Living in the Social life!!

Where do you live these days??

Few days back I read one of the articles on how social networking has influenced on us. I was really influenced on this article on the influence of social networking . The article starts with a great illustration with two pictures wherein one of the pictures show a lot of people walking on the street and reading newspaper. Exactly under this, there was another picture which had the same people walking on the same street but focused on their mobiles phones.

Welcome to todays social networking!! A new age drug that has taken the entire new generation and which hasn't left the old generation behind. No Generation gap here. I have seen the older ones are more active and involved than our new kids on the block :p

Few years back, there were avid readers who were so attached to reading that they used to take the reading material even while attending natures call. Today, ofcourse I would not like to say they dont exist but they have been overtaken by mobile users alias social networkers. If you think about it, this has also increased the actual time being spent on nature call today ;)

I know a few who have lost -  sorry,  flushed their smart phones during such nature calls and had to pay good price for getting a not so smart phone again :p

I still have to figure out the blue tooth, a device called as handsfree. I understand the meaning and the actual safety it gives to you while driving a vehicle but I have seen many many people using it even when they are not driving. Maybe they use some invisible vehicle which Iam not able to see. I think if you are not driving, your both hands are free, you can use the mobile phone and speak. But think about a person who is standing in front of you, a mobile in his pocket, a blue tooth device which is not visible to you. Suddenly, he looks at you and starts smiling and whispering a "Hi". May god help us to have the vision of knowing that this Hi was for someone else. Ofcourse my puzzled face with a big question mark staring right on him made him somehow understand and he smartly removed the handset from his pocket.

Seriously guys, wake up. Just imagine how it looks when you see a person talking alone, smiling and counting his steps, looking everywhere and you cant see his goddamn handset and not even the tiny blue tooth. You look crazy man!

Coming back to the smart phones, the apps are so fantastic and addicting. All credit to Orkut who influenced us and we smart fellows slowly figured out which app is the best for humanity. Followers followed and leaders leaded. Today every smart person has all the smart apps and gets fun in connecting with the same friends, sharing the same jokes, liking the same posts in different forums.

It turns out to be funny when some naughty posts are posted in the wrong groups because the " Sharif" suddenly gets exposed. Poor fellow has to plead the Admin to quickly delete the post before people who know him as a decent / Sharif guy has a look at his post :p But the damage to his Sharifgiri is done!

You find plenty of friends who are On and Off inside some groups. Some are followers, some are active. Some have time, some dont. Some dont have time but multitask and stay connected. Some have time but have no zeal to contribute. Some are creative and want to always stay ahead and are hungry for likes. There are some who dont like to contribute in groups but like to privately chat with everyone. Fact remains that everyone today does have time and they spend it their way.

Earlier we used to spend quality time on reading something or making use of our creativity by writing something or spend time with our families and friends. We used to get a quality time for ourselves, a privacy that we desperately need to hibernate in our thoughts and actions. In todays world, where newspaper have been replaced by smart phones  and real meetings have been taken over by virtual individual and group chats, we have lost our original self.

It is good to stay connected with our near and dear ones, get constantly updated about everyone but we are slowly getting drugged and have got attracted to this virtual world. The constant notification, the beep and the vibration, the constant search of a like or a comment on the flashing mobile is something everyone these days aspire for. Catch hold of a great video, a hillarious joke or an interesting forward from someone, you immediately want to share with everyone on your virtual scanner. So much you get used to that you always expect a lot of comments and likes for anything that you share.You want everyone to like what you like, accept what you express, share what you uploaded. Sometimes it doesnt happen the way you wanted the response to be and you get a bit upset. If you are too low in your confidence, it makes you worthless.

Life today needs a balance. Change is important and if today demands you to be social the virtual way, be the change. But experience the real world, meet real people occassionally. Have a good drink with your real friends, get social with you family, give more time to your kids and wife.

To sign off, if you wish to stay back in the virtual world, try to be creative and express your self more instead of depending on forwards. Update whats on your mind and not someone else who gave a ready made thought as if he read your mind.

Whats the right word!!

So what language do you speak in English ?

English is a funny language and to confuse more we have the American English and the British English. The accents while speaking can confuse if you are wrong or the creators of this language.To top it, we have the slang and the most deadly one is the mixing of local accent to this.

Come in India, we make new babies of the language and ofcourse we name them. Why to follow the Americans or the British? the Indian follow his own style and add English at his will. For example a typical North Indian will speak Hinglish ( A mixture of Hindi and Indian English), a Marathi manoos will speak Minglish ( Marathi + Indian English) and so on....

A simple word "Office" in Minglish is pronounced as 'Hophis" :p

You travel different state and you will hear different accents that will make you feel if you are pronouncing the right way or them.

The confusion doesn't end here. If you travel South East Asia, you might give a small kick to yourselves as it will turn out that you speak too fast than the South East Asians. Ofcourse, you will be understood more than the Americans or the Brits because they speak the fastest and have crazy pronunciation according to many of the South East Asians I came across.

Indians are blessed with a great tongue and they know how to stress and I think they use Phonetics more than any other country today.To give you a small example, lets take the tiny amphibian " Turtle". If you are an Indian, I am sure, you will hit your hard palate with your tongue a definite two times while making the pronunciation. But visit anywhere in South East Asia and you can see and hear "Ta.te" Use phonetics when they pronounce and if you haven't seen a turtle, you will keep guessing the real meaning.

Indians will make sure they stress every letter carefully and will not care about facial expressions unlike many other neighboring countries. The letters "T' , "R", 'L" are created more for Indians than anyone else. Come South East Asia, all these letters are not in their pronouncing dictionary.

One of the countries I visited in this region, a local colleague there asked me if we have the " big Shoppy Mau Jian Cafu" ( as pronounced by him)  in India as well. This was a question he asked while we were travelling in a car. I could construct with my limited command over English that he meant " Big Shopping Mall Giant" . I intelligently replied that I never heard this name before and I thought we don't have it in India. Fortunately, a few minutes later, he took me near this mall and to my surprise, he asked me again, " Cafu, you dont have in India??"

It was " Carrefour'....  Ofcourse, we do have it India but we never pronounce it that way, do we??

So a simple way I adapt is to put some 'L', "R" and 'T" somewhere when i try phonetics in these countries. I suggest you all can do the same ;)

It took me a while to figure out when one of our partners commented on one of his staff member that he is an "ESSO". Sorry guys, its not easy as its an abusive word. Maybe I help you with the last letter O which by phonetics is " Hole".

Before you figure out what the word was, I thank you for having the patience to read my blog. Do come again and bless me :)