Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Lebensraum


I came across this word for the first time while reading a friends blog and it means “Space sought for occupation by a nation whose population is expanding” But the space I refer to is that on the web which takes absolutely no investment and so we are exploiting it to the fullest. The fattest chunk of this space I believe is being occupied by blogs. I suddenly realized today that the no of my friends who blog has risen to mammoth proportions and in a blink of a second (no references to the book attached) I can think of 5 friends who blog pretty regularly. Some of them even have 2 blogs!!!. So we have budding poets to the philosophically and spiritually inclined to the ramblers like me expressing their opinions about anything and everything under the sun. Unlike the extremely profound blogs which talk about Indian economics to changing business scenarios or tech stuff these relate to the simple incidents of our day to day lives, ideas opinions and beliefs. They express everything from our reveries to questions whose answers we seek. Even though some of my other friends complain about blogging of this kind being a shear waste of time I believe blogs work like threads constricting pearls. We somewhere down the line become a part of the lives of those people whose blogs we regularly read and post comments about. It is a sense of belongingness and interconnectedness. So as the unplumbed souls kvetch the fondness for blogging grows and so does the community!

And who says its child’s play??


“Oh How should I pick up the axe and hey how can I beat him with this chair no wait I want to climb up the cell and push him down” No worries these were not the mega efforts of a wife trying to beat up her husband ;-) but my efforts to use the play station. As my butter fingers moved on the controls I was asking my sister how to play and trying to beat my tiny 12 yr old cousin at a game whose name I don’t even know. I am not into gaming and never really was but it was only one of these days that I realized how oblivious I was about the gen next games. So this time I had this same very tiny cousin of mine educating me about x-boxes and play stations and gameboys and more. From all the newer versions of games available in the market to their costs and the expansions pack and not to forget the compatibility with the graphics card and ram etc, I sat dazzled at his profound knowledge. May be that was way too much market research that I expected outta him.
Well we often on hear about the advent of technology but I never really realized how far ahead games have moved. I remember when I was 12 video games were very popular and almost everyone kid wanted to have them. Now a computer has found its place in every household so we have progressed from the accessories which were hooked to the television sets to the ones hooked to the computer. It is the age of network gaming now. But I am still inept at playing all these games and as I struggle to play Prince of Persia till date I feel smug at having learnt to play the brick game at least!!!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

One day.....

I waited eagerly and desperately for this day and it felt like a real long wait indeed. But maybe as Einstein said “Everything is relative” and so this tenure seemed much longer than it really was. When the d day arrived it felt as if someone opened the door to a bird’s cage to let it fly real high. I have lost count of the number of times I shouted “I am free…………” If I would have written this piece 5 days back I feel it would have had a stronger resonance of elation to it but maybe it was the incredulity of the event that stopped me from writing and I preferred to spend the nite listening to “I have a dream “and “Tryst with destiny” Nehru’s words “A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.” seemed to make more sense than ever and maybe I realized what people in this country felt they got “independence”.
Russell said “Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires” and I seem to live this freedom everyday!!! It is not the conspicuous absence of accountability that is elevating but the absence of authority, prying and dominance from my life sure seem like a whiff of fresh air. I could compare it to the jubilation of getting soaked in the first rains or watching the sun dawn but the truth is that the feeling of extrication is ineffable. So as I bask in the glory of my “independence” and feel the indescribable, I say to myself….
So say it loud and let it ring
We are all a part of everything
The future, present and the past
Fly on proud bird
You're free at last.