Sharing an iPod
This may sound silly-but-I share an iPod with my daughter. I thought this was a cool idea. I mean, a totally in person like me, could and would enjoy a teenager’s music, and probably influence her with my good taste in Eagles, Bob Dylan and Beatles. How wrong was I! For starters I did not anticipate the sheer volume of junk which a 30 GB ( I know- nowadays this is meager, but at the time I bought the iPod, this was awesome) classic model ( a term which straightway dooms the gadget to extinction) iPod is capable of storing. I also underestimated my daughter’s capacity to hear crap, and her ability to identify and lightening download the latest Bollywood and Western pop music. Her indiscriminate taste in un-adulterated noise is incredible. So the iPod gets loaded day after day with hideous music, which it swallows with gigabyte ease and spews it out just when I am in the mood to listen to jazz. Then there is this delicate matter of “my iPod time”. I don’t kid myself; there is no way my preferences are more important than her imperative need to listen to that song now. I mean now! It can’t wait till I get back from my daily half hour walk. THE walk is incredibly boring, and the iPod does help forget the tediousness, provided I take care of a few essentials; Never have my iPod on shuffle. That way I cannot be taken unawares and blasted off my feet with the latest song by a demented rocker; Choose my album to listen well in advance. With the multitude of songs, most of them labeled “unknown artist”, it takes quite a while to locate the one I want for today’s walk. And there is nothing more pathetic than a middle aged person dressed up for THE walk in neat shorts and new Reebok shoes, struggling with the gadget with very visible white shoestrings coming out of his ears. But it looks like we have reached an unholy truce. I have learnt to keep out of her folders, while she has become quite an expert in avoiding the old man’s songs. Incredibly, once in a while, we do come together to appreciate Unknown Artist’s “Had a Bad Day”.
Odds and ends
Interesting data from the book “”Delhi Past and Present”by H.C. Fanshawe; First published London 1902; Page 9 gives the population of Delhi according to census of 1901:
Total ………..….208,000
Muhammedans…..88,000
Hindus………….114,000
Christians………….2,000
Others……………..4,000
Delhi Chronicles
Ode to the sparrow.
My mother once complained that the birds on the tree outside our house made a ruckus in the morning and woke her up early. Over time the birds have fallen silent as the city grew. Our house is now surrounded by tall buildings, and some crows have taken over the neem tree. The small ubiquitous sparrow, who used to trouble my grandmother when she sunned the wheat in the open has disappeared. As kids we used to chase the sparrows , and sometimes caught one; only to let it go after holding it and feeling her heart thud; a fragile creature indeed. On googling about the sparrow I realized that this is a global phenomenon. The sparrows have disappeared from the urban centers. Man’s footprint is visible in yet another appalling and sinister manner. It looks like there are other concerned bloggers on this topic too. Nita has addressed this in much more detail than I could. Other haphazard trails led me to the Delhi Bird website, where images and cataloging of birds may be useful to a novice.
This may sound silly-but-I share an iPod with my daughter. I thought this was a cool idea. I mean, a totally in person like me, could and would enjoy a teenager’s music, and probably influence her with my good taste in Eagles, Bob Dylan and Beatles. How wrong was I! For starters I did not anticipate the sheer volume of junk which a 30 GB ( I know- nowadays this is meager, but at the time I bought the iPod, this was awesome) classic model ( a term which straightway dooms the gadget to extinction) iPod is capable of storing. I also underestimated my daughter’s capacity to hear crap, and her ability to identify and lightening download the latest Bollywood and Western pop music. Her indiscriminate taste in un-adulterated noise is incredible. So the iPod gets loaded day after day with hideous music, which it swallows with gigabyte ease and spews it out just when I am in the mood to listen to jazz. Then there is this delicate matter of “my iPod time”. I don’t kid myself; there is no way my preferences are more important than her imperative need to listen to that song now. I mean now! It can’t wait till I get back from my daily half hour walk. THE walk is incredibly boring, and the iPod does help forget the tediousness, provided I take care of a few essentials; Never have my iPod on shuffle. That way I cannot be taken unawares and blasted off my feet with the latest song by a demented rocker; Choose my album to listen well in advance. With the multitude of songs, most of them labeled “unknown artist”, it takes quite a while to locate the one I want for today’s walk. And there is nothing more pathetic than a middle aged person dressed up for THE walk in neat shorts and new Reebok shoes, struggling with the gadget with very visible white shoestrings coming out of his ears. But it looks like we have reached an unholy truce. I have learnt to keep out of her folders, while she has become quite an expert in avoiding the old man’s songs. Incredibly, once in a while, we do come together to appreciate Unknown Artist’s “Had a Bad Day”.
Odds and ends
Interesting data from the book “”Delhi Past and Present”by H.C. Fanshawe; First published London 1902; Page 9 gives the population of Delhi according to census of 1901:
Total ………..….208,000
Muhammedans…..88,000
Hindus………….114,000
Christians………….2,000
Others……………..4,000
Delhi Chronicles
Ode to the sparrow.
My mother once complained that the birds on the tree outside our house made a ruckus in the morning and woke her up early. Over time the birds have fallen silent as the city grew. Our house is now surrounded by tall buildings, and some crows have taken over the neem tree. The small ubiquitous sparrow, who used to trouble my grandmother when she sunned the wheat in the open has disappeared. As kids we used to chase the sparrows , and sometimes caught one; only to let it go after holding it and feeling her heart thud; a fragile creature indeed. On googling about the sparrow I realized that this is a global phenomenon. The sparrows have disappeared from the urban centers. Man’s footprint is visible in yet another appalling and sinister manner. It looks like there are other concerned bloggers on this topic too. Nita has addressed this in much more detail than I could. Other haphazard trails led me to the Delhi Bird website, where images and cataloging of birds may be useful to a novice. 
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