Random Musings

People who change residence often or travel a lot as part of their routine lives know what it is like to uproot ever so often...is it human nature i wonder, that even though we know that we may not live in a place forever, we make those places as comfortable and as livable as possible...as if we are never going to leave them...as if, they are permanent places of residence...Be it a hotel, a motel or a temporarily leased out apartment, any place merits that touch of permanence from the residents. Some take up these acts of establishing their roots consciously while some unconsciously, but the fact remains that each one of us, is in the pursuit of firmly growing our roots and establishing them, just as much as we want to develop wings and fly out...

'gr8 gng' my friend said, when i told her that i had started writing a blog. Being new to the cyber-world when i chat or receive 'msgs' i am constantly coming across terms like 'btw, lol, ttyl' and i am, to say the least, flabbergasted. I still take time to decipher all the short-forms of the sms or IM language... Educated by strict nuns all through schooling years, and graduating in Literature, do not help either. The gross 'misspellings' almost always make me feel guilty! I can almost feel the angry looks of my English teachers from yore, shaking their finger at me as i surreptitiously glance around before 'txtng msgs'. But change is inevitable and the faster we adapt to the changing times and trends I am told, life becomes that much easier. So, i am sure, I'll catch up, as most 'ppl' have already done. Very soon, I'll be able to not only decipher the meaning of all these short forms and abbreviations, i am sure, I'll ...

Blog - "read, write or edit a shared on-line journal"...this is how the blog is defined on the Net. Blogs have become one of the most popular ways of sharing information, 'random thoughts', anything and everything with a much larger audience. They have become a way of expression, hereto, restricted to an old diary; most times, unread and unappreciated, 'un-commented' by any third person. Today, when i write, i want to be read. Those of us who depended on others' approval for our writings to be published are no longer bound by these chains. All professional or amateur writers now can at the click of a mouse 'publish' content online. Now the wait is not for approval or publishing but that, it would be read, by family, friends, strangers, anybody, who is interested in the same things that i am. The need to be heard, the need to share, the need to know that somebody 'out there' is reading what i write....i think these are some of the facto...

Only a book-lover can understand what it is to pick up a new book and smell between the covers, or to pick up a favorite book and turn to those oft-read lines, or to browse in a book-shop in air conditioned comfort or to tread footpaths in summer-heat for second-hand books,...any exercise related to books or has books as the focus seems enjoyable, pleasurable even. With the turn of a page i am transported to a different world, without moving an inch i have the power in my hands literally to traverse the earth, walk across time-zones, even eras...at my will i can become a part of another world, another era, another life... Re-reading old books almost feels like catching up with old friends, the familiarity and comfort of knowing what to expect and what to overlook...and reading new books akin to making new friends, sometimes, unsure at the beginning, sometimes establishing immediate comfort-zone... The power of the written word, to move us to to tears, to make us laugh, to take us to a...

Can mobile phones or Internet connections really empower us...empower us to communicate...maybe they do...but the question is at what cost? They enable us to communicate with out any restrictions of physical, geographical or social borders...But, are they doing just that...Aren't they successfully alienating us from those that are in physical proximity to us? The moment i hear the cell phone, come what may, an instant desire to answer it overpowers every other necessity...it is almost like i am at its beck and call...as if i have to, have to answer it...It doesn't matter, that i am sitting next to the most important people in my life, and having dinner...i have to answer that phone...come what may! It is not difficult to visualize ourselves becoming slaves of something we have created for our convenience. Something which is supposed to empower us in now enslaving us, and knowingly and willingly we are ready to swap our seats in the power game. Ironically, i use the very medium...

First the name, why "The Cloak of Invisibility"... Because, i think that is what we are hiding in..With blogs, chat rooms, tweeting, ...in spite of all that we share, there is a part of us, that is happy in this cloak of invisibility. We readily share things about our lives, our likes, dislikes, our happiness and sorrow....in the complacence that the people we share this with, will somehow never know us or reach us in 'real-time'. It reminds me of how as children while traveling by trains on holidays, we would often see grown-ups exchange fair amounts of information about themselves...their lives would be open-books to fellow-travelers. Probably, the comfort of knowing that we may never meet them again, gives the reassurance of sharing intimate details and family secrets with them... Isn't that what the Net is now offering us? The Cloak of Invisibility...to share things...to express ourselves..without fear or apprehension...of either being judged or misjudged.....