Alter ego

In the grim reality of daylight, I am the regular office worker beavering my way through the mountain of deadlines, tasks, issues and all such varieties of soul skewering activities. I have a multitude of bosses in a variety of guises to answer to for things which are really far beyond my powers. Of course, there is no way to make this point clear to them so it is standard practice to just let it be.

Come night time, and I am the emancipated creator. The unrivalled king of my domain in cyberspace free to in ramble on any random subject that infects my oscillatory mind. Little do my daytime adversaries know whom they are crossing swords against. But I do not ruminate on a gremlin atop a skyscraper neither do I enter the closet to don a flashy new uniform. I think and write about the unfamiliar yet inexplicably comforting alleys of my thoughts. In these dark streets, I am the only one who has no cause for fear.

Part Deux

9 months is always a significant number as far the human being is concerned. It's hard to bring up that period of time and not endure any snide remarks. The 9 months that I am concerned is the duration of the second chapter of my USA stint. I was in the middle of devouring steak tips at a farewell luncheon financed by a Pakistani friend when the final confirmation of this changed itinerary came. My flight on Saturday out of Boston stands cancelled and although my mind was somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean already, I must fish it back to this country. Barack Obama took his Presidential oath today and his anti-outsourcing stance seems well on the way to implementation as the guy whose job I am going to take up could not get his US Visa stamped on his Indian passport. Thus a historic day for the entire world bore significant personal importance for me too. Part Deux gives a new lease of life to potential trips headed in the direction of the Grand Canyon, Washington DC, LA, Las Vegas, Chicago, Miami and all such heavyweight names to which I could not pay attention during my first stint. The first stint of 7 months was over and my heart was set for home. But now, these 9 months have joined in like an unwanted baby. May I be a man reborn at the end of this trip. It's late at night but there is never any end to my fanciful daydreams of travel.

Only human

It was only a matter of time. I had to give in to temptation and make a mockery of another pre-conceived notion that I had about myself. An aggravating parrot when it comes to preaching "Be different, don't follow the herd" motto to anyone who wanders within my vocal range, I find myself a slave to a product which has made being alternative cool so popular that it is not 'alternative' any longer per se but painfully mainstream. I refer with much indignation to the I-Pod culture of which I (Bitter shame chokes me) have become a part.

I recently bought an I-Pod Touch on a sudden whim. I hadn't even planned on buying one because to me it represents just one more thing that is gone wrong with our yuppie generation. What's wrong, you ask? Well for one, it's a conversation killer. Sit next to an attractive girl on a flight and before you are through your breath freshening chewing gum in preparation of the potential filled time ahead, the damned earphones are out of the bag and nestled inside those pretty little ears. If cold-shouldering has had a more effective technique, I am yet to learn of it! Besides, the Pod also indicates an intolerance for everything around you, be it the sounds, the people and the flow of life that evades your music doped senses. It is an active ally of ignorance ensuring it's listeners don't know-don't care attitude can be sustained. And it is ignorance/intolerance and unhealthy contempt for other ways of life that is the cause of most of the misery in the world today (Think Al Qaeda, Maoists or Nazis).

Coming back to my recent purchase, you'd think that after all these criticisms I'd be miles away from any I-Pod whatsoever! I already owned a video I-Pod; a gift from a cousin of mine and after the initial intoxication with it's coolness, it pretty much lay ignored in my gadget tray. I was so proud of the fact that I saw it's inherent evil and stayed off it. Then I walk into an Apple store a couple of days ago with a friend and a friend's friend. This friend's friend was looking to buy an I-Pod Touch and I joined them, secretly smirking at the ordinariness of his "path-to-cool".  And darn it's coolness, I found myself buying one myself. Damn you, Steve Jobs for making a product that suckered me into possessing it knowing fully well that I was only at the tail end of the Apple sheep herd. The sleeker-than-sleek design, the ultra coolly coloured icons and the super sexy feel of the touch screen really made mincemeat of my intellectual pretensions. As penance for my faltering into "common man" territory, I shall bequeath this gadget of the Devil himself to my sister. If I am able to rise above the ordinary that is...