It all started with a colleague of mine… The first impression that you get of this person is that of a bullock cart with a broken wheel, coercing its way fiercely through uneven dusty roads in the middle of no where, with no sense of direction at all.
Be nice people & pls bear with some more description!!!! At a drop of a hat, he would yell, shout, howl, screech, whine, whimper like there was no tomorrow. Moreover, he would enact every howl with a great deal of drama, to display to the world at large, how wronged he has been and how agonizingly he goes through every single day of his excruciating work-life!!
So watching Mr. Cacofonix go gaga over his own achievements (which were of course a figment of his own imagination and delusion of his unfulfilled desires!)WAS an ultimate, true- blooded test of endurance is something that I reacted in various ways (oh! don’t judge me, I’m only HUMAN!).
(1) avoiding being around him (VERRRRY difficult)
(2)asking him to shut up in a very light, polite manner (umm what’s the polite way of saying “if I throw a stick will you go away?”)
(3) asking him to shut up by yelling “OH FOR GODS SAKE!”
(4) bitching abt him making him the centre of gossip at the water cooler (sure! I had many ppl ready to do that)
(5) making fun of him making him the b u t t of ridicule at the water cooler (sure! I had many ppl ready to do that)
(6)making fun of him in front of him- diplomatically incorporating comments to inflate his over sized ego—needed a lotta creativity & use of sense & sensibility.
(7) walking away in exasperation… leaving it to the almighty above…
We need to be civil. Cannot throw things at people you see. Damn the code of conduct!! But whatever I did, he almost never failed to irritate the hell outta me. Until one fine day I discovered an amazing tiny piece of gadget that worked like a charm! My colleague’s iPod! (Another colleague of course--- there are some good ones in my life- thank god for that!!). so this little wonder put me outta my misery & helplessness by blocking out the cacophony- & allowing the music to flow making way for peace and all da goodness in the world!
So every time the dissonance of misdirected squeals would begin, I would have my new best friend to my rescue! Oooh, god bless Apple.
So that’s how I was introduced to the world of ipods. I got one for myself instantly without blinking a lid. Nano they called it. Music in my car, music in my office, music at home, every where I went. Aaah! Pure bliss.
The 1st few days turned me into a geek hooked to the computer trying to figure out iTunes, importing songs, adding songs, creating playlists, --- a world I was clueless about (until the pod-phase I was always HAPPY & satisfied abt my conventional cd/ cassette collection playing on my car stereo/ music system @home- didn’t need to rake my brains to use that ! naaah! Never!). Then it turned up my inquisitive/ curiosity quotient coupla notches up as I fervently hunted for accessories (silicon cover/ car connecting kit etc) and more than anything else- SONGS! I literally used to keep all my senses on high alert with a search warrant ready to raid any ones (friends & foes!!) database!
Being a pod-virgin I started with a 2 GB Apple-Nano. The capacity soon filled up and every time my heart underwent a dilemma when I’d to let some songs ‘go’ in order to let the fresh collections ‘in’!
So when convinced that nano-se-kaam-nahi-banega, I went ahead with upgrading my std of living and got the 30 GB iPod. Everything being the same- the only difference being the capacity, videos, and search facility. So now some of the funny videos I’d shot fm my canon cam are on the pod. (as of now, I don’t und the concept of loading ‘movies’ on it.. cuz sometimes I feel even the 32” plasma tv screen aint enough to get the full effect of creative fascinating cinema!)
For all you yeh-pod-kya-cheez-hai-bhai guys here’s an insight as to why for music lover, pod-ke-bina zindagi-adhoori hai -
(1) cuts down on the manual labor of keeping organised a physical collection of cds/ cassettes sprawled across one’s bedroom, living room, laptop, car, office…..
(2) size- tiny as it is- its easy to slip in pockets/ small hangbags.
(3) Sound quality- doesn’t trip/ skip like cd players.
(4) Can be connected to any music system by means of a car connecting kit/ iTrip
(5) Can sort songs as per songs/ artists/ albums/ genres. One can create several playlists as per own choice. Egs- ‘for the heart’, ‘soul wrenching numbers’, ‘Traffic blues’, ‘party time!’ etc etc… to play a list songs as per your mood/ occasion. The higher versions have a search options although it is much needed in the nano too…
(6) Can play for hours… without recharge. One can get a charger separately to carry around just in case
(7) Extra stuff- u can save photos, things to do on the calendar, contacts, alarm, etc
Things you gotta get used to:
(1) Computer ki sakht zaroorat hai- Updating, renaming, deleting songs possible only when connected to a computer, on the iTunes.
(2)Coma -has happened only twice in the past year.. Scared the you-know-what outta me. Solution: Keep pressing the center and menu button together for abt 10 secs to jolt it back to life! (with the key-pad locked in case of a nano)
(3) Can’t mess around with it – throwing it around is a strict no no. some screw ups caused by our goof ups cannot be rectified by Apple guys (yeh transistor nahi hai!). if its within warranty they could replace the set it though.
I’ve saved you mortal souls of a lotta tech details & specifications—refer to https://apple.com if you wanna feed the curious cat in you ;)
Also I would like to maintain that I do not want to give Mr. Cacofonix the credit of getting introduced to the pod-world… or may be I should??
Also do help me out in info regarding various websites for procuring music…. The search is always on….
