Verbatim

Vacation is a wonderful thing… It’s like rebooting a laptop that has been on for days on end with the exception of some passivity at the mercy of the owner’s inactivity.

I too managed to hit a reset button this weekend, it wasn’t a hard reboot, but a little respite nevertheless. I think it’s a good time to try (yet again) to write! Writing is gradually becoming an old itch than a flourishing habit, maybe I could rekindle this old flame too along with other passions I have managed to rekindle in this vacation. Oh and I am going to post this as it is without a single edit.

I am beginning to appreciate the lack of technological penetration that’s still prevelant in the remote places. It’s difficult to manage without Google or Wikipedia or Yelp, without knowing how far or close the next coffee house is, to look left and right at the streets and signs instead of staring at the GPS, to not know if the restaurant you are going to has a 4 star review on Yelp or not. But it also makes one realise how technology is ruling our lives today. An industry that’s just a few decades old has made us so comfortable and cosy in its abundance that it almost seems unthinkable to have ever lived without it. I feel awkward to write with my own hand and I am no longer sure if it will rain or not by just looking at the sky. So being at a place where your cellphone is reduced to an expensive aluminium cuboid really helps putting things into perspective.

We are becoming remote controlled zombies feeding off a plethora of gadgets and apps. I mean there are apps to even tell you how long you have been on other apps on your phone(one of them is called Moment, it’s okay). How lame are we becoming! Even after being in the software industry, when I hear of the grand plans my brethren have with the Internet of Things, it makes me shudder.

I wonder what the impact of this technological revolution is going to have on the old, forgotten but inevitable advancement Darwin called evolution. Which vital part of our bodies would be reduced to vestigial status eventually… If I were to indulge in wishful thinking, I wish there are some altering patterns that result in less fat accumulation. It’s totally unnecessary in today’s greasy fast food world where pizza is just a phone call away and Amazon delivers groceries at your doorstep. We can do without storing fat in our ever expanding waistlines. And perhaps we would need a little more strength in our knees now that we are living longer than ever before.. Oh and as a concession, we could do with less brain space for memory, it’s all in the cloud now, google glass or its cheaper counterparts in their future releases would even ease off the need for remembering people’s names, as long as they had a google plus/Facebook account.. And frankly who doesn’t?

I don’t mean technology is not good. Apart from providing a livelihood for me and my likes it has undoubtedly made our lives very, and I must really stress on it, very comfortable. But it seems like the pendulum is swinging to the other extreme now and has abandoned what one could call the golden mean.

I could go on about how we have become raptured by Technology but I need to wrap this now, I just missed seeing a deer run past because I was glued to the WordPress App writing this. The irony!

So long!

Reflections

“God I suck at this! Will I be able to walk tomorrow?” I asked my instructor as I struggled to get up with my skis on after another fall.

“You’re fine. Just stop using your brain” she replied drily.

“How you ski reflects how you live” I said freeing my feet from the darn skis and getting up.

“It is what it is. See you again, bye.”

I put my skis away, picked my camera and zoomed at the farthest hill. The image was but a mockery of the existing.  I put the camera aside and lied in the snow with the sun burning my bare skin.

It does make you reflect I thought and got lost in my own thoughts.

…………………………

From Madison’s photo prompt:

Rain or Shine… Hmm…

A very interesting topic today on the WordPress Daily Post: “If you controlled the weather, what would it be like outside today?”

It has been a lazy contemplative Saturday. I went for a little walk outside some time back, with this topic running in my head. It’s a cloudy night right now… the air is heavy suggesting impending rains. I could hear the sound of crickets from the nearby foliage.

Given the mood and the momentum of the hour, I probably like the weather just fine. It’s a silent night, resonating with my thoughts, matching pace with my methods of passivity. I probably would want to change the setup a bit, if I may, would love to get transported to a dense jungle with an ever understanding, never questing book for company beside a balmy bonfire. A familiar melody playing in the background in just about perceptible volume would complete the scene as I picture it.

Solitude is not valued enough in our times today, reasons of privacy taken as a personal affront by self anointed benefactors that show themselves into our lives. So, given the times we live in, I would very much want to be on my own, if not forever, then at least tonight in this almost real surrealistic moment I am having in the heart of nature.

I gaze at the sky above, as it shows itself, hidden mostly behind the thick expanse of caressing tree branches. I am expanding with it, reaching out to it, rising above and beyond the entanglements that surround me.

A tiny drop finds its way and plop it lands on my forehead… followed by a few more. The thickness of the trees above me doesn’t let many pass through, but the few that do are enough to drench a good part of me within a few minutes. The lush flames of the bonfire have turned into a smoldering whisper. I take my book and reach for my tent, as the song ‘Rain drops keep falling on my head’ plays in the background.

For a quick retreat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4surj6apthc&feature=related