crowd in the MRT would be communicating using their gadgets and apps on their smart phones to the entire world...

The other day, when I emailed all my friends about my career move... One of my friend was saying 'Wow, you still email'.. 'Nice, let me also email a few of my friends'.... I never realised when did emailing become obsolete... hehe....

That reminds me I owe 10 pages of letter to my niece who wrote her first ever letter to me after I insisted... and what a pretty letter she wrote... :) I couldn't believe it was her first letter... at all..

Those were really random thoughts... Hope some of them made sense...

Ciao!

Thank You! MSD !!

Wife: Send a 'Thank You' Card to MS Dhoni.
Husband: (Surprised) Why??

Wife: His team had a series wash out in England.
Husband: So.. Why a 'Thank you' card ?

Wife: You didn't spend nights wathing TV and because of that...
Husband: because of that...?

Wife: You would be a father soon... ;)
Husband: (Hugging and kissing her)... hahahaha...I surely would..

Aaanu..

I was sitting on the middle bar of the bicycle holding on to the handle tightly.. So tight that I ended up putting on the front brake... and we fell... My Aanu (Father in Konkani) and Me... I was attending kindergarten then.. That is the earliest memory I have... of my Loving Aaanu...My best friend ever... Sorry Amma (You come second there :))...

There are a few more, however, I feel I visualised them after I heard about it from my Amma..

We (Guru, my-Bro and Me) used to get very nice beatings from him... of which I don't remember much of... However, I still remember him calling me and telling me you are big now, you should obey my words and help me not picking up the stick again.. I was like 'Yippeeeee'.... After that I don't recall I gave him a reason to pick that again.... Though, I still used to get the verbal thrash...

I do remember one incident where I annoyed my father... 'Who is the oldest in our house?' I asked.. 'I am' Aanu replied... 'So you would be the first one to die'... Before my sentence ended.. I got nice ones.. :)

I still remember, every exam I wrote through out my schooling uptil post graduation.. Aanu used to wait for me at the doorstep, to welcome me back from exam hall and enquire about it.... I couldn't understand till I was old enough that he used to apply for leave from his office to be able to support his sons' during their exams... I used to love the sight of him at the door, his anxious eyes, his lovely smile and smell of sumptuous lunch he would have prepared for us....

I had a dream of attaining 100/100 in mathematics in tenth standard.. which my father had achieved.. I fell short by 12.. I was determined to beat him on his score in his 12th... and I wanted to achieve that by scoring a 100... With that detemination I entered the examination hall... I came out of it crying... which I did repeat on my father's shoulder.. telling him, 'I might fail this paper'... I was expecting a bunch of harsh words from him... 'Don't worry, Mathematics is over.. try and concentrate on the rest' came back the reply... and I was stunned.. To my surprise... I did not fail that Maths exam.. the score was exactly as per my expectation...

He was very detemined to get both of us in to technical colleges... The reason..... he had to discontinue his Bachelor's in Engineering in the final year... since he could not muster money for his final exams and also he had got a job offer from a national life insurance company.... he joined back a Arts degree course after he started working and got a degree for himself..

I did not score well at all in 12th.. which made both my parents to run from pillar to post to get me into a technical college... At the end....all of it went in vain and I joined a Bachelor of Sciences course... at the end of 3 years of jovial carefree time I spent... I went proudly with my marks sheet to my Aanu and uttered.. 'I am the only guy in our group of friends to have scored more than 50%'...... 'You don't know your worth, don't feel proud of such low grades'...that struck me like a thunderbolt...

With a second round of pillar-to-post runnings of all three of us.. I finally managed to get admitted to a Master's in Computer Applications course.. With my first semester's results of close to 80% marks... my father distributed sweets in his office.. and that made me very proud... I had taken his last comment to heart and had worked on it.. I decided, come what may.. I would make my father happy by getting the best marks ever in my Master's.. and I did...

Today, I see a proud father telling people 'My son is in Singapore and has traveled 4 countries. He took us on our first overseas trip and showed around Singapore you know...!'...

Aanu, the overseas trip to Singapore is humongously miniscule to the huge effort you and Amma took to get us here... your kind words, stern warnings, unending support... and your ever so lovely friendship.... :) I just have one wish.. to be born to you two again, again and again..

Ciao..
Annu (Aanu calls me that)