Tryst with Computer - Part 2

The journey of next 10 years continue...

In 2001, when I came to Chandigarh, I had a different set of experience. Flashy Pen drives of 512 MB / 1 GB (considered to be highest those days), which replaced the floppies. Windows 98 and Windows 2000 were extensively used. Windows 98 even now considered being most rugged operating system much like our Bajaj Chetak Scooters. It never crashed when other operating systems crumbled like humble pie. 20 / 40 GB hard discs from the usual single digit hard discs were popular. Fox pro replaced Dbase. Multimedia key boards, desk jet printers were replacing conventional key boards and dot matrix printers respectively. Projectors, scanners came in existence. The evolutions were thrilling.

Though, I have seen all of these, Internet was an unknown terrain for me. Lot of hesitations surfaced again. Who to approach? But my savior came in the form of my wife’s cousin. She was a young kid and we brought her during May 2001, to Chandigarh during her final year college vacations. When we were talking something, this internet thing popped out and I said I do not know how to create an ID and to use it further. To my surprise, she told that she will help me. The same day evening we went and she created an ID for me. 

I have been seeing and replying mails from that day onwards in cybercafé. After sometime, an ID was created for my wifei as well. When I was in Bagdogra, we used to “chat” on alternate days for 2 hours. This we did for almost 3 months… The instant messages, mails, sending photos as attachments were amazing me.

On 1 May 2003, I bought my PC (which is working fine even now) at 40 GB and 128 MB RAM. My learning continued even in home from that point onwards. However, we did not take an internet connection at that point of time. Wife joined a diploma course in computer applications and we thought it would be useful if we have our own computer for practice. The same computer has been upgraded to 100 GB hard disc and 2 GB RAM as of now. Beyond this the old system cannot take it anymore. No slots, no old parts available for the same..

After coming to Mumbai in 2007, the pinnacle was having a laptop with internet provided by office. The journey to cybercafés came to an end. Things became as easy as I am connected anywhere and everywhere. Getting an internet connection in 2010 for home PC was another feather in the cap. 

Today Mailing, blogging, chatting, posting status in facebook, twitter has become a normal thing. Adding to that, every transaction has become online. Be it telephone, electricity, internet BB, credit card payments, transfer of funds from one bank to another bank or to different people in the same bank or different bank, booking a movie ,train, air or a match ticket, watching a movie online,  all are done through computers. 

Features like having own web album, own blog have become an integral part. When I look back these 20 years, it gives me immense satisfaction as how my life is transformed and I am witness to all of it. It also tells me that if one is willing enough to put in some efforts, dividends are there to reap. 

Thus the romance with computers still continue.. The only irony is that I do not know any programming languages. May be I will pick up one later from my son as he has to study C++ (part of school curriculum). I see an opportunity striking my door… While, I feel that I am confident in something, a different thing pops out, as a new thing and thus the learning continues....

Tryst with Computer - Part 1

When I was writing about blog on communication, some more thoughts poured in. Memory flashed back 20 years… A novice who does not know anything about computers, never undergone any formal courses or possess a degree like BCA or MCA till date, came to my mind. Needless to say that novice is me…

All those events, associated terminologies, struggle, excitement, pain, joy and transformations flashed across my mind. As I was munching those wonderful moments, thought of putting those on record. Every individual must have faced more or less of these things in one’s life too. In this part, the first 10 years experience is shared....

It was in 1991 at Kanpur I had my first exposure to computers. Though excitement was there to see the machine spill and spew calculations, records and print outs, hesitation was also at peak as lack of knowledge played a dominant role. It was Bala and Gopu who allayed my fears and thus started my journey. They remain my first Gurus. 132 column, 80 column papers, EPSON dot-matrix printers, Single digit memory (in GB) hard disc computer, 64 MB RAM were a huge thing those days. 512MB floppy discs (5^1/4 in size) were a surprise for me.  Putting ON and OFF and subsequent logging in was a big task to learn. Loading paper in printer and taking a printout made me very happy as if I have achieved a very big thing, that too after wasting lot of papers for one print out!!!. How to load paper in fan fold mode, which I learnt later, is a different story.

Operating system like DOS (equal to present day windows 7 or linux), software like Word star (MS Word now), LOTUS 1-2-3 (Excel now), Dbase (equal to MS Access) were in vogue. The height of my knowledge was that I did not know the difference between an operating system and application software at that point of time. Though I worked in all these software, of course under constant guidance, someone had to help me always for one or other thing. Entering that computer room was a nightmarish experience. Working in Word star release7 (latest version in 92 – 93) was talk of the town. Word wrap feature (equal to “justify” now) was a beautiful thing I remember at that time. This learning opportunity was restricted to first 4 years as I have been shifted to a new function. Though had direct access, I could not spend much time in learning process…

In 1997, when I went to Guwahati, it was a mandatory thing to complete a 15 day crash course as part of computer literacy (though not a formal course and cannot be treated at par with courses offered by Institutions) for every newly transferred individual. But the irony of this course is that they were teaching still DOS, LOTUS, WORD STAR and DBASE, whereas Windows 95NT, Windows 97 were used in offices!!!

A responsibility was thrust on me to work in computer again after a brief break. Should I call this destiny or something? For the first time I had no support to help or teach me. I did not know how to work in Windows 95 environment, though it was menu supported user friendly environment. On the top of it, I was asked to make a presentation comprising almost 80 slides with transitions, animations to be completed within 4 days. Presentations those days used to be in transparencies till that point of time. Copying onto higher memory 1.44 MB but small size floppy diskettes was another problem. I was struggling for copying a file in “Save as” / “Rename” option. Hesitation of Dragging a file or folder into another file / folder was evident. Handling mouse was not in my control!!! Lot of complexities.. It was a hell of an experience. 

It was at this point I went to the boss and told him all my difficulties and that I cannot handle all of this.  I did not know from where the guts and gumption came from, to tell him. Probably the gravity of the situation forced me. To my surprise, he was smiling and appreciated me for my frankness. To add to the surprise, he personally came and sat with me to teach me for nonstop 4 hours about MS WORD, Excel, Power point and Access. I owe and remain indebted forever to JK Singh for whatever I did accomplish later.

To be continued....

Communication - Electronic Media

We have seen the utility and usage of telephones / mobiles, their advancement over all these years in the previous issue…. Now finally electronic media as a concluding part..

The latest medium of communication is being done through e mails, micro blogging (Face book, Twitter, Orkut etc.,) and chatting

I was introduced to emails in 2001. Ten years has passed since then. Similarly, I took up blogging in 2008, Geni in 2008, Facebook in 2009, Twitter in 2010, SKYPE Chat in 2011, though I took up Yahoo chat during 2004 itself..

Even though I started sending mails since 2001, it was mostly from cyber cafes till 2007. One had to face a lot of troubles in seeing the mails in one hour of time and that too not regularly. The surfing charges in those days used to be Rs 30 to 40 per hour. Even the cyber cafes used to say what type of lines they use for internet connectivity. There used to be a monthly, quarterly, half yearly package. I used to take either a quarterly or half yearly package as they used to be cheaper than the hourly rates. It was always tough to keep abreast with the mails, as every day there used be a chunk of mails and would not be in a position to reply all of them.

In 2007, when I joined private sector, email access have become much simpler. I had connectivity for at least 10 hours every day. Thereafter, Internet connectivity had been obtained at home in 2010 thus 24X7 connectivity had been established. All these years the progress has been gradual and steady.

For example Twitter or Face book where one can post their status, attach their albums, and share their thoughts in a smaller way. These days, they are also done through mobiles as well, as appropriate apps (applications) are pre-installed in smart phones. Blogs are the medium, where one puts in their thoughts, experiences, useful inputs, memoirs, travelogue in a bigger way. These can be retained as a History for an individual. Web albums are extensively used these days to store personal albums.

Look at the evolution of technology from letters to Phone to electronic medium in our day to day life. We had been witness to all advancements. The advantages of sharing information across emails are instant and easy though we are separated by miles be it within the country or abroad. But I must admit here that the personal touch in emails is missing. The handwritten letters conveyed so much. Handwriting for example, meant much to us and we immediately connect ourselves emotionally to the person. One can argue that a similar personal touch can be brought in emails as well. However, as one always say, I agree that OLD is GOLD. While I say this, I am not opposed to Technology and its uses / advantages.

We all have come a long way having witnessed everything. Having a Tablet or ipad in the future is not far away. PCs are already being replaced by laptops. Now mobiles and tablets are already on their way to replace laptops also. We are in for much more…. So guys get ready for yet another take off for a smooth landing once more…

Communication - Telephone

Hope the previous issue must have rekindled your own associated memories of your life....

We have also come across Telephones, starting with trunk call booking. In this process, we used to book a call with post office by giving the city and the number to be connected. Getting connected to this trunk call was a huge process with lot of waiting time. One would never move away from Telephone, for the simple reason, that you my get connected any time. There was no definite waiting time. Slowly, that was replaced by STD, which was amazing thing again. All you had to do was to dial the number prefixed by appropriate STD code and you get connected.

During STD days, when telephone was not there in home, serving at different stations, one had to wait in queue for long, to get our turn to contact their near and dear. There were full rate, half rate and one fourth rate prevailing till 2001, I think. So the maximum crowd who wanted to communicate will invariably come after 9 PM to avail the one fourth rates. Those days the charges were astronomically high at Rs 30 per minute…

It was even more difficult, when we have served in remote places. There would be only one STD booth in a radius of 3 Km. If you got connected in the first instance, after waiting for long, you were as lucky as winner of a lottery. You were allowed to make three attempts and if you could not get connected, you would have come back at the rear of the line to give others, their chance.

I remember, having my first mobile in Aug 2004 (recently replaced with a touch phone) and this was a great bonanza. Talking to near and dear was a cakewalk. Gone are those days where we would have waited for hours in queue to speak. Even we were able to text messages, as call charges were around Rs 5 per minute. Though, the charges have greatly come down from Rs 30 to Rs 5, we were very conservative in using mobile phones. Questions like “Do you have a pre-paid or post paid connection?”, “Who is your service provider?”, “What are the tariff charges?”, were very common. In Sep 2005, I bought my second mobile (lost it in Oct 2009) with a different connection.

By 2007, the tariff has drastically come down to almost Rs 1.50. Having individual mobiles, has become a necessity at that point of time. Earlier, when we were sending our family alone from a remote station to hometown, you could get a confirmation of reaching safely, was only after two/three days of journey….  Now what happens, even the individual would have not crossed 100 metres from home. There will be a call informing that you have forgotten something. Take the case of travel from Mumbai to Pune, a distance of 192 Km which takes about 210 minutes. There would be at least 6 - 10 calls / SMS made during this travel. “have taken the auto/ local train”, “have reached the station”. “boarded the Express Train and sat comfortably”, “have reached Karjat”, “crossed Lonavla”, “reached Khadki and got down from the train”, “taken auto to home”, “Reached home”. Communication is being used left, right and centre.

With the call charges costing us 1 paisa per second these days, this is inevitable. The technology has advanced; tariff has come down, with STD becoming indifferent and at par with local calls….

Shall we see Emails, voice and video chat, Macro and micro blogging in the next issue……

To be continued….

Communication - Letters

11 Oct 2011, TOI headlines ….. “Roaming charges to be abolished. Government plans nationwide number portability”.

This news triggered a plethora of thoughts about communication. We all have read that in ancient days that pigeons used to carry messages or use of an ambassador to convey messages between Kings. Later, we also have heard and used Telephone, Telegram, letters, mails, mobiles in our lives to communicate among us. What surprises me is the advancement of technology over these years of written and oral communication.

A simple postcard, greeting Card, inland letter or an envelope posted in a post office going to other part of state / country was amazing me in those days. If my memory serves it right, a post card costed 15 paise, presently 50 paise, an inland letter costed us 25 paise, presently Rs 2.50 and an envelope 75 paise, presently Rs 5. Letter writing habit was deeply rooted in every family in earlier days.

This habit was inculcated in me by my father.  He used to allow me to write at least a few lines in all the letters which he wrote to all relatives. Thus I was motivated to share my thoughts as a kid with my elders and my father never used to amend anything of my portion.

I can still visualize the writings of my grandfather and grandmother. We still have some of those letters, with my father as a prized possession. I remember one particular letter, in which my grandmother had listed things, required after “Delivery” to my Aunt!! Microsoft must have learnt the “monotype corsiva” font from my Grandfather!!. His running handwriting with those beautiful strokes spoke volumes of emotions. His hand writing still remains an inspiration for me.

My father used to maintain a folder for letters every year. I used to read all letters of my relatives, whenever I went on leave. Though I came to know the things earlier, through parent’s letters, reading those relative’s letters later, during my annual vacation, gave a lot of pleasure and the feeling that you were there with everybody at the same time. I silently admired all those letters.

Going back to formative years with defence services had given me a similar kind of emotion. During lunch time, almost everybody will be rushing to mess to have a quick grab. However, all had one daily activity in common. All would go to their rooms to find one letter in their bed, which would be opened in a flash and rush to mess to go through that letter as many as possible times before you land up in front of the counter where food is served!!. There were also days when you did not receive letters, but the routine never changed, as we used to read the ‘old’ letters all over again. There used to be some ‘dry days’ as well, indicating no letters. Those are sad days. Letter writing was a hobby, passion and getting replies for the same, one got unbridled happiness.

We all have heard this song “Sandese Aathe hain” from the famous movie Border. This song even today, evokes the same emotions and brings the essence of communication as part of our life. Communication provides meaning, substance and adds lot of sweet memories to the beautiful life.

Shall we see something about Tele / electronic communication….. Yes of course little later…..

To be continued……

Memory Down the lane..24 & counting.. Conclusion

One would never to want to end such sweet memories.. But things have come to an end so that we can sit back and relax and refresh our glorious past. Sometimes we need to come to present as well. Living in present and maximize the enjoyment and pleasure in present is also equally important. Past memories drive and encourage us to live in the present.

It gives me an immense satisfaction, when I look back those wonderful moments and equally happy to have placed it on record. One may wonder why this all of a sudden… generally it happens in a Silver jubilee or Golden jubilee year.

Though, I thought of all these aspects but I followed it strictly as per Kabir Das’ famous couplet, which goes to say

“Kaal Kare So Aaj Kar, Aaj Kare So Ab

Pal Mein Pralaya Hoyegi, Bahuri Karoge Kub”

Which can be translated as follows

[Tomorrow's work do today, today's work now

if the moment is lost, the work be done how]

When I was portraying each individual, I was living with them literally, delving on those beautiful past. It was an experience in itself and cannot be described in words. It was a journey, a penance….

Though, I have written about only 15 stars, there are many unsung heroes who have associated with me in all these 24 years. “Chubby” Deepak who taught how to speak Hindi (though I know to read and write), “Charming” Shailender, my stiff competitor ( I enjoyed the challenge, though I lost it), “Big eyed” Ram Bahadur Tiwari, “Pleasant” Joymalya Sengupta, “Racer” Jose Noel, “Blue blood” Giridhar, “Smart” Banerjee, The only “Singh is King” Ballu alias Balwinder Singh Saini, “Gentleman turned Officer” Vinod Nair are still refreshingly associated in memories. I dedicate to all stars, including whose names have not come in this series

On this day, 24 years before, we started our first training session at 3 AM…..

Meet you guys after some time, on a different note, but at the same place…. Till then keep “jogging” your memories. I end my series on this note and with even a greater resolution that we keep our flag flying high…

The End

Memory down the lane...24 & counting...Star 15

Seshadri V

He is a very sincere, honest, upright, principled, logical, thoughtful, caring and charming personality. We became friends to each other in no time. Only in magnetism the rule of like poles repel and unlike poles attract would apply. In our case, it is like “Like poles attract”. So much so that he entrusted me with handling his expenses from the first month along with B Kannan. He was one the “three musketeers” as we were known then among our circle. Why he or Kannan trusted me at that point of time is what I am wondering even now, when I look back those days.

Those days were beautiful days, where he used to take care of us by going and fetching things for eating whatever may be the crowd.. When we all did the (in)famous crawling on a Sunday for no fault of ours, and shed our muddy banians drenched with sweat on the way like Salman does these days, here was a guy who stood up and asked bravely about his fault.. He was my partner in those days for maintaining the entertainment room. There was no time for people to spend in the indoors, yet we both had a wonderful time.

Though he was posted in Tezpur when I was in Guwahati, I had two wonderful opportunities to visit him. All I have to do is to inform that I am coming. My (his) bed will be ready with all the facilities on offer. He would go and sleep wherever he found one. He has also come to Guwahati once. I must mention his keen interest in Photography. This I understand he has picked it up when he was in Kanpur with One Mr. Anbarasan. Though his stay at Kanpur was a short lived one before conversion, his interest has pushed him to learn the tricks of the trade faster. As the days progressed photography as his hobby also grew with him.

When he came to Guwahati, we took him to Balaji Temple. He took a snap of us, framed it in a bigger size and later sent it as a gift to us. Even today, it is there in our drawing room reminding us the greener pastures. Sesha also came to Mohali with Mala to spend a day on their return from Himachal after attending a marriage. This was a Tamil New Year day. We spent real quality time with them showing Rock Garden, Rose garden and Sukhna lake.

The family acquaintances with his mother, brother were also nice. Incidentally his brother Krishnan is a product of PSG Tech and was doing his BE when I was doing my Diploma. I met him again on 14 Jun 2009 and 22 May 2010 and revived those memories to a larger extent.

To be CONCLUDED IN NEXT....