The beginning of the end

They say the world is ending. Whether the apocalypse really happens, only the day can tell, but here’s what we can do, with this theory . Use it as a disclaimer rather than a deathclock

The Mayans viewed 'time' and 'dates' as meshing   spiritual cycles. The Mayan calendar was sacred and religious, each day had it's own patron spirit.  However the Mayan grand cycle of evolution will culminate on December 21, 2012 AD- The 2012 Apocalypse. This time now has many nicknames "The Time of Trial on Earth," "Judgement Day," "The Time of Great Purification," "The End of this Creation," "The Quickening," "The End of Time as We Know It," "The Shift of the Ages," "The Apocalypse" and "Armageddon" , even stretched as far as Doomsday.  This is one way we look at it. As a warning, there’s however another side to this coin – A disclaimer.

What if it were official  , as they say ‘right from the Mayans mouth’. The bulletins flash it in bright red, the newspapers scream them out – The world is really ending, You got roughly ten days to go before your entire spaced it wiped off , in one big whoosh. What would you do? Carry on , with life like you’ve been doing all your life?  Go back to  balancing your chequebook or doing the laundry  or running after the Mumbai local that has to get you to work. Or would you follow the Nicholas Sparks clichés and start building your bucket list ?  Many of us would be nodding sagely at the prospect of building a bucket list and ticking them off even before the news bulletin has wiped itself off the screen.

Have we ever stopped to consider that perhaps, this whole idea of the World ending is merely a disclaimer thrown king-size at our lives  warning us to take a breather , before the mad rush of 2013 begins? Food for thought indeed , because unless such a preposterous thought as the world actually ending is thrown at us, we’d forget to live !

Imagine that today was doomsday as they call it – 21/12/2012. You and I would make sure we wake up early , catch the morning sunrise and soak up the rays , sipping this huge mug of expresso , we’d visit our friends, make time to reach out to our boyfriend , say our sorries to our Exs and enemies,  take a picnic to the beach , spend an idle afternoon watching trashy films off the telly ,  have a nice candlelit dinner , and then tuck ourselves into bed , waiting… waiting for what? The next day, the sun will rise and we’ll grudgingly look at each other and exclaim that the world did not end , and accuse the Mayan calendar for making false prophecies and allowing you a fun day with your family. And that is a terrible accusation indeed because if not for the ‘schizophrenic ‘ paranoid Mayans , 21^st December 2012 , which falls on a Friday would be spent chasing your morning train to work , straining your eyes and spraining your backside hunched over a laptop, having screaming fits with your partners , skipping dinner and stomping off to bed , hoping the world would really end and gobble you up. Pretty pathetic isn’t it? Now that we take a breather and think , isn’t this how our average day is ?  is’nt that how we spend every 264 days of of a year , sparing only the few hours before new years eve , toasting in ‘new beginnings’ and vowing to have a ‘memorable year’?

Maybe its time we stopped fearing doomsday , and christening it – the beginning of an end – the beginning of ending your woes, and giving a real fun day with people who matter to you. Take a walk, stop to breathe , grab a donut , feed a dog and thank the Mayans who would probably scare the CEO’s of the MNC’s into giving you an off on  a Friday. And to those of you who’s still skeptical about this insanely thought provoking theory , how about starting on your bucket list ? Maybe the world might just end , and you’d have missed the best day of your life just because you were too cynical to believe in the magic of a make believe bucket list.

With 20 days  to go and counting , we need to take this day as the beginning of an end to all our ‘tomorrows’ and ‘Laters’ and believe in the magic of today. Pre-pone your happiness , make today the best day in your life and live it like it were your last – for tomorrow just might never come. J

“YOURS DIGITALLY - DIGITAL NATIVES”

How many times in our days have we struggled with a smart Phone App or thumped through the user manual of a gadget only to have our little sons or brothers wrench it from us and fiddle with the controls only to get around it  in minutes ? Ever had an ‘OMG, I’m so old and technologically challenged moment?’ well, you’ve just entered the generation of the Digital natives.

Every day of our lives is subjected to change because of everyday technological innovation.  Most of us adapted to the acquired taste of technology, while some were born into it. Welcome to the land of digital natives – the new gizmo- geek land of our little brothers and sisters where technology is the order of the day.

A digital native, by definition is a generation who is born into the world of technology, and through continuous exposure to it, has a better understanding of it right from a very young age.

Digital natives are fast getting their tiny fingers around social networking, video gaming , mobiles and the internet . It is quite fascinating to see , our young brothers and sisters having their own Facebook profile , the entire works in place – profile pictures , funky albums , and in some cases even a frequent update on Foursquare! What stumps us further is , how our little siblings managed to set themselves up with an account on social networking sites , when they are clearly chained off at 18 years and above. “Oh that’s simple!  I only had to use my dad’s date of birth to set up the account. , says Vignesh , a seventh grader  digital native  grinning widely at his accomplished wildcard entry into the world of ‘adults’ at 13. On questioned what he does on facebook , he shrugs away that he usually chats with his friends, plays the games and Apps available and tries to make new friends while browsing for new apps and games .  A rather heavy plate for a 13 year old, who ought to be playing cricket on the streets , and having his knees scraped  and slurping on ice lollies!

Neeti , a 12 year old from Pune feels that Facebooking is the best way to ‘stay in touch’ with her friends from school , specially when her mom bans her from having long calls with her friends. “ I can always leave them a message , and they will reply instantly. This is easier than having long phone calls” says Neeti matter of factly. Exactly what a 12 year old has to communicate to her friends just hours after she has left from school beats us , digital immigrants .

The digital natives are fast surging through the corners of the world, getting their hands on every bit of technology that has advanced. Yes, they are witty and quick on the intake , well read and with nimble fingers that can work their way through complicated bits of technology , and more well read and street smart than most of us were , at our tiny tot years.

Most schools are facing the dilemma on the recent surge of this generation into their classrooms. On one hand they have children who are quick on the intake of learning , and take animation and Java classes right from sixth grade .  On the other hand , the teachers have children fiddling with their phones through classroom sessions and playing games under the desk. 

“It all comes down to the change in upbringing. These days’ children are given instant gratification to their needs. This can be attributed by the number of Tupperware lunch boxes that have been left unclaimed at our staff rooms . No child who has lost his Tupperware comes looking for them. They immediately get a new one from their parents. Something as expensive as Tupperware has no value for today’s children because they always know it can be replaced. This is because attachment to their belongingness has reduced considerably  because of losing interest and attention span . I attribute this as a black mark on the digital natives who function on impatience and instant gratification“sighs Uma Maheshwari , a teacher at a CBSE School in Pune.

Another aspect of digital natives has to do with their addiction to gaming. Gaming , specially the violent ones that involve beating people up on their PSPs has become the new sport for an average 13 year old over a good old game of cricket or ball. The same holds true for girls too. Every girl is seen lounging over a laptop chatting with her friends and changing her display pictures, her vulnerable self, being portrayed through the make believe world of social interaction we call the internet. Gaming centre’s in and around Pune jostle with these kids, every evening as their pocket money is willingly handed over for the coins , that allow them to bash a hulk up, According to Ajay , a little boy of 12 , his ideal Saturdays are spent , playing counter strike with his best friend , holed up in their room all day! It’s no wonder our parks are being bulldozzered to make way for more skyscrapers. Our little children are too busy in a world of their own to care!

This is the nation of the digital natives – a smarter one no doubt , a faster one , a generation that loses interest at the whisk of a cats tail, a generation that can think better and faster than anyone else.  On the flipside they are a generation where over 52 % of our kids spend more than 5 hours online every day with Mumbai having the most number of children addicted to the computer, closely followed by Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai.

The Privacy department of Facebook reports over 20000 fake underage profiles of facebook as of 2012, which are deleted in chunks every day! Sony Play station India envisages an overwhelming growth in the gaming industry in the next two years specially in localized content. All this, only for a generation that includes our children , and their successors. To wrap it up, the digital natives are here to stay, they have the panache, they understand technology , and they have the power  and they have options– the question is what will they do with it?

Sole story

‘Foot’ for thought?

From  Cinderella, to Carrie Bradshaw  and finally Imelda Marcoss . one seeks to discover  fascinating reasons why footwear is seducing our imaginations — and emptying our wallets — more than ever.

Her wardrobe was bursting at the seams. One look at it and we know it is full with shoes of various types- stilettos, sandals, pumps , you name it she has it There are shoes everywhere. Behind the table , under the beds, piles of footwear stacked neatly by the wall , her den looks like a wholesale store. It is shoe paradise, one that evokes a wistful sigh from girls. Welcome to Sunaina’s sole story.

 We’ve heard of the age old clichés of collecting stamps, coins , and old relics. The generation today begs to differ. Stamps and coins are fast being replaced with unusual souvenirs –  footwear topping the list for the ‘it girl’ of today.

 A Typical urban lass owns an average of ten pairs of footwear. Then there is the faction of people who make collecting shoes a hobby – no doubt taking a leaf out of foot fettish first lady of Phillipines Imelda Marcoss. Sunaina a 22 year old from Mumbai  has been on a sole scouring spree from age 19.  Today , at 22 , she has over 128 pairs of footwear and the number is rising steadily.

“It is not the idea of wearing them that appeals to me. It is the thrill I get of having hunted a specific design down and the power of owning it’   trills Sunaina who considers each  footwear in her kitty as unique.    Her collection does not stop to the ‘ la brands’ , they range from Jimmy choos to kolhapuris found in the busy Pune bazaars and oshos sold at Rs.100 on the streets.

Sunaina is not alone. Today every girl next door dreams of owning a thousand pair of shoes.  A 20 year old fresher haggling with the local shoe vendor at FC road Pune muses on  her addiction to buy at least one pair of shoe every week.” I think it is, no matter the women, how beautifully perfect, we are all self conscious about our weight, and no matter how out of shape or in shape you are, regardless how all your clothes fit and make you feel, you're sexy shoes will always fit!”

Shoes also have a metaphorical connect to a woman’s psychological self. Statistics state that over 60 % girls resort to obsessive shoe shopping post   breakup and relationship woes.  ‘Buying a pair of shoes have mood altering   traits. ‘states Anitha Kumar , a member of Mumbai’s social circle. To her shoes are a collector’s item , and she validates that by explaining the way shoes are arranged in high end  boutiques and stores – on trees and pristine shelves.  She also attributes to the fact that a woman can always  rationalize shoe shopping as a logical buy- something that they can wear multiple days a week , this way they get to hold on to that pleasurable feeling longer.

Most metro cities in India , have a monopoly of shoe stores dominating the market.  Racks of footwear arrayed in colourful hues that drag the eyes of the women that teem around it is quite a familiar sight these days.

A shoe is no doubt more than just an accessory for a woman. The strong emotional connect she associates with it, reckons  it  to a feeling of catharsis , and to Sunaina who claims that she will beat Imelda Marcos’s  one thousand sixty pairs of footwear claims that she judges people by the shoes they wear.  This is why 

she looks at a pair of  stilettos more as an attitude than a high heeled shoe.

The sole story does not restrict itself to the Y chromosome alone.  The metro sexual men of today are equally obsessed, the only difference being their choice of brands over design. For Kanishk sengupta ,  the kind of shoe lace he teems up his Twelve pair of Reebok shoes , is more important than  wearing the shoe itself .  Kanishk obsesses with the type of shoe lace he accessorizes his sneaker with – he has shoe laces in every colour of the rainbow and painstakingly accessorizes his sneakers every morning according to his mood. Looks like the metro-sexuals of today are fast catching up with the ‘it girls’.

It is  said that  ‘A man's Self is the sum total of all that he can call his. ‘and for today’s generation it is in sync with projecting an image of who you are  and sketching a personality through the hobbies they indulge in.

As they say ‘a girl can never have too many shoes.  

 ‘Foot’ for thought indeed.

It’s Phubbing in the city

A smile , for an emoticon , a phone call to a status update – a real conversation instead of that green button next to your name, a good old chat to a text message – is the line distinguishing the real and virtual world thinning as we speak?  How anti-social is the social media making us?

Imagine a world, where face to face conversations are the hardest things we , human beings had to face ! Envisage a world where relationships were based on virtual identities , where a status update conveyed more than a good old talk; where feelings replace emoticons , and companionship  is taken over by those flat tablets we carry around in our pockets . yes, welcome to the world of phubbing , where you still live on good old earth , but your mind lives miles away in the virtual world called the internet.

The term Phubbing , was christened as of recently , when the rage of smart phones and iPhones took a sudden acceleration and became the common play toy of every one. Wherever we look , we find them , the phubbers – toying with their phones, eyes peeled to the screen ,walking around in a daze , as if the screen of the smartphone contained the elixir of life.

 Which brings us to the definition of Phubbing , which is defined as the act of snubbing someone in a social setting by paying more attention to your phone , instead of the person.

A simple term , but complicated enough to make the world go nuts – statistics show that an average restaurant sees 27 cases of phubbing per dinner session – which is tantamount to spending 570 days alone , while in the company of others!the case is as simple as saying , you are in a world, surrounded by real people with real emotions , but your mind is far away , in this virtual cobweb of display pictures, walls, and languid conversations that are as fragile and proportional to the internet / wi-fi connection in that location - pretty ironic !

The sad fact is that over 60 percent of these phubbers have no idea that they are phubbing people near and dear to them. Mostly in the case of teenagers and young adults who are oblivious of the fact that people, usually the generation older to them are completely insulted and overwhelmed at their constant pre-occupation with their phones.

Phubbing is gripping the world in a whirlwind , and India is at its epicenter. Technology flashes her fins at every juncture , and with wi-fi and 3G being an average Indian’s daily need , the virtual world is something a phubber carries along with him , in his pocket. This attraction can be attributed to the apps that are developed in the dozens everyday .

90 % phubbers use their phones to put up quirky status updates, to purchase music off sites, to like their friends trolls and jokes , search for a Laundromat , google chuck Norris and do the ‘been there done that’ trail  on foursquare.

 From games to weather checks – from stress busters to something as bizarre as a teeth whitening app – ‘virtuality ‘- a feeling of being real in the virtual world is soon going to have to find her place in the dictionary.

The real question is , where does Phubbing leave us? A bunch of ‘smart’ individuals with their cool phones who are not smart enough to have a real face to face conversation? Statistics quote that 87 % teenagers would rather text , than say what is on their mind. “ it makes me feel more comfortable. Texting gives me a certain courage, and strength to say what I really feel” says Meenu , an engineering student who says that she is able to communicate to her boyfriend best , when she is texting , or whatsapping , than face to face.

Phubbing is taking on more nooks and corners of the world as we talk, and more people are being sucked into this pseudo –cool- universe that is as real as virtual can get. It is time we did a rain check on this notion that is gripping the nation , and shook the phubbers awake … Phubbing has been labeled by etiquette advisors as the end of civilization. Is that what we want for our future?

For starters , let’s put our phones down and believe what we see . (pun intended)