Contradictory Views

Today at the coffee shop a friend and I caught up and were just generally talking and all of a sudden we both stopped talking and somehow at the same time tuned into the conversation of the people in the table besides us.

"These days no one is ever married for 40 odd years. Its just impossible being with the same person for so long."

Both of us being Indians and fairly orthodox kinda reacted with a jaw drop, followed by laughter. In order to hide these reactions we both quickly buried our heads into our iced coffees. Then once the laughter (at the realisation that we both were eves dropping at the same time and that their conversation was so ridiculous). The worst part was that this was a conversation that a "family" was having, with people apparently from at least 2 generations. What the...???

Anyway once the initial shock, laughter etc had subsided we were discussing it. We came to the consensus that westerners (most) do not really believe or have the correct view of marriage. It is just the mere celebration on the day and a few joyful years following it, followed by arguments and the eventual but apparently unavoidable break up.

Indians (most) however go into marriage realising its a union and a commitment for life. This is why the marriages mean more, have many rituals preceding it and are considered to be the union of two families (as families are usually people who stick through thick and thin). The major difference is that Indians see it as something that has to work out, without a doubt.

We were also wondering whether our thinking is too idealistic and conservative or whether it is the logical view. Whether these views were brought about by the traditions, values and customs taught by parents or whether we are just smarter or more practical?

Western Culture

The culture of westerners is very casual.

At work the boss and a colleague of mine were having a discussion about the name of a customer. The question was what was the name of the lady that called relating to so and so company. They struck a bet.

My female colleague was very sure that her name was Mrs X. My boss was very convinced that her name was Mrs Y. Being an obedient employee to the boss, my colleague called up and asked for Mrs Y. Then found out that it was as she had thought actually Mrs X. Then she said sorry and hung up.

The boss and my colleague were laughing and the most shocking part of all. My colleague said to our boss, "You doofus, I told you I was right". He just laughed it off and said sorry! While I sat at my desk laughing, yet totally surprised!

LOL!

This is a phrase, a word, an abbreviation I commonly use!

When talking to my friend, my friend said,

" I am just wondering, do you actually laugh out loud everytime you say LOL?"

The fact of the matter is, no I don't actually laugh out loud everytime I say LOL! The cyber LOL'ing has made me forget actually how to laugh out loud. I find myself sometimes even saying LOL these days when I should actually be laughing out loud! Totally crazy!

Gone are the times of ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing) & LOL'ing. When I was younger (which now seems like the very very distant past) I remember my sister and I used to just laugh about anything and everything and it used to get to the stage of LOL'ing very easy and sometimes depending on the momentum built up it used to get to ROTFL. ***sigh***

Eppadi irundhaenaan eppadi aiytaen??

Before on all my school reports the teachers used to write that I was a smiling cheerful child, providing lots of laughter to all those around (seriously every year in my primary school this comment appeared in my school report!). Yet now due to the advent of the cyber world, I have been dubbed "LOLlu" party by my aunt!

So there I go... LOLling all the way!!! ***signing off... an ordinary LOLlu party...***

Dummies Guide to Unwatering the Mobile

Seeing as how I wrote about dropping my mobile phone I thought I'd write about how to save it! [afterall I was able to save it very successfully once! ;)] A few pointers below, in order of the time each action should be carried out! Red being the initial actions (not necessary to do) & blue being the actions that must occur if those in red occur.

• Buy the phone --> make sure there is some sort of insurance on it (some times it will be included in the home and contents insurance)
• Use the phone--> Highly important to keep backing up the phone contents as frequently as possible, to save a lot of hastle in the future in case anything unfortunate happened to it.
• Drop the phone in water -->
  
• Get it out immediately (don't just look at it and stare and wonder whether it will float away (as I did on the second occasion.. LOL!)
• Open it up and separate whatever you can as much as you can (remove battery, Sim, memory card etc etc..)
• As soon as you have access to a hair dryer and a power outlet make sure you lie the parts of the phone on a flat surface (no dirt or WATER!!!), with a newspaper on the flat surface.
• Turn on the hair dryer and dry the phone, on a medium setting (too hot will melt it (almost did that too ;) )
• Dry with hair dryer for 5 minutes at a time letting it cool down a little for 2 minutes in between.
• Repeat this as many times as possible (or until there appears to be no more water, usually the screen will fog if there is still water. Its a good indication)
• Once this has been done leave the phone to dry under natural sources (sunlight works miracles)
• Leave the phone to dry for a minimum of 1 and a half days and DO NOT SWITCH ON until this one and a half days is up.
• [optional] i read somewhere that its a good idea to put the phone in the middle of rice (Indians use rice for everything! ;-) ) The idea behind this is that it will soak up any excess water. But I would be careful and only use this as a last resort as any small particles can also enter the phone.

So there you go the survival guide to "unwatering" your phone! If anyone unfortunately drops there phone into water and uses these tips, be sure to let me know how they worked for you. The reason I was unable to recover my phone the second time was because I was too late getting the hair dryer on it. It was a matter of life and death a few minutes earlier and I could have still saved my phone! ***sigh*** Also another tip which I forgot to mention, the phone may partially work even afterwards, so if you have a cable which connects to your computer restore all the data. I did it and that will save me a lot of hastle once I get my new phone.

My old phone was a nokia 6280 (those are the ones with a sliding cover, which means they are very difficult to fully take apart).

Double Dip!

No I am not talking about the usual double dipping (having a cracker with dip for example and dipping the same side in after taking a bite). I am talking about my phone. What you ask?

Yes my phone that's right. Two Saturdays in a row I have managed to drop my phone into some sort of water body. The first Saturday it fell into the wash basin, while the water was running and had a very thorough wash.

The last Saturday, the Saturday that just passed we went hiking. It was all great and fun. Then to add to the fun and merriment we went to take pictures posing on some rocks in the middle of the creek. Then we hard a "plop" sound. Down in the water fell my phone. Most of us didn't guess what had happened.

Then as a joke my uncle said, its probably her phone. Then we looked down and found out, it was my phone was sure! Haha... Others wont usually find this amusing having lost their phone, contacts, messages and everything but oh well! It was funny and the phone is starting to outlive its life.

I thought oh well, it recovered last time and so it will this time as well. But hmmmm I was wrong! Despite basking in sunlight, being thoroughly blow dryed and any other drying methods possible (apart from the oven, which my uncle suggested) it is still broken. So it is very safe to say bubye to my old phone and hello to a new one! ;-)

You can say that I literally "thanni thalichified my phone!" [a term used to describe disowning usually a family member & it comes because of the pouring of water to signify it] LOL!

If this ever happens to you, stay tuned for survival tips on how to recover your phone from any such calamity!

The Software Chooses the User!

Being a student affiliated with the computer science department and a reader of Harry Potter I thought this was a very apt post!

We have been given a group task, in that each of us has to know how to use different softwares to manipulate different areas of our project. This is where the problem came. Everyone has to know how to use all the software. As we were each giving it a go we found out that indeed, some of us were able to immediately use a certain software whereas others did not have the same luck or ability should I say.

This is like the case of the wands in Harry Potter, the wands choose the user. The magic able to be produced by the computer is controlled by the software and the ability of using the software is only possible to those with "the touch". So next time don't worry if a certain software is giving you a lot of trouble and isn't your niche.

Remember there is always a piece of software out there that is made especially for you and works best in your hands!

Surname: “dot”

With the intervention of new technology brings a whole new family. The “dot” family. That is the full stop, or simply just a dot. This seems to be the last name that many adopt as a way of preserving privacy. I admittedly was one to do this as well and it seems to have become widespread with most people wanting their surnames to be undisclosed.

A family with the same values and aims, that who they are should only be known by those who know them.

Advaita

Krishna & Christ together hand in hand.

Advaita Vedanta philosophy is based on the interpretation of Vedanta by Adi Shankaracharya. Advaita Vedanta is a philosophy of oneness of all creation

I found this pic on the net and had to put it up for all to see. I really liked it, all religions all cultures existing as one, in total peace.

I'm back!

Memories shared and friends made, I couldn't leave them all! So I am back! My old blog space. New thoughts, memories & ideas! Hello all!