Age of Technology

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My dearest Komal, Anjli and Amar,

I haven’t written to you in months, though not for the want of trying!

One reason is the stream of visitors. Do not get me wrong, I am not complaining. I like having visitors. They get me planning and sight-seeing, which is a great excuse for soaking up the outdoors. Lately I am wondering if it has anything to do with Ba’s cry of ‘Are you going to visit me after I am gone?’  Thankfully at age 92, she is in good health, but seems to feel that her days are numbered! Therefore has got into the habit of phoning relatives and acquaintances and sending them on a guilt trip!

The other reason is the darned internet. Hence the title.  When I started on the journey of ‘vishfullyyours’, I never realised how little I knew of the soaring internet world. A few weeks ago a malware infected the site and I was not able to write my usual letter to you. Now I am not selling anything and this is really a personal communication between us so who would want to hack my blog? The ‘World Wide Web’ is crazy. Just imagine what lengths hackers go to, to obtain personal details of individuals. And to think the whole world is on the internet these days. So please ensure that you have your backs covered in all aspects of your life. I had spent endless hours drafting the last letter and it has been wiped out in recovering the site, not to mention the charges I have paid to various institutes who are the ‘supposed’ experts in this field. Unfortunately this experience has left me with the feeling that  I have been held up for ransom.

I guess you have been spared of my ‘Best Habit Advice’ letter. There are thousands of ‘Best Habit’ lists on the internet, and instead of spending hours reading these lists, perhaps you can all make your own ‘best habit’ lists and send them to me. I could put some of your habits into practice…it is never too late to improve.

Mobile phones! What can I say? I never thought I would be hooked onto this device, but oh! I am firmly hooked. The evidence: I went looking for a plug point to charge my phone during our lunch break on my Wanderung a few days ago. This was with my group of 27 hikers, walking around the forests of Canton Aargau. The excuse I gave to myself was, ‘Just in case Ba has an emergency’. The Young of today cannot live without it and the Old, like myself, rely heavily on the phone being our memory. Many congratulations to the makers of these smart phones for changing the way this world revolves.

Cars! I guess cars were the latest ‘gadgets’ of my times, specially as none of you use one these days.  I find it my most prized possession. Cars made my life go faster, and phones makes yours go faster. How different would our lives be if either one or both of them were to disappear. Just imagine!

Very often, when I can’t find a solution to the problem I find myself using the phrase, ‘Can’t live with  it, can’t live without it!’ Just like Computers, mobile phones and cars.

Over the past few months I have also added two new pages to the Gujarati Kitchen; ‘How to use the pressure cooker‘ and ‘Variety of flours‘. As always I am thinking of you and trying to help you in your daily lives. The vast distance between us is of no consequence.

This time I will  keep  this letter short and sweet. There are many other stories I want to tell you, but for the moment I must first gather some photographs of those times. I feel a visual input adds spice to the story.

Bye for now and do hope we see more of each other over the coming warmer days,

With all my love, hugs and kisses,

Vishfully yours

Mum