NetWorked

Its early morning, and something finally managed to wake me up. No, not the alarm clock. That never works. Some weird combination of mum shouting, sun shining and time running out manages to wake me up. Even before my eyes are fully open, the hand reaches out to grab the cell. Quick glance through the messages and the obligatory Good morning messages done, begins my first tryst of the day with the world wide web—the Twitter app. Trust me, news and updates reach the twitterverse BEFORE they become breaking news. That done, I finally got off my bed.

The radio greeted me, jus like it does,  every morning. More often than not, it beams the archaic All India Radio which sounds the same, every single day, Vicco ads et al. How I wish I could substitute it with the amazing Sky.fm. The app sits pretty on my phone afterall. But Parents prevail. So sky.fm is relegated to some special mornings, when I have the house to myself. Sky.fm brings to you great music via the web and the App works great. Bliss is the only word to describe its music.

A few mins later, I got onto my bus heading to college. An hour long journey that gives one plenty of time for self reflection, day dreaming or jus plain dozing. Its amazing how much a net enabled phone helps you on the bus. The uncle besides me struggles to gain control over his newspaper flapping with the wind as I read the day’s news on the Times of India App, sitting pretty on the phone. Same news, but in a much more comfortable way.  Sometimes, when I feel like getting inspired, there are TED videos waiting to be watched in the TED app. Or the podcast I downloaded last night. I remember the time I used to struggle to find time to read all the articles while surfing the web on the PC. Now, Pocket enables me to  offload all my reading to such Idle times. And of course, there’s always the Kindle app and the ebooks in it. Its safe to say bus journeys are never boring anymore. Or any waiting time for that matter. Internet in your pocket really helps in multiple ways.

Being in goa, one is always surrounded by Tourists roaming around on the rented bikes. Sadly, govt doesn’t bother putting up nearly enough sign-boards. And so you have the tourists, eternally asking around for directions to the locals. Looking at them, I smile to myself, remembering a recent road trip I had with friends. Google maps knew every road, sometimes even narrow alleys. Thanks to the Maps and GPS, we never struggled to find our way. Feed the destination and drive away! Whether it takes the spirit away is another question altogether. But it certainly feels good to know you’re never lost.

Anyway, the phone and the net keep entertaining through the day. Twitter, Facebook and their constant updates. As if they weren’t addictive enough, checking your updates and notifications is now a tap away. But its not all fun and play. 24-7 net means now the emails reach me in real time and if important enough, can be replied to, immediately. Must say, it really feels professional when you check and reply to your mails from the phone :)

As I get back into the bed at the end of the day, I jus saw this Vodafone Indiblogger contest mail in my inbox. Blog on the topic ‘Internet is fun’ they said. I thought back of the entire day and how the Internet intermingles with my day intimately. How it helps me interact with friendly strangers on twitter, read perspectives of people all ‘round the world or jus keep me updated. How it has taken personal entertainment to a whole new level. Yes, internet is fun indeed :) 

This post was written for  Vodafone Indiblogger 'Internet is Fun' contest (www.vodafone.in/fun)