What will I do without you!

Forty years ago, on 2<SUP>nd</SUP> September 1969 to be precise, two computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, exchanged some data in the first test of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), an experimental military network. This exchange was the seed of what would become the most advanced communications network in all of human history: the Internet. Forty is the age when men and perhaps women too, are reported to get naughty. If this rule applies to Internet too, God knows where it will end! It is hard to imagine internet getting any naughtier than today.

The birth of the child called Internet that would become indispensible for the world subsequently went unnoticed in 1969. I can only compare it to the birth of Lord Krishna on a dark, rainy night that went unnoticed until His exploits started in the house of His foster mother Yasodha. People became aware of Internet only in the 70’s with the ushering in of TCP/IP communication protocol that allowed multiple networks to connect and the advent of email. But Internet became a household name only in the 90’s after a British physicist, Tim Berners-Lee, invented the Web, a subset of the Internet that makes it easier to link resources across disparate locations. The rest is history. The Internet population is reported to be nearing the 2-billion mark now!

While this modern Lord Krishna was sweeping the world off its feet with his magical charm, yours faithfully was blissfully ignorant of it until the late 90’s. I chanced upon it only by the close of the millennium but now the keyboard of my PC has become an integral part of my being like the Karna Kundalam! Many of you may have seen the classic comedy ‘Missiamma’ starring the inimitably romantic pair of Gemini Ganesan and Savithri. One of the main characters of the movie was the comedian Sarangapani who paraded the entire movie with a harmonium slung around his shoulders. I have my keyboard slung around my shoulders in a similar fashion. Well, almost!

It is awesome enough to realize that Internet has touched 2 billion human lives but how it keeps in its stranglehold at least half of them is truly amazing. Grandparents with their vacant maxillary and mandibular arches filled with dentures who probably spent all their youth waiting for postman can now be seen shooting off emails to their great grandchildren with consummate skill! They spend most of their time chatting on the internet! They keep sending slokas, mantras and other pseudo religious stuff with stunning visuals asking the recipients to forward them to others with an assurance that if they are sent to at least ten in 48 hours, they may have some great windfall coming to them!

I am a lot more fortunate than others. I get at least half a dozen mails daily announcing that I have won a million dollars in an Internet sweepstake. Before the news of this huge fortune can sink in, I hear from an Attorney from Nigeria telling me that there are some 56 million dollars lying unclaimed in a warehouse in Ivory Coast and if I could tell him my account number, he would have it transferred to me within 72 hours. Out of this, I could retain 15% towards my professional charges and the balance could be invested in any viable business on his behalf. I once wrote to one of them that a friend of mine owned a tea stall and wished to upgrade it to a five star hotel. The Nigerian replied that he had never heard of such a fantastic plan in his life and gave me the green signal to go ahead straightaway!

Internet does enliven my mornings with fabulous jokes about every conceivable subject or should I say, subjects that end in conception! I frantically delete them without a trace but they keep coming back at a furious rate! And then there are interesting offers that might interest someone like the Puranic king Yayati who was cursed to become an old man instantly by his father in law! As there were no internet offers those days for youthful rejuvenation, Yayati had to trade off his old age infirmities with the vigours of youth of his youngest son, Puru. People now need not worry at all as Internet keeps offering ways and means to keep our youth propped up eternally!

Is Internet a bane or a boon? This is a raging debate now! But what will I do without it?

 

Dear Chithra
I am aware that this time it is a drab subject that I have taken up. I,therefore, wanted to infuse some life into it at least through an exciting title that would make people curious. Glad to know you are the first victim and I am sorry too for disappointing you!

If you had wanted to greet me when I first got my PC, you would have said "Ulagam un viralil!" because I type with one finger! My other 9 fingers are totally indifferent to Internet activities.

Talking of all the FBs you get from across the globe for your recipes, I am reminded of what once the veteran recipe writer Meenakshi Ammal said of one of her students. She was surprised that her students could always get better results from her recipes than she herself could! The way things are developing, I won't be surprised if Sony comes out with a two-in-one, A laptop and an electric stove!
Sri

 

Dear Shanthi
"It has helped forge friendships, solemnizing marriages, getting your degrees, chatting, dating and what not."

That was a nice summing up of the Internet. The problem is that the cyberspace is like the "Paarkadal" (Ocean of Milk) on which Vishnu sojourns. If you churn it , you'll get both lethal poison like the 'Aalakala visham' and the nectar of immortality. With proper use of internet, one can become a scholar, a scientist or a great leader. Internet can also lead one to total ruin through self destruction. It all depends on what we choose from it, the letal poison or the Amrit.

That scam you have quoted is typically Nigerian. I was surprised to see nearly a hundred thousand sites on Nigerian scams! Even after twenty years of people being taken for a royal ride by these scams, they continue to put faith in such mails. It can be attributed only to greed of wealth or a desperate need for money.

I fully agree with you that internet is an unparallelled resource for young students provided their use of internet is under parental guidance. Gone are the days like mine when we had to rely on printed commentaries and notes like Minerva and Konar guides!

Internet has indeed made the evening of people like us very enjoyable. I feel immensely happy that I am a father figure for most of the ILites that keep in touch with me!
Sri