My Dot Com

My First Computer in 1999

Well the year was 1992..Computer was the buzz word. I read that those who would not learn computers would lag behind. The new world was going to belong to the computer savvy and so I got myself enrolled in the first available course to get acquainted with the new monster.

The first lesson on MS-DOS was to type my name and I wrote "STUPID" for fun.  It wrote back "Nice to meet you, Stupid".. I was laughing..amused. I was completely at ease with the Monster..from the word GO.

It costed me 69 thousand for Wipro Computer n Printer, in the year 1999

Sold it as scrap on March 10, 2014 for a whooping sum of Rs. 500/=

The Original Packing

It was a certificate course that familiarized me with the computer jargon..MS DOS the operating system, Wordstar to type my articles, DBase to keep address books, Lotus123 to do calculations n graphs. It was kind of very empowering. I could identify the news about computers, web n all that.  In 1993 I had my first email account on usa.net. The tech world was evolving at a very very fast pace,. Andhra Pradesh was the first tech savvy state. Chander Babu Naidu had changed the way Government was functioning. So, I did a refresher course for a month to keep abreast with technology. The Windows to the world had arrived. The young Andhraites had begun an exodus to US of the A dotting Silicon Valley n every computer business abroad.

It was an opportunity for future. A friend came home and discussed about his new Software venture at Amritsar in Punjab. My mom tried to convince him that Ludhiana was a better place for his choice of business. We were bewildered at her new tech analysis. So she explained how she could get him contacts to manufacture soft wear.  After all one of her relatives was manufacturing tee-shirts. (Superior soft wear types). We had a LOL session that night. I even got a middle piece published about that anecdote. My articles were hand written n hand delivered to Deccan Chronicle n Times of India Hyderabad. (Those were the days my friend... makes me feel ancient.)

In 1994 I hired a computer for rupees 3K a month and kept it for 3 months and extracted full worth out of it. I explored every application loaded on it and experimented with every damn lock n key. So it crashed once and was replaced. I realized it was a very smart decision until the replaced computer opened a 'dirty picture' of a model on the desktop. That day, I learnt how to delete it and forever. :)

Y2K was the talk of the computer world in the year 1999. Another confusion filled year. I was made to believe that it would a wise decision to buy a machine before 2000. So I bought a Pentium 3 with the latest configuration of speed and 10 GB HD. Wow!! A loan of Rs 68 thousand 7 Hundred something. :( It had two crashes and well within the warranty period and free replacements were given for HD, I was so happy for Paisa Vasool service and forgot about all the reminder calls I had made to WIPRO n its lazy staff in Chandigarh)

It was my proud possession and I wrote my articles on it. There was no internet but I printed out stuff and sent to publishers. When my daughter arrived I made posters, a monthly newsletter about her to share with my family n her pop who was posted in the field. Printed out invites, letters, posters, greeting cards and many cute things. By 2001 my little daughter too found it very interesting as I got floppy discs with Rhymes and cartoons for her. By 2003 n 2004 I was an expert and became a prolific writer getting published at least 3 times a week. Despite the paltry sum that I got for every article, I had a big cheque at the end of one year to buy a decent Golf Set (full) for gifting my husband. Of course it was an incredible journey through various places of posting and I was the first one to get a broadband and explore SKYPE, all thanks to my tech savvy globe trotting younger brothers.

2009 my brothers helped me graduate to an all new Macbook Pro that was brought from US. Mom too got one for herself for she could now very well differentiate between softwear n software n already had a desktop to herself and a couple of short courses to catch up with the changing times. She learned computer basics at the age of 60. So with Apple Inc. my world changed. Initially I had hated Steve Jobs, for Mac is so different from Windows... Hahaha...and my daughters had already grabbed my desktop. They did not let me touch that ever again.

My younger daughter is a budding writer and a gadget freak so she became the master of the machine. She did pretty interesting work on the machine. But with years my old friend began developing aging sickness. It will hang or black out suddenly and the speakers n sound were the first ones to go. One day, I saw my daughter watching a movie on it. I said what are you watching without  a speaker. She had a big grin on her impish face...she said, "BARFI".. Crazy, that's what she is.

Sadly one fine day this old friend went into COMA. My daughters love woke it one day and it was back to life but not for too long. It stayed dead on her desk and gathered dust. It was time to say goodbye to it. So I dug out the packing too(all original as we service people always preserve packing material for postings n transfers) to dispose. I packed my old companion with dignity and bid it a farewell... Where ever it has gone... the memories are with me and they are sweet.

Gross National Happiness

The last day in Beautiful #Bhutan we almost lost track of the roads. It was raining n getting late in the evening so we asked various people at various turns for directions. Then we met this young lad studying in class 12th, who offered to show us the way if we let him sit in the car. We were fine with that. His name was Sunil as his father was a Gurkha married to a Bhutanese. He kept navigating us through roads absolutely unfamiliar. I wondered if he was maneuvering us to get closest to his destination. I actually blurted it out in jest. "No ma'am, I actually work for "Gross National Happiness". I was pleasantly surprised. He took us exactly where we wanted to be but surely farther from his destination.

I felt overwhelmed. If only everyone in this world worked for Gross National Happiness in their countries what a wonderful place this world would be...

Thank you Sunil, you left a memorable impression on my mind. God bless you!! God bless your peaceful happy nation!!

Mayfair or Unfair???

It was my first time at Mayfair near Gangtok. Known for its Casino Mahjong, the only Casino in mainland India and its Spa, it is a popular tourist destination. The first thing after checking in was an appointment in the spa. I was not particularly tired but I was looking forward to a good massage. Since my husband had been there earlier, he knew the girls well and the services offered. Before I could understand he vanished with one of the girls, read therapist. The Spa manager said, "Ma'am you will go for a couple massage. Sir, is waiting for you." Frankly, I was uncomfortable at that place from the word go so I asked, "Couple massage...??"
"Couple massage with two girls for both of you".
I was more confused..I said, "No"
"Ma'am we can give a male and female for you both, if you are comfortable. Will that be fine with you?"
Holy crap, I was beginning to feel so sleazy already. I said, "No, may be you give me only a head massage in a different room because I don't want any couple massage."
God knows what happened and she asked me if I should send a male therapist for my husband. I said, "Of course".
Another petite looking twenty two year old took me to change. I went into another room with this girl and had the worst ever massage of my life. I remembered the maalish wali amma at home and the way her hands soothed my skin. Here I was in an air-conditioned spa room talking to my 'therapist' (an over-rated term for masseurs) and what ever came out in that conversation made me feel sick. I wondered how many filthy fat rich men had lied on that bed before me. How many would have asked sexual favours from these young girls, all aged between 18 and 26, some younger than their own daughters. My body was feeling heavier and heavier and my head swooning. As she moved her entire fore-arms over various parts of my body, I felt uncomfortable because these very girls massaged men, perhaps even my husband in the same way and that thought was repulsive. Yes, most men, 99% are given female therapists. Male therapists (there are only two) aren't allowed to massage the opposite sex but they are popular with couples. If you are wondering still.. well, I am told about some young women desperately seeking male therapists...even at a premium. Ditto for some couples. (But aren't allowed.)

I was already feeling like shit and hell this was not even Thailand. I was neither amused nor relaxed. I was very annoyed with myself.  Call me old-fashioned but someone from the opposite sex touching your partner is not amusing...not to me at least. Anyway...

My husband was sleeping like a dead man after that man to man massage.  I was sure he lied to me about the last time that the therapist was a man. After this visit I had learned certain truths.

I can't do shit about the lie but I am hugely pleased with myself for sending a male therapist to him this time and screwing his happiness. He was pretty surprised how his girlie masseur changed into a young boy.  What the fuck!!

I asked him, "Did you fall sleep even last time?"
He said, "No, I could not."

F>>>F>>>>F>>>> how could he with a young girl pleasuring him?


Mayfair...wtf...is not fair!!! Its sexist. Its unfair to the fairer sex.