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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Of Internet


“Its Akansha’s birthday today”, a reminder informed me as soon as I opened my mail box.Akansha stays in USA, and I in India. She says our souls connect right through the section of Mother earth. Yet, I was on the verge of forgetting her birthday.. blame it on hectic schedules, or whatever… but I was sure glad to have received this reminder. I dropped in a mail, so that she would receive my wishes when she checks her mail  that morning.

Rewind just about a decade back. It was 1998, a time when internet was a matter of luxury to some. Most did not know such a thing existed. It was a time of booking trunk calls instead of just an ordinary STD call, international calls had to be made through complex procedures across connections plagued with disturbances galore.  On my way to college, I received a pamphlet announcing “Rs 50 for 60 minutes of Surfing” – it seemed such a lucrative offer that I brought it for my classmate, whose boyfriend was in USA. She was excited and thanked me many a time before she went to drop a coveted e-mail to her beloved.

Remember the shady cyber café’s that started in every nook and corner like mushrooms? Then came an age of broadband connections which could be set up at our homes conveniently, followed by wi-fi systems and data cards. Now, connectivity is available on the move on our cellphones, a gadget without which we cannot imagine our lives!

The other day, we had a meeting in a far flung colony near a famous school. None of the team members knew the way. All we had to do was to look up the route on Google Maps in someone’s internet-friendly phone. What is more, the tracker showed us our current location and gave us directions all throughout the journey like a faithful guide.

A friend had launched a website where one could design a saree before buying it. Partly to help him out, and partly because my mother’s birthday was round the corner,  I checked out the site. My ma was very pleasantly surprised when the package arrived!

Today our lives revolve around this technology. We book train and flight tickets, do banking transactions, shop for anything under this sun ranging from clothes to furniture, read, check results of various examinations and draws of lots, research,  communicate and even socialize on the web. A webcam has made it possible to see each other and converse as if it was a face to face discussion. Our reach has increased, yet our world has become small with a few clicks. Albeit there are certain drawbacks or unwritten do’s and don’t’s, but Internet is fun!

If you organize a poll between life with and without internet, your results are guaranteed to be 100 against zero.
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 This post has been written exclusively for the "Internet is fun" contest on Indiblogger. Image courtesy Google images.

9 comments:

ashok said...

so so true..

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

Hi Ashok,
Thanks for dropping by. Yes, internet has become integral part of our lives now!

My Unfinished Life said...

true true and very true..even if you wrote this for a contest.....im glad you wrote this...

http://sushmita-smile.blogspot.in/

Ramakrishnan said...

Rapid technological advances have transformed our lives. But in the process we tend to spend more time with gadgets and less time direct face to face with people. ( It is more face book to face book these days:))

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@Star,
You know I was wondering about this for long: how strangely crippled we feel if our internet connectivity is not working. This contest is a mere excuse from putting together some aspects.

@Mr Ramakrishnan,
How true... by-product of our busy lives, I guess.

Sandipan Mitra said...

Nice post! BTW, blogging also is a by-product of internet. So many people putting so many thoughts. Just a few days back my old fashioned dad (who still does not use internet) was complaining that he had such strong views which he sent to the newspapers but never got published in the "letters" section. Today, he could just blog!

P.N. Subramanian said...

Th technological advancement though good is making kids to remain indoors all the time. They need to play out.

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

@ Sandipan,
Has Uncle taken to blogging? Inspire him!

@ Mr Subramanian,
Maybe the internet should encourage children to venture out.. such as take snaps of a garden and post it to win a prize: something like that.

R. Ramesh said...

chennai mei kya kar rahe ho!! hey buddy stay there till august na..