Google, gadgets and other going ons...

Its a fascinating thing -- when you think of it -- that time isn't exactly linear and inanimate; I mean have you ever wondered why a microwave (oven) minute takes so long when you want it to be over fast and so short when your attention is elsewhere?

Okay, my observation (or analogy rather) is largely contextual because I have been boiling eggs in my microwave oven.  But the point still holds, no -- hard-boiling eggs in a microwave may be an art and all that, but its something as plebeian as cooking rice in a pressure cooker, and yet (probably because the former is far more hi-tech) the "minute" seems to become a lot more flighty and animate, almost as if it has a mind of its own, no?

Okay, before you think I have finally lost it, try cooking some eggs in your microwave. And TRY cooking them in a way that they are perfectly hard-boiled.

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We (at the homestead) have recently gone wireless.  After having to spend almost half the time I used to be online fighting an iffy / dodgy / half-assed Internet connection (or begging brother for his data card), THIS is something else. Not that I am an "always online or always connected" person (the green light glowing on my GTalk "mostly" all the time, notwithstanding), especially in the "so many birds, so little time" context; yet its a relief to have such connectivity, to sit some 26 feel above the router and still get such stunning speeds...

Maybe I should look at opening a cyber cafe for the birds, butterflies and Bozo, in order to share this bandwidth with them all.

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The little man has grown up perceptibly in the last 6-8 months (and lost all his milk teeth). Naturally then (for a civilized, city-bred brat) he is nowadays totally into "video" games. This used to be "sweet" in the beginning when he would straight away ask for my mobile phone (the Nokia I lost in B'lore) immediately after he came home. I am not saying its not "sweet" any more, now that he has discovered that its far more fun to play games on the computer (it started with the venerable "home" Desktop  that still hasn't conked off -- after almost 8 years of use, went on to a "games" exploration of my "birding / writing" laptop -- without any encouragement from me -- and has now also extended to a fine tooth combing of my office laptop -- with my grudging approval) but somehow, its a bit of a pain to see that his interests are more into what's available and happening on the computer rather than outside, in the wide, wide world.

But then (though he still bounces a ball and even asks Amma to play it with him and makes the occasional drawing) he is growing up and at the end of the day he is a civilized, city-bred brat.I do wish, he woke up one fine day and decided that chasing a butterfly is more fun, or go back to wanting to throw stones into the water (I "discovered" most of the quarries around my place for him in the days when riding on the tank of the Bullet used to be his biggest joy).

Wishes can be horses, children should be children.

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Some more ramblings on the little man and the other fascinating character in my life -- my father.

Not so surprisingly both of them know zilch about technology. Its my father's pride and joy to learn how to operate the PC and send e-mails (and since his son is Hard of Hearing, he's pretty good -- if  a bit absent-minded -- at sending SMSes as well) but his bugbear is that he cannot remember where he has saved what.

In case of the Little Man, in the days when he wasn't that "interested" in the computer, it used to be fun to make him sit on my lap and see his little (almost little enough to be a common kingfisher's foot, if I am allowed to take poetic license) hand driving the mouse and trying to click an icon, or to see him try to write something that I would be voicing for him.

I can bet that the Little Man doesn't know any more about how the computer works or how to save files (he is a MS-Paint artist, among other things) than my father. But then, he has a sharper brain and is far more bloody-minded as well.

And oh yes, not so surprisingly, they both use the same term to indicate that they want to get online -- "Google".

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As I have already chronicled on this blog, I lost a Nokia in B'lore and I managed to put a Samsung out of commission (it survived a hit-and-run) in Delhi. And though I had contemplated a lot to stay phoneless, even someone of my far from social nature needs to stay connected, hence I read up a lot on "Smart" phones, and almost bought various snazzy smart phones, at various points in time. But, I don't listen to music on phones, I wouldn't play games on it either, and ummm....using the phone for taking photographs would be like riding a Luna with a garage full of vintage British bikes (thanks to the costly and weighty DSLRs that I own).

So.

So.

So.

I am back to my Micromax Q3, the very first QWERTY phone that I ever bought.

Not only does it work commendably (which in my case means, it sends the 3-4 SMSes that I need to send pretty well and is capable of even letting me jot in the odd poem / note) and lately I have also relearned (thanks to the help from an old friend who was a hotshot phone sales entrepreneur in the days of  JT Mobile) how to lock it up safely (after sending garbled SMSes and making "bum" calls to people whom I have never been in touch with -- for more than 3 years).

And hey, the MMX Q3 is a smart phone as well. Now tell me, what does that make me?