This is just to share the recent source of excitement in my life; this blog's new page on FaceBook!
Yes, after months of considering, ruminating, fence sitting and hatching the proverbial egg, I have decided to bite the bullet and create the Rainbows and Cloudbursts new webpage on FB! :-)
I am a Neanderthal when it comes to all things tech. Don't get me wrong, I like sporting the latest iGadgets as much as the next person but the minute I have to follow any instructions or read or listen to any word/ sentence/ conversation related to technology, my brain goes into shutdown mode!
I am terrified when it comes to shopping online (the hubby doesn't realize just how lucky he is!) and I am as comfortable trying new things online as a leviathan trying to do a tight rope walk.
When I was discussing this with my 82 yr old neighbour, hoping secretly she would empathise with my fear of technology, she almost gave me a heart attack by proceeding to give me a demonstration of just how easy it was to shop on Amazon!! Here I was at her house, trying to teach her to how to Skype, and I came back having learnt my own lesson in the process!!!
Before I could get over the shame of that, something else happened. The boys have moved from cots to beds and being the closet desi that I am, I was looking for colourful bedsheets for them. Not fitted sheets, not duvet covers with matching pillows, not comforter set (I don't even know what that means) but good old Bombay Dyeing type flat bedsheets with cartoon characters. And I wasn't having much luck! I was fed up of spending hours on-line and ending up with search results that were making me long to throw my laptop out of the window in frustration!
My heart was crying out loud for a Lokhandwala/ Lajpat Nagar type market, where I would walk into a shop, talk to a live human being manning it and ask, "Bhaiya, bedsheet dikhana" (Can you show me some bedsheets please?). So I called up the one person who I was sure would know where the shops selling bedsheets are - the Gujrati girl from a small town near Baroda, who comes to my house once a week to make rotis and theplas!
My heart was crying out loud for a Lokhandwala/ Lajpat Nagar type market, where I would walk into a shop, talk to a live human being manning it and ask, "Bhaiya, bedsheet dikhana" (Can you show me some bedsheets please?). So I called up the one person who I was sure would know where the shops selling bedsheets are - the Gujrati girl from a small town near Baroda, who comes to my house once a week to make rotis and theplas!
"S, I am looking for bedsheets, the kinds we use in India. Where can I get them?" I asked, sure she would know the answer!
And she said, "Didi, aap Laura Ashley ya John Lewis ke website mein jaake online dekho, dukaan jaane ki zaroorat nahi padti yahaan" (Didi, why don't you try online shopping at John Lewis or Laura Ashley, nobody goes to shops here!")
Okay, so that did it!!! First my octogenarian neighbour who can barely walk and then my cook who can barely speak English! Both more tech-savvy than me!
"Where is the nearest puddle so I can drown myself in shame?", cried a part of me!
"Shame shame" said the hubby, always trying to slink out of getting me the things I demand. "Now stop asking for the MacBook Pro and first learn to be tech savvy"
So, partly out of shame, and partly to earn myself the MacBook Pro I have been eyeing for years, I decided to make an attempt at being more tech-savvy. Plus I had this New Year resolution to focus more on writing and be more serious about my blog.
"Shame shame" said the hubby, always trying to slink out of getting me the things I demand. "Now stop asking for the MacBook Pro and first learn to be tech savvy"
So, partly out of shame, and partly to earn myself the MacBook Pro I have been eyeing for years, I decided to make an attempt at being more tech-savvy. Plus I had this New Year resolution to focus more on writing and be more serious about my blog.
So I decided to get rid of this mindset that FB Pages are for blogs & bloggers who are really successful & have a large reader base. After all, how does one reach out to an audience that goes beyond your FB friend list unless you make an attempt in the first place?
So this for me, is that little step and that big leap.
To reach out.
To grow.
To grow.
Towards a dream.
I hope you visit the FB page and share this journey with me.... Here is the link
And before I end, want to leave you with these beautiful words by one of my favourite poets, W. B. Yeats
"I have spread my dreams under your feet.
"I have spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly. . . . . Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams"
That is such a sweet and well-written post. I'm so glad I stumbled by here. :D Learning to shop online from an 82-year-old. Now, that's priceless!
ReplyDeleteSumitra,
DeleteYes it is! But that lady can teach most of us a lesson or two on how to enjoy life and live it to the fullest. Sometimes when she and I discuss when to meet next, she pulls out this diary where each day is full for weeks at a stretch - meeting friends, bridge parties, pedicure, classes at our council's adult education programs, visits to salon while I, who is less than half her age, have a totally empty schedule :)
I told ya! (About the online shopping thingie!) You are becoming one dehati.
ReplyDeleteAnd about the new FB page, wait, it gets very addictive.
Pree, I am a total dehati at heart I think! I might love my wino and can manage for days on steaks or cold ham sandwiches but I now realise how much I love the marble floors, the ceiling fans, the jet showers in the toilets, the footpath ka sev puri, the egg roll and the fhuchka made by the guy who has no concept of hygiene!!! :)
Delete