Too Much Networking?

I consider myself to be a somewhat Internet-savvy person. Hey, I know how to watch videos on YouTube; upload pictures on Picasa; watch missed TV shows on hulu; maintain accounts on various social and professional networks; blog!

But you know what? Lately I've had this 'Less is More' feeling, at least with respect to social networking sites. I am on Orkut, Facebook, LinkedIn, Shelfari etc. and not surprisingly, I'm finding it more and more difficult to keep track of everything. The various user ids, passwords, nicknames/avatars, birthdays, special days, comments, photos...

Oh yes, the photos! Sometimes, out of the blue I get a comment from a 'friend' about a photo that I posted somewhere. I had no idea he/she could see it! Uh...that is not a very comforting feeling. Sure, people post all kinds of things on the net these days but common sense dictates that the less you display, the safer it is. Not that I have any scandalous photos/videos to show, I'm just saying!

Also, the fact that my friends' friends can see what my friends' friends are writing on my/their walls...kind of creepy, isn't it? Recently I read about the change in the privacy rule for Facebook. Ok, so they're taking the privacy issue seriously. But somehow, it doesn't do much for me.

I realise that I'm sounding like an ancient, distrustful, parochial dinosaur in today's 'flat' world, but I am really thinking of cancelling all my electronic networks. After all, if someone wants to get in touch with me real bad, they can always e-mail me, call me or come and see me in person. Or, at the very least, leave a comment here!

Right?

Anyone remember this?

Out of the blue, this morning as I was brushing my teeth it came to me. A snippet, a long-ago memory, an almost-but-not forgotten tune. . .

It was many years ago. We'd just gotten a our first colour TV in our home. I think it was some time in the late '80s. And some form of major sport event was going on in India. (Was it the Asian Games in New Delhi? No, that was in 1982.) And there was this song that came on TV to advertise for the event. It featured major stars from the movies/music/sports/arts etc. The song went something like this:

"Aao chalein, yun chalein dagar, nazar ek ho,
Hum jab chalein, sab chalein, safar magar ek ho,
...
Sare ke sare hum khel ke khiladi,
Jo niyam ke pakke ho, sab se agadi,
..."

I loved it! Especially because it featured the newest heartthrob of the country at that time, Aamir Khan. I used to drop everything and rush to the TV every time I heard the signature tune of the song! It was something akin to the "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" spot that came much later.

I've tried to find the video on the net... Googled it, Youtubed it...but haven't been able to find it anywhere, yet.

Just wondering if anyone else remembers it and can find a video of it somewhere.

Movie: Dhoop

The other day I saw the DVD of a Hindi movie called Dhoop in my local library and checked it out. Last night I had the chance to watch it. And I am happy that I did.

Dhoop is based on the true story of Capt. Anuj Nayyar's parents' struggle.

In a nutshell, the story goes like this:

"Capt. Rohit Kapoor dies during one of the skirmishes in the Kargil War and the Govt. of India posthumously awards him the Maha Vir Chakra. It also allots a petrol pump for his family. The only next of kin for Capt. Kapoor are his parents. Though they initially are reluctant to accept the petrol pump, they see the principle behind it and agree to it. That's where there nightmare begins.

Capt. Kapoor's father, Professor Kapoor, goes about the business of getting the land, electricity, water supply etc. sanctioned for the petrol pump and is frustrated to see that not only do the general public and government servants not value his son's sacrifice for the country, they are downright rude and corrupt. Whichever government official that Kapoor Sr. goes to, asks him for bribes. When he refuses, he is harassed, threatened, his house broken into, etc.

How the old couple, supported by Rohit's fiancee, struggle against the scary odds and come through it is the rest of the story."

My first reaction on seeing the movie was that I had never even heard of this movie in the general media before. While the most ludicrous of so-called 'action' and 'comedy' movies are hyped to heaven, a topical, sensible, very well-made movie like "Dhoop" goes unnoticed. Why?

Rip Van Winkle Wakes Up!

The last time I wrote here was waaaay back in April. SInce then there have been numerous queries from friends - close friends, blogger-friends, close-blogger-friends - and family about why I haven't written. Now, after all this time, even they've stopped asking. Fair enough! I'd have stopped long before.

Well, so here I am, trying to resuscitate an almost-dead blog. The thing is, I don't even have a very good reason for not writing. It just got neglected....

In all this time, a lot of things have happened; a lot of milestones reached, important decisions made, things acquired, relationships nurtured. And I missed out on logging in all that important stuff here.

But here I go again, this time hoping to write more, write better.

Wish me luck!!

A Rainbow Unlike Any Other!

All the children in my son's kindergarten class were painting rainbows. They were provided with paints in the six colors of the rainbow. (Yes, six! Not seven, as we were taught in India when we were kids.)

As I've mentioned before, I volunteer in my son's classroom twice a week and happened to be around when they were doing this particular project. I instructed the kids to paint in the order of the rainbow colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple. Most of the kids accepted it without argument and turned in some beautiful rainbows.

My son, however, is a big fan of traffic lights. In our little town, he knows each light that is broken or not working. He can differentiate between the different types of lights: LED or just plain colored glass, and knows which intersection has which. So, when it was his turn to paint, he insisted that the colors should go Red, Yellow and Green! On the rainbow! I had to explain that this was a normal rainbow and not a traffic signal and he couldn't paint it red, yellow and green. Thankfully, he agreed after a little persuasion.

Then I moved on to other kids and other projects and by the time I came back to my son, he had already painted his rainbow (See picture). I looked at it for a while and when I couldn't make sense of it, I asked him to explain his "different looking" rainbow. He said, "There was no room for the last three colors, so I painted three little ones with them!" What do you say to such reasoning? I reminded him once again of the times we'd seen rainbows and asked him to think about what they really looked like.I even thought of making him re-do the whole thing but then, I decided that this was a unique rainbow This is how my son drew it and it's special for me! So here it is...

Note: This morning we were practising 'opposites'. After the usual, up/down, come/go, in/out etc., he asked me what's the opposite of 'side'. I was flummoxed. 'Side'? "The Other Side!" he exclaimed triumphantly, while I smiled and made a mental note of writing it down..