Arriving May 3rd GT Express . Send Bullock cart

The title of this post is  paraphrased from real telegrams that my family used to send when we made our annual vacation visits to my parent's place of birth in a rural village in the suthern state of India Andhra Pradesh. Every year till we went to high school we would make the journey from which ever city we lived in at that time to these adorable villages using autorickshaws, taxis, trains, buses culminating in a bullock cart ride for about 10 kms.

There are several points to this post other than nostalgia

a) Communications :it was not very long ago that radio(not the car radio) was an important tool for news worldwide. Compare that to today half (47%) of all U.S. adults get at least some local news 

and information on their phone or tablet.

I have used telegrams into the late 80's in India. This website i found through a Google search tells you telegrams can still be sent

Till I came to the US 12 years ago i was a avid letter writer. Some days i wish I had continued the habit ( the USPS will certainly be happy)




During our vacations we would also send an advanced letter to my grandfather to expect us during a certain month. This letter would travel the same route we did using almost the same modes of transport till it reached a bus stop 10 kms away (Begampeta village) their the parttime postman who was also the village Dhobi (village level small business doing laundry)picked up the sealed mail bag and walked the 10 miles to deliver the mail to the village. In the later years the postman  got a bicycle.

During these visits as a kid I would remember the year when the village got electricity. My grandfather had a radio before electricity powered by a 9v eveready battery.Today if Twitter has a fail whale my adrenalin starts flowing.

2) Transport. I am really lucky . How many of you can say that you have learnt the art of driving a Bullock cart specially when you were less than 10 years old. I did and its a amazing experience. Happiness i guess is very relative, you are either satisfied that you are doing reasonably very well or be unhappy that the joneses have something you don't have.

The memories of getting on the GT Express train traveling across India and experiencing the innovative vendors on the train and on stations en route selling food, news papers, tea or coffee, sweets. Snake charmers, parrots that tell your fortune all of these were exciting for us and I do not think I ever thought I wish I was on a plane ( BTw as I write this I am on a plane with wifi) We would get off the usually 24 hour train ride and get on a bus. Did you know the way to reserve a seat was to run as the bus pulled in and throw a piece of your belonging through the window of a running bus to stake a claim . Fights over seats were not uncommon. We looked forward eagerly to the bullock cart ride. The people carrying bullock cart is different from the picture above. it would have a thatched roof and hay on the floor and a blanket thrown on top . The hay was to cushion your bottom. There were no roads only bullock cart tracks. Traveling in this fashion rattled every but of your body which no other form of transport has done for me again.


Today I drive a Toyota Camry Hybrid on the Dulles Toll Road. Buses now  go several times a day to our ancestral village and cell phones are the predominant way to communicate.



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at the #sxsw blogger booth

1.2 M Tweets during Oscar night says @tweetreach

The Tweetreach blog has a interesting post on tweets during the Oscar Awards night with a nice infographic



We tracked more than a million tweets during this year’s Oscars telecast (along with partner Mass Relevance). So what did Twitter think of the show? Here’s our analysis of key moments and tweets from the show.

Amplify’d from blog.tweetreach.com

Twitter got pretty excited when: Melissa Leo dropped the f-bomb during her Best Supporting Actress speech Toy Story 3 won Best Animated Feature Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won Best Original Score for The Social Network The cast of Harry Potter, Twilight and other films were autotuned Oprah announced the Best Documentary Feature award (and when Banksy didn’t win for Exit Through the Gift Shop) Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar The King’s Speech won for Best Picture Other spikes were when: Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake presented the animated awards James Franco dressed as Marilyn Monroe Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi’s performed the Oscar-nominated song from Tangled Colin Firth won the Best Actor Oscar PS22 sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow Read more at blog.tweetreach.com

 

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bs7b4

National Sleep Awareness Week (March 7-13th, 2011) it's time to help put an end to poor sleep habits right now!

Less than half of Americans admit to getting a good night's sleep.

 According to a study released by the National Sleep Foundation, only 42 percent of Americans admit to getting a good night's sleep. That's less than half! Like so many others, bloggers often forego sleep in favor of balancing family, friends, and work. Add on the time spent tweeting, updating Facebook, or checking into Four Square and the average blogger has very little time left for themselves.

The makers of the Sound Asleep™ Comfort Pillow are asking bloggers nationwide to join them in celebrating National Sleep Awareness Week by participating in the first ever One Week to Better Sleep Blogger Challenge. Developed with busy bloggers in mind, this weeklong health challenge is designed to help spread the importance of getting a good night’s sleep.

Not a blogger? That’s ok, take the challenge anyway! Visit the One Week to Better Sleep Blogger Challenge onFacebook (Facebook.com/TheSleepChallenge) to ‘like’ the page and join the challenge roster.

Step 1: Follow the seven nightly rules during National Sleep Awareness Week.

Step 2: Blog about the experience.

Step 3: Grab a challenge badge and share.

Sneak peak at challenge highlights: 

•     Night #2 No alcohol or caffeine….
•     Night #3 No sugary snacks…
•     Night #7 No TVs or laptops…

 

The challenge runs Monday, March 7th through Sunday, March 13th. Come join and get healthy!