Heights of Technology!!

I know long time....

Was asked to script an article on "Usage of Technology in Literature" for the book readers community!

I was presented with a choice of writing on either Google Book Initiative or Technology in Literature....

The former was more lucrative and a never heard of (at least for me); Thought lets Google it, but later felt it’s THEIR initiative, they definitely would brag about it! So I binged it. On reading more, I felt it would be more of a Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V [which we as is do at work Against Integrity Policy!! ;) ]

So I chose the latter... binged further and discovered that, for some, Literature is too big a word to encompass the works of Jeffery Archer! While the dictionary suggested it’s "the profession of a writer or author"

Talking about technology in literature everyone would definitely like to accolade Adobe for the PDF

Today almost all books are available to us in that format. Not only saving on the shelf space but also portable (wouldn’t have to worry about carrying a 1000 page book on travel) with the help of my PDF reader or PDA. Not just that but also the plug-ins which convert Text To Speech (TTS). Now you’d have the tool reading the content for you too while you read. :)

Audio Books are yet another way of having books in your pocket (thanks to iPod and all mobile phones). Be it the Barron’s (for GRE prep) or novels. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince strikes the silver screen and one of my acquaintances goes frantically searching for the audio books for the first five novels (so that he’d be able to accompany his girl for the movie!) stating “Thanks to Bengaluru traffic, I can listen to them while commuting” (not that you can’t read and drive with the prevailing conditions!)

How can we leave the search engines like Google [@Microsoft lovers: Bing too!! :) ] and the internet behind? They make research papers from all streams (which are also considered as literature) available in a jiffy!

Hey… wait a second that was literature (novel, poem, prose and essays) a decade ago!
Today’s world adds some more to the list (or at least I’d like to believe so...) Podcast, Wikipedia, Blogs, Twitter etc., the authors need not be an individual but instead a group people. Technology has enabled collaborative contribution.

To ensure you don’t get lost in this world of letters and sail smooth we have Technoratti and Digg to help you with what you want.

Technology is unbiased. It can help a guy avoid skimming pages by a couple of clicks, it definitely would aid the differently-abled. For instance, Touch Screens for interactive learning, Braille books etc.

With technology enabling this much, don’t be surprised when you hear your gal say “Huny! I’ve frgttn d art of lttr wrtng!”

However, technology still cannot find a replacement for - A Saturday noon, bean bag, the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee and the book :) or who knows it may?!?!?

Happy Reading Fishes!

Killer combination: Wine and Water - The English and The French

I am really sorry for being away from you for the last 3-4 months...

I know am giving an excuse... Been actually finding some intersting stuff to bug you with... If you can buy that for an answer.. ;)

Commuting to office in Bangalore for 4 hrs every day has been a ritual for me for over a year and a half.

Lets not get to the question.... Am i being wise by spending my time in the cab, instead of re-locating to a place with office in my vicinity?

Well not intending to give a sugar coating to the bitter pill. I have been justifying to all my folks that i am utilizing those 4 hrs fruitfully.
If you think reading, debating with my cabbies (Prashmob and Rangaji) and conversing with my good old friends is not fruitfully utilizing one's time... Rest assured i am paying no heed to it!!

Remember the Disclaimer??... its my blog honey ;)

I almost forgot to tell you this.. Reading usually is the past time for the onward journey... FM, Debating and Conversing is the routine for the return. No i didn't set a time-table or instruct my cabbies.... it just fell in place.

So one evening.. Ranga-ji (Ranganath) our commuting helper ( it is actually a better way to pronounce one's services, hence the word), and i were discussing about the Traffic scenario in Bangalore (okie.. Bengaluru for those who wish to hear it that way) and we were weighing the pros and cons of "CAR-POOLING" as suggested by Radio-One 94.3 FM, for the FataaFat Generation... Thats the way the brand themselves.. So i just helped them!! :)

Doing so, there goes my cell-phone.. The expression and smirk on my face gave Rangaji and Prashmob a hint that i need to get to a conference with some of my good-old friends at school and continue chatting till i get dropped off. :)

Will definitely blog about them soon... ;)
You got it right, i dont spare anyone!! :)

The call reminded me, that it had been a couple of weeks that we got updates from each other. Btw, We remain connected by getting on to a conference and screwing each other for our foolish doings.. Lest i mention that! Bet you must b doing something vigorous than that!! :)

I can actually get a little foul-mouthed at times, traffic was driving me crazy that evening... Being a little perky that evening... i go like.. "Arvind, pardon my French".

AP: "Goes Pardon my what??...... Saala angrezi jhaad rahaa hai....." as he had to change the topic from the fcukn traffic!!

Talking about english, our thoughts got drifted to our tenth grade english classes and the gentleman (Mr.Vernum) who handled it!! We were pulling his leg for the way he recited poetry and shakespeare.

My mind, picking the word poetry from the last dialouge made me to question Arvind. Dude.. u remember the poem called..... Lochinvar ??

AP: Yeah... don't tell me you remember the lines and dont expect any outta me!

RJ: Duh!! There is something tricky!! Remember this guy Lochinvar to get his bride goes all the way to her wedding to win her hand.

AP: Yeah... go on!

RJ: He drinks wine and throws his goblet n stuff... remember that one line was handled for an hour in the english class that day?? Vernum said it was customary for the english then to drink the wine and throw the goblet.

Now the googly comes here...

The statement which i uttered "Pardon my French"....

Poet: Scottish poet
Poem: A part of English literature,with English customs.....
Product used: Wine - A French product (at least thats what i have learnt till date... It was firstly fermented in Europe by the monks in France)

AP: Are you going to tell me about Globalization and shit??

RJ: No, Where the fck in history did they start to have differences?? lol.....

Am leaving you with this thought, think over and feel free to comment... don worry i wont get foul mouthed.... lol.......... ;)

Hope ya enjoyed it!!