Internet Addiction

I was sitting at dinner with a few friends of mine, most of them Masters students who have excellent communications skills. They were all talking about something. On closer inspection, I realized that most of what they were talking about was the topic of the single most important communication revolution of this generation – the Internet. To be specific, they were talking about two things, memes and Facebook. I pointed out a few lines ago that most of them had excellent communication skills. The importance of that is the vocabulary in use in the conversation. They were talking about “liking” things and getting the best pic so that it can be their next “profile pic”. They were talking about flying cats and Loki-bashing memes. It seemed that all of these people were talking more in terms of Facebook features and popular memes instead of that once popular language, English.

Who am I to talk about this? I’m as much a part of this meme culture as anyone else. But some times I worry about why simple English is being replaced by Internet lingo in dinner tables across the world. Or maybe that’s not the case? Maybe I’m looking at a group of highly educated individuals who wish to break free from the rigid language-sensitive world of academic papers and presentations and the best way to let off some steam is by using some bad language and talking in some silly and distorted lingo. I certainly hope that’s the case because otherwise the world is doomed to one day just talk in terms of “like”, “comment” and “forever alone”. This does not bode well for expression. Because drawing cartoons and using lingo to accommodate original thought is a good idea as long as the cartoons themselves are originals. A few building blocks can easily form millions of complex structures but they are, in fact, limited by the types of building blocks to begin with.

What’s worse is that the force of Facebook and memes is so strong that it is changing the way the whole Internet interacts. The original game changing communication medium is now being forced into careful coercion by a social network and a silly set of characters adapted from 4chan. I can only hope that another tide brings some other social network into the lime light and that one will not be forced to define a person’s image with a “cover photo” alone.

A New Friend Every Day!

This is a new post.

There’s a lot going on with the world right now. The Japanese tragedy. The American AT&T – T-Mobile deal. The newest Middle Eastern crisis. There seems a lot to worry about. It also makes us think what we as individuals can do. But it also makes us wonder how we can affect those around us in order to do something positive. That brings us to today’s Question – How many people can we ever affect in our lives? Dunbar’s Number says not more than 150. That means we cannot have more than 150 people in our lives at any given moment of time. But how many of even these do we talk to daily? Four? Five? Maybe ten if we have really, really strong bonds with some people.

Count the number of people you talk to on a daily basis. Parents. A few friends. A few other relatives and colleagues with whom you may have some work in the course of the day. Put that number down somewhere a piece of paper, in your cellphone or maybe at the back of your notebook. Then stare at that number for a full thirty seconds. No, don’t tell me you know that number simply because you counted it. Stare at it! Now understand the significance of that number. These are the only people whose lives you can affect in any measurable way on any given day.

When you know your number, resolve. Resolve to change that number, increase it, bring it to such a field that it may be called respectable (You, by the way, are the judge of that yourself. Decide how many people do you want to affect in your life). How will you affect so many people in your daily life? Talk to them. There is no better way of communication than talking to the person face to face. If that is simply not possible (maybe you’re reading this post from your outpost in Siberia or Outer-space) then decide the next best way. Maybe write them an email, or send them an SMS or even maybe leave them a small note everyday. And don’t think of writing a lot. There is not enough time for people to read a lot. Just keep it simple and say a little something. Sometimes a hello and a small chat is all that’s needed for someone to know that you are a part of their lives. And see to it that you reach that goal of yours, if not right on the first day than at least from day seven onwards of taking that resolve. That gives you a week to decide how you will expand that number of people who get affect by your life and then to start affecting them too. If you want to do something unconventional then go ahead and get online and write a post. Maybe this post of mine will be read by more people than I can imagine. Maybe I’ll affect more people than I think I can. Either ways, I’ve done something so that people may remember me by.

There’s a world of possibility to explore when it comes to making friends and keeping them.

Have fun!

BHAAAAG!

What’s the most fun thing you remember about being in College?
What’s the most fun thing you remember about being a hostler?
What’s the most fun thing you remember about being out late at night with your friends?

Here’s the most fun thing which has happened to me till now in the US –
p.s. It’s a silly thing. Enjoy!

Today, I, along with Shyam and Abhjit, who are my roomies, went to drop off a friend at the bus stand to catch a bus to Longmont. It was a long wait as we arrived at the stand at 9:30 PM while the earliest bus would not be there before 10:10 PM. So, we went in to the closest Burger King and ordered a BK Veggie burger. This time, I confirmed with the staff that the order did not contain any beef/eggs/ham/chicken/meat/fish or any other non-vegetarian food. The lady at the counter looked at me like I was from outer-space but I was more concerned in not repeating an incident as had happened with us at a McDonald’s recently. Good thing that history did not repeat itself.

Then, we waited outside for the bus to arrive, all the while joking and having good fun. Shyam was still feeling hungry and as I write this, he’s put a cooker of rice on the stove. After our friend got on the bus and we all bid good byes, we three musketeers walked off towards our home. It’s been a long first day of studies and we were totally exhausted. In no mood to face the long walk back home, we were looking for a bus which would take us home.

Shyam spotted it first. A beautiful, gleaming, fast bus called the Bound heading in the direction we wanted to go but across the road on the other side. Abhijit spotted it next and by the time I spotted it, they both were sprinting towards the bus. I realized first that the bus had stopped at its stop and would soon be departing as there were not many passengers on that spot.

That is when I shouted,

BHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All hell broke loose and we ran like crazy kids across the road to get to the bus. As we looked on, running with full lungs, the last of the passengers got on the bus and the bus driver closed the doors of the bus. We were still a good ten feet behind and hope was slipping away faster than the air from under our breath. Then I belched again,

ABEY BHAAAAAG!!!!! ROK USSSSSSSEEE!!!!!!!

Shyam put in all his strength and landed right in front of the passenger doors. The driver, a kind fellow who has encountered us mostly at such times on this same route opened the doors and let us in. We all took out our wallets to show him our BuffOne Cards but he had already some sense of who we were and had marked on his ticket device that three CU Students had just got on the bus. We thanked him and sat down, joking and thanking our stars for catching this bus.

We reached 30th & Colorado and got off, thanking the driver profusely for his services. All smiles, we got back home. Another day ends. 🙂

Advice

My first few days in Boulder were nice. I was busy and had enough to do in terms of loitering about and meeting people apart from Univ work that it just did not feel odd. But yesterday, when I woke up, it felt somewhat odd. I woke up quite late to an empty house and a knot in my stomach…

All day, despite being with friends, I felt odd. After all, there’s only so much that friends can do specially since they probably don’t know you’re in an odd state of mind…

In the evening, I talked to my brother and in just a few short words, he told me something that holds true to the point that in no time, I knew that everything will be OK no matter what. He said –

It’s just a matter of time,
When things fall in line
and everything will be fine
and that’s just a rhyme!

For some reason, we forget that there are a lot of people whom we think are not approachable or that we cannot express ourselves to them. But we can and should. There’s always going to be help, from friends or family or even some random stranger writing on a Blog…

It’s tough being in a new place completely on your own, even if it doesn’t hit you immediately or you’re not able to express it properly… But it’s not impossible to pass through it unharmed. Just reach out and get someone to hear you out in any way possible!

Another Entry, just an Update on Me

WoW!

I don’t really know why I’m blogging right now… Rather, why today??

Today is the night of the 19th, actually, a few hours ago it was the night of the 18th, but its well past the midnight now. I’m actually burning midnight oil right now, I have a paper on the 20th I’m ill-prepared for. Yet, out of the Brilliant Blue, I am Blogging.

Note– It’s my Mom’s birthday today… So gotta remember to get a Cake. Don’t worry, I wished her.

Met my old friend Anurag online today. We keep meeting off and on (online that is, its been years since I met him direct).

He likes to Blog and encourages those who do. I’m probably burning my keyboard right now because he urges me to. Hope he likes it that I do.

I am in Support of the Men and Women who lost their Lives in the Mumbai Terror Attacks. These Attacks are a Question for us– Can We EVER stand up to this menace and tighten our belts??

I also want to note that a lot of people have taken up blogging since a long time as a good idea to give creative writing a new lease of life. I am presenting to you two amazing blogs which I absolutely love reading whenever I get the chance and really appreciate for the crisp, cackling view of Life which they present- one set in the hustle-bustle of Delhi and the other in the foothills of our leg of the Himalayas (pardon me if my geography is wrong, MVS wasn’t Always kind to me, although She now is)

These blogs are–

http://www.engineeranurag.blogspot.com/

Presented from the Maharishi Markandeshwar Engineering College (MMEC), Mullana, this Blog is full of beautiful insights into the life of the Average Engineering Student (Anurag Saxena) trying and vying to make a mark on this world. Alas, not everything red is a rose and you’ll know this when to hit the link above. (Spoiler Warning- This Blog actually Has my name mentioned in one of the posts somewhere, try looking for it!!!)

And number two–

http://dk01.wordpress.com/

Delhi! Ah Delhi!!! The place itself has a million stories to tell, so handpicking a few of them for your perusal is a tough task seemingly made easy by my dear friend Dinesh Kapur. He has a knack for telling things the “different” way and trust me, you’ll enjoy his way a lot!!!

This is Nitin Khanna logging out! Hope you keep Blogging and Be Happy!!