Why I have begun to hate iPods !

I woke up to a wonderful day. So I decided to forego the visit to the gym and substituted it with a nice long walk in Lalbagh.

As I walked up the familiar paths in Lalbagh, I was quite self absorbed. I was listening to the birds, the various sounds of nature and the wonderful morning. I was enjoying the feeling of nothingness and generally quite happy. Then I started observing my fellow walkers. Almost everyone of them had the ubiquitous white earphone plugged into their auditory orifices. Here I was wondering why the devil would you want to listen to bollywood music (or whatever they were listening to) instead of enjoying the soothing sounds of nature. There were a few of the more moronic kinds who were playing the music on their speaker phones. I saw father-son pairs both with headphones. Husband-wife pairs both with headphones. There used to be a time, when the father took this son out on a nature walk to explain,talk and educate. Now they both listen to ipods. No talking.

I am not against listening to music, but I think communicating and meeting people takes more precedence for me personally. Have we become a race of people who don't want partake in anything other than ourselves ? A world of headphones and annoying cell phone users.

If you visit any of the better hotels in India or outside, you will see that the lift lobby , the lift, the restrooms, the reception are all equipped with LCD televisions. Even buses that ferry you from your flight to the terminal have these screens. All of them advertising and trying to sell you something that you don't need. No talking. No saying "hello" to the person next to you. Watch the damn TV and listen to your iPod.

However on the other side of the coin, you have social networking websites where people will pour their heart out. :-)

Its getting to be a weird world ! too weird.