Delhi...aha

Delhi is beautiful again. Winters are here. I love them. The sun cocoons me in its warmth. And, if I have some nice food & a good book, I feel complete and at peace with life. I have nothing to complain about.

The sun is glorious, there is a nip in the air, the cold feels fun...on the whole an amazing time to be in. I just love being in winters. Maybe it has something to do with me being a winter born. Or maybe it is just a reason to believe in to add to the fun of winters.

The foodie in me loves the fact that I can eat more, a variety of things. To assuage the guilt of eating more, I can even drink more herbal tea. And, feel better instantly. In these times of instant everything, there has to be an instant remedy for most things. And, winters, food and herbal tea to digest the food, are the instant prescription to insant happiness. And, life is suddenly great. Almost instantly.

Tech moms in a connected world - 3 October 12

Tech moms in a connected world

I am writing this for Intel Fleximoms Tech Moms Blogathon

Let me talk about the Social Media as corporates see it. Ask any IT person and he / she will rant about overused bandwidth issues and the increased expenditures on maintaining the required speed. And, the first step they take is to ban all e-mails, social networking for personal use.

While this step is justified and often is a matter of discipline amongst employees & finances and efficiency of the company, I believe that corporate should consider how they can leverage social media to their advantage. HR, Marketing and IT departments should look at the positive side of the use of social media in increasing efficiencies and knowledge sharing amongst the employees.

Groups can be formed where employees can share ideas, news, new developments, efficient employees can be acknowledged, knowledge can be shared and many more activities undertaken. Engaging employees on a social media platform can work wonders for improving internal communication and also can provide an opportunity for employees to know each other on a personal and professional level. This platform can be leveraged to explain and better HR policies, marketing initiatives, operational issues and organizational processes. Employees will definitely favour the casual forum where they can express themselves freely and such a positive response can only be good for the organization.

These kinds of initiatives prove to be beneficial to the organization as well. Corporates are taking to this idea and more need to join the bandwagon. Their acceptance of the technology and granting freedom to their employees will get them loyalty points.

Tech moms in a connected world - 02 October 12

Tech moms in a connected world

I am writing this for Intel Fleximoms Tech Moms Blogathon

I have been talking about how technology has become an integral part of my life. I realised that age has nothing to do with acceptance and use of technology. Take my parents. My parents have discovered the joys of technology and connectivity. My mother realized the benefits of a mobile phone much before I did. She is a pro at computer games (she just needs to read the instructions once and she starts winning – well almost everytime), knows how to operate a computer and access internet. My father is an avid ‘Googler’. They are constantly enamoured of what the latest technological developments have to offer. You need a number to source a need, they will tell you to call up the voice local search companies for the same, as if it is the most natural thing in the world to do.

Their never ending desire to see what is available and how it is useful, is amazing. They will read articles on FB, even if they do not possess an account and want to know what Twitter is. Is it not amazing that technology has opened up new areas of interest for them and given them the experience of  new wonders?

Some of the most popular tweets are by the senior citizens like Amitabh Bachchan. Yes, age, I believe, has nothing to do with curiosity. We might become smug as we have grown up with all the hoopla around us, but people who were born much before us are the heroes here. For their acceptance of and embracing technology and using it bravely, even if all they do with a mobile phone is to make and receive calls.

They have made it a part, we are the cusp generation and the young ones have been born with the technical spoon in their mouths. Yes, when I see three and four year olds handle computers and mobile phones like they were born to it, I hang my head and hope to better myself. And, meet them somewhere. Maybe, I will succeed.

techmoms in a connected world - 01 October 2012

01 October 2012

I am writing this for Intel Fleximoms Tech Moms Blogathon

What do I write today? There is just so much to write about technology and us and yet it is all too less.

There is an ad for a famous chocolate brand where the protagonist is eating the chocolate and sees the squirrels romancing each other with vibrant colours on them. The ad is funky, colourful and I feel a very apt indicator of indicator of how we have travelled the distance with technology. It makes us colourful, feel romantic about the world, opens new avenues, gives us friends, helps us earn, have fun and generally create a wonder around us.

Although some might argue that the technological development has its flip side, I will argue back that the positive far outweighs the negative and anyway, the negative is for us to control. Bimari hai to dawaa bhi hai. We know the counters to the negatives, well almost all and it is for us to use them effectively.

How else would I be writing a blog (a portmanteau of the 'web log' – quite a mouthful that one!! )? There are multi author blogs these days, micro-blogging and each one is very interactive. This kind of interaction must have been a theme of some sci-fi from Hollywood in the yore.

Imagination has been given a shape and the miracle has become a reality, one which we revel in.

Tech moms in a connected world - 30 September 12

I am writing this for Intel Fleximoms Tech Moms Blogathon

Technology has seeped in our lives - our homes, our offices, our very being. People have mobile phones, i-phones, internet, i-pads, kindles, play stations (the young ones consider anything else primitive), notebooks, ultrabooks and the list goes on. Life, as we knew it when we were young sounds so stone-age. You see youngsters and even senior citizens sporting the latest phones, laptops and using the latest gadgets. The number is ever increasing. And, I would say it is a very good sign.

I am a professional currently on a sabbatical. No one is giving me work, so I will do something on my own like my very own marketing consultancy and work flexible hours. I will even explore options of  freelance writing. How does all that become possible without working in an office, commuting daily and spending killing hours on the roads? Technology!! Since I am getting tech savvier (since Microsoft did not mark the word in red, I assume I did write well), I know the answer to that!! Laptop, Mobile phone, Internet connection are the only office I need. One just needs to see the job ads (for freelance / part time professionals) on portals like Fleximoms, to realise that the companies specify only these requirements. I have woken up now and I think I can have a SOHO without paying rent and fattening the purses of the transporters.

A very common sight these days is people working from cyber cafes – the WiFi connectivity there makes it easy for them to work and conduct meetings or interviews without bothering about compromising the sanctity of their homes by inviting business associates there. And, of course the coffee retail business smiles its way to the banks. But, who are we to hinder progress?? Who are we to complain as long as they let us sit there in comfort and work and add to our calorie count? May their bank balance increase and also their tribe. This should be counted as a very big CSR activity by these companies. In all earnestness, this convenience adds to the ease of working and professionals need to take cognizance of the contribution of this chain in promoting their work.

Hail tech growth….love the way technology connects us all.

Tech moms in a connected world - 29 September 12

I am writing this for Intel Fleximoms Techmoms Blogathon



I want to purchase so many things....what do I do???? where do I go??? Where do I get the details of all the places the various articles will be available? Whom do I ask? My family? Friends? Maid?? God help me!! Despair, despair!!!!!!

In the world of yore, I would not have had much of a choice. But, in the times that we live in, each one of us has been bestowed with a techie within us. The non-techie me even!!! Now, I have the phone & internet to find out where I can source my needs from. Hell, even my local grocer has a mobile to take our orders..... Book a cab online, hop in and go shopping royal style. I have the choice to purchase online without moving my ...little finger, of course (what did you think I was going to say?? Eh?).

Honey, the world has shrunk and how!!

You can purchase books online, you can even read e-books. Did I hear an exclamation? E-books, Kindle, PDF downloads of books, at half the cost. Man, that’s cool and oh so affordable. And, I can write without a pen and paper, save my writings forever and even publish online!!! WOW. Where a printed book can take 3-12 years to get published, an e-book can be published in as less as SIX months…..is that true??? Sure it is.

Standing in a long que to book tickets, pay bills etc etc has become a part of folk lore. Online payments are the order of the day.

Technology savvy, who is that? All of us. In our own ways all of us are tech savvy these days. Getting organized is not such a chore now. Can you see a smile on my face, a big one??? We have technology. We are savvy. We are the world……

Tech moms in the connected world ...28 September 12

I am writing this for Intel Fleximoms Techmoms Blogathon


I belong to the time when the internet had just about entered our lives and there was a wide eyed curiosity about it.

In my office, one 'latest' computer was bought for installation of the internet. And, it was given the prime place in the office, much like a temple in a home :). We would use the computer for e-mailing and using the internet. The colleagues who understood the 'complicated' technology first, became much sought after. People would have been forgiven to mistake them for 'Mr & Ms Popular'. The IT department was suddenly the flavour of the days.

The wonder of the e-mails, which could send communication in a jiffy and was much much faster than the fastest mode those days - The Fax machine, was never ending. The internet started replacing the library. And, a new crisis got added to our list - The internet is down!!!!!  Horror of horrors, how will we now communicate / work!!!!!??? Life changed for all of us. Work became much faster, timelines & the dreaded deadlines became much shorter and we went down a path of discoveries everyday.

And now, it is all a part of our lives, so well intergrated it has become. I am quite kicked to have been a part of this cusp period. I have more stories to tell after all.......

Tech moms in a connected world

Voila, I am in....in the magic world of blogging!! I am like almost a first time blogger and it does look like a magic world to me. Feel much like I am in Wonderland and each gate that is opening to me brings more gifts, more magic, more power - yes, believe it or not - Power. I feel like I am a magician, a power builder who has to just wave the magic wand chanting a user name and password and ......Sim Sim...the gates open.

Who says fairy tales were all meant for children and not for us grown-ups - who understand the world and its world view?? Is technology not opening doors to things hitherto unknown to us and making the world literally and figuratively a single room.

I am a professional who uses technology - computers, phones, sometimes i-pads etc, but I never cease to wonder at the marvel we humans have created and continue to enhance. Click of a mouse, a key, no cables and .....I can see you, talk to you, doctors can treat patients continents apart...basically we can be part of each others lives even when not together. Multiple participants in conversations & games, sharing of knowledge, webinars (we only had seminars just some years ago!!) and what have you!!!!!!!

I am proud to be a part of this connected world order. I am glad I am. And, why not, this is the way to go. But yes, nothing.. just nothing can replace the personal touch of a personal touch. No technology can ever replace that. So, let us remember that and work out a balance to even out things and live happily and progressively ever after.