maa, tujhe salaam!

there comes a time in ur life when u start feeling very primitive. very tech unsavvy. for me, d time is now. i'd heard that if u have to keep climbing d professional ladder, u need to stay abreast of technology. but this is not professional *those skills are still fine!* this is personal.

at school, at college... i was usually one step ahead of my peers vis-a-vis techiness. *ONLY that* while some dabbled at how to use a computer, i knew programming. while folks struggled with ppt, i was figuring out flash. when d phone lines were busy, i'd simply text home.

in fact, ma learnt to text when i was at MICA. *pa doesn't like technology much. and still doesn't use cell phones or computers!* those were times when texting was a lot cheaper than calling. *even incoming calls were charged!* also, i'm not much of a phone person, so texting was my thing. she, then, picked up abbreviations that not many knew. *mobile phones and texting were quite new in india, then. in fact, she still uses more abbreviations than most people my age!*

then, of course, i started working. and while others worked in traditional media/marketing firms, i started off with "new media". online advergaming was the way i earned my pasta & cheese. technologies changed, and i started working in mobile media. while my frenz were trying to figure out how their high-end cell phone worked, i could give u sermons on mobile VAS, tell u how to make ur battery last longer AND give u mobile market stats. this period kind of made my ma very tech unsavvy. there was no need to chat *since i didn't chat from work*, and since i lived in bbay, she'd just call instead of texting. she, then started texting my bro. *he'd shifted town by then* i r'ber once when bro called me and said "what the hell is 'hw ws ur day? v r gng out 4 dinr, wl cl whn bk.'" that was what ma had texted him. and he blamed me for it. *of course, i told him he was primitive! and EVERYone wud know that. but that's a diff story!*

this morning, i got two mails from ma.
one, with the subject line: "this is mom", informed me that she had a new gmail id, and she'd added me to gtalk, so we cud now chat. the mail was signed off, "cheers, mom"
and mail two was a picasa link to pics & videos of my bhabhi's babyshower!!! pics and videos??? picasa??? URL?? my MA!?! even V doesn't know how to upload videos & send URLs! of course, i logged in *i'm an obedient daughter*. my ma was online... WITH a status message & everything... and asked me to download "proper" gtalk instead of chatting from d inbox. so she cud voice chat with me. VOICE CHAT?! also, i now have to get a web cam. *she already has one!*

i, honestly, have NEVER voice chatted or used a web cam. and then, i realized. my mom is way more tech savvy than i imagined. and of course, more than i am. geez! i better roll up my sleeves and get started. but till i get there, kudos to her! for being welcoming to technology, and beating her son AND daughter at what is allegedly, their game!

wonder what next! blogging, maybe...? geez!