The Communication Problem

As Shammi Kapoor rolled down the snowy mountain slide screaming at the top of his voice, or rather at the top of the playback singer’s voice, the words emerging out of the speakers on either side of the TV entered my ears and stayed there. There I was, a kid, not yet entered double figures on the chronological scale, and I was enjoying the song originally sung almost a couple of decades ago. The title of that song had come to be associated with the cry of jubilation made by people who are especially ecstatic about something. Later it was to become a global movement that would rock the richest man in the world in his plush armchair and make him rethink his business strategies.

This famous word then got associated with another word, which is also used to define a type of spicy foodstuff which is most famously available on the Chowpatty beach in Mumbai. These two words were joined by a third word, which happens to be common to both Hermes and Mercury. This led to a global revolution as it were, especially among members of the younger generation who loved spending hours at a time staring at modified TV screens and metatarsing away at modified typewriters, aiming to get to know people they had never seen before and who lived on the other side of the world. This occasionally led to members of opposite sexes (and the odd cases too) exchanging secrets and then vows over the Spider’s home on the scale of the Earth, causing conservative parents many heart aches and making them abuse that thing known as the ‘Generation Gap’. Personally, I despised this revolution, but as they say, if you can’t beat them, join them!!! So I let myself adrift and joined the flow.

Fast forward a dozen years and I am now working for a respected software company. Though I have resisted the revolution, the brainwashing tactics used by its flag bearers, combined by the fact that all my acquaintances are a part of it, are forcing me to give in. So as soon as I was able to sit in front of a modified TV, I started downloading the required application. But I had scarcely started when a voice said in my ear, “Aha!! Caught you! Wasting time eh?” I turned around to see who was speaking, but there was no one. It was unnerving to say the least. Here I was, engaged in something perfectly legal and above board, and I feel guilty. Then I stood up and had a cursory glance at my co-workers, and discovered that all of them were deeply engrossed in whatever tasks they were working on. A deep pang of remorse and guilt stung me. It was then that I resolved not to use the ‘Yahoo Chat Messenger’ in office. Now that I had come to the question of morals, I decided to extend my prejudice to all such applications. So when a friend suggested that I download an application that shares its name with a character from the Douglas Adams series, the dilemma resurfaced. Do I give in now after exercising the greatest control for the last couple of months? Or do I use the conventional method of communication? Eating company bandwidth is criminal, and this thought has arisen by itself, it has not been drilled into my cranium by my boss. I guess I am weak, or some may say I am too chicken to do it… The truth is, I just prefer the old style. Enough for now!! Good old mail is the best.