NOW WE ARE SIX…

But only five of us turned up for this time’s Bloggers’ meet. At the sylvan settings of IIT, Mumbai. We welcomed our newest entrant who has expanded the Famous Five: Manju. And we missed the amiable and gentle Harekrishnaji, who, however, remembered and called us on the phone during our anecdote-swapping. catching-up-with-what-we-have-been-up-to, dissecting-common-blogfriends talkathon.

And then it was, as one of my daughters’ storybooks puts it, “talk, talk, talk, talk”. With some serious munching and lake-viewing and thoughful-and-interesting gift-giving and not-so-serious banyan-root-swinging in between.

The Internet, as we know, is all about links. Interestingly, at this meet, three of the bloggers (with a shared geography and culture) re-enacted this virtual phenomenon of linking by digging deep into their histories and came up with so many amazing links – people who they all know, common friends and acquaintances. The other two were fascinated witnesses to this linking phenomenon. And we realized that it really is a small world.

Would you not love to link up in reality with your blog-friends, too?

MAKE-ME-HAPPY TECH-KNOW-LOGY

Simple things make me happy. Sure they do – a bar of fruit-and-nut chocolate, a head massage, crisp clothes dried in sunlight, a cuddle from the kids, appreciation from…you get the drift?

But complex things make me happy, too. Especially if they come in small packages. Especially if they click photos/play music/ring alarms/keep reminders and, of course, take and make phonecalls.

I’ve got myself a new phone. Not an extravagance, but an essentiality (both, actually). My last phone, a cute white-and-red Nokia, was ruthlessly kid-handled. You know what kid-handling does to a phone, don’t you? The back cover was cracked, the alarm stopped ringing, the phone would ring only whimsically (this got me into a lot of trouble from the spouse…as many of his calls would go unanswered, simply because the obdurate instrument refused to ring). And, as it was a slide model, my young little copy-kitten would slide and unlock it and merrily send blank calls and sms-es to as many people as possible before I managed to wrestle it away from her.

So my Nokia 5200 had to retire. And perhaps nothing is as devalued and depreciated as a retired mobile phone. Even old newspapers offer better value for money.

But, I’m a heartless employer. I’ve already got over the earlier phone and am now totally in awe of my new Nokia. Ah, the wonders of science…how happy it can make us if it wants to!

Only thing is – technology is also tech-KNOW-logy, and I’m yet to KNOW my new NO-kia. The various daunting extras with the phone (the, er, USB, earphones and another wire which I’ve yet to decipher) and the even-more-daunting literature (at least 5 manuals of various thickness in English and another one in a foreign language – all Greek and gobbledygook to me) are a challenge I’m yet to crack. I can make and take calls and send and read sms-es and also take photos, but that's about it. The higher stages of tech-happiness I've yet to attain.

Ah, technology – the kingdom of bliss open only to the initiated…unfortunately, at the moment, I’m loitering outside the gates of paradise, waiting for an angel to guide me to the promised N-joyment of the N-series.