Pre-weekend-Wigglebutts- Happy Hiatus

There will be a post coming real soon, about a fun topic! I am on vacation from work and consequently keeping a safe distance from computers, tablets, phones and all such weapons. More time with the family and my sweet labradane. But, do stay tuned and don't forget about us!

Social Media: Friend or Foe ?

The answer - I don't know.

Disclaimer: This post is not related to rescue directly. But it will point you to rescue related posts if you read on. It however might be an interesting read anyway, and I would love to hear your  thoughts.

Very recently, I deactivated my Facebook account. I don't know if or when I will return to join the circus.  I thought I would miss it you know? I thought I'd have the jittery fingers, the irate reactions, the withdrawal headaches and all that fun stuff and finally succumb to the Social Media giant and it's invincible-ness (word? no.). But I don't. I honestly do not care, and it feels great. Kahlua still has his account, but we have signed in once in the last week amidst battling Turbo Tax to file our taxes one night because face it - that stuff gets boring quick.

Ofcourse there are a million pros to Social Media. Specially in the world of animal rescue where the power of the FB share can mean life or death for a shelter dog. (Other ways to help are Transport, Donations, Volunteering, and more..). And, I cannot emphasize enough what it means to have Social Media at your disposal when you live 10,000 miles away from your family, and your closest friends are scattered all over the world. If I do rejoin the bandwagon, it will be for these two reasons.

But I have a theory on how things like Facebook can affect your psychology and your mental health and I shared it with some of my colleagues this morning and they too had great inputs. It was great having a conversation about the world of Social Media with an intelligent group of technically sound and well informed people, most of whom have college degrees in something related to computers and programming, and see that they too share similar concerns.

First off, kids. They no longer go out to play. They do not experience other kids, fresh air, a football, a frisbee or whatever other strange object that might bring amusement. I don't think its healthy mentally and physically to be constantly battling flying creatures with some vivid high tech gun or well lit sword and calling it a game. (Please excuse my lack of knowledge of games - the only thing I ever played was Super Mario, and Tetris. Even today, my very close  to new Nintendo Wii is used about once a year to play Tennis when my overseas friends visit and we have had a few too many and then some more.).

Next, adults. How many 'friends' do you have on FB ? How many of those actually call you - yes, how many actually use that phone to make a real phone call on  your birthday ? And I am bad at this myself. Very. I had also become of the frame of mind that wishing someone on FB, was what made it official. Just like wedding invites these days. I think it's cheesy to have your wedding as an 'Event' on FB. Yes, I do, and you can judge me for it.

More, adults. What's your FB personality ? Oh come on, we all put our best paw forward on FB ! We all showcase the best events in our life - weddings, babies, puppies, trips abroad and all the good stuff. I am guilty of this too! My colleague had a very interesting theory of how this can affect one's audience, for the worse. People tend to compare these 'FB lives' to their real lives, and might tend to feel worse about themselves. It's easy to forget that people are on FB who they choose to be on FB. They choose to showcase those events. This does not mean that they have the most perfect, most beautiful lives that their Timelines show!

Even more, adults. Would you really, and I mean in the offline world, be aware of what 400+ people say or think? Would you really have that much connectivity, that much insight into someone's 'comments', 'likes' or other such preferences ? No. Should you care what they think, now that you do because you are on FB? No you shouldn't. But you do! Because you are human. So yes, if someone was rude to you on FB, it might affect you negatively even if this someone is not someone you really care about in the real life. I guess my point is there is all this extra baggage that you wouldn't otherwise carry. FB wars, Cybercrime, all that good stuff.. ! You become party to all this because of your constant online presence and accessibility.


I honestly believe that we are slowly and knowingly (yet, ignoring-ly) moving toward some sort of crazy online world domination. Like being in a Sci-Fi film where the major Social Media and Search giants of today, will use all of this information to control our every move. And I am not sure there is a solution. I am not even sure that this is a problem. Weird much ? I don't know. Maybe it's what's supposed to happen - like evolution ?

The best part about being offline, I think happened to me today. I got news that it was someone's birthday and my offline self had to get her phone number to send her a text message to wish her. And you know what? I absolutely LOVED doing it.  And I am sure there is more to come :) It's already begun, with personal email exchanges, phonecalls, and whatsapp messages from overseas. One on one meaningful conversations. No extra unwarranted comments etc.

Alas, the bittersweet symphony here is that I can't share this post on FB, which was where about 90% of my traffic came from. Still, I'm hoping people will somehow find this and it will strike a chord somewhere.

Mysteriously Misaligned Stars

Astrology - Do you believe in it ? I am very confused about my beliefs in this one because I come from the land of where people, who are not me, believe that stars determine everything.  Right from if you are the bane of your family's existence,because the exact time of your birth is just plain unfortunate owing to some strange planetary occurrence; to you having  the modern day Midus touch because you were born when Jupiter was doing a little happy dance.

My point is -Astrology- I don't understand it, but there are people who do, and people who study it, and people who calculate the correct time for every move of their life based on it.


Btw- this post is not canine related.


I've had a string of misfortunes lately. Nothing very bad. Just one of those times where everything sort of happens together. The only way I've been taught to rationalize it is this: A small misfortune that happened to you, has warded off something much larger, or much worse that was about to come your way.

When my second 'bad thing' happened, and I told Sambuddha about it, he said "I know you don't believe in all this, but listen to me, just be vigilant at all times, you are going through an Astrologically bad spell". I've been told this before, and in India it was a common custom to 'rid the evil' by performing certain rituals, one of which my mom would do a slightly 'fast-forwarded' version of - because like me, she is not exactly a believer, but hey.. her daughter was having a spell.. so you bring out the salt .. and you do that thing you do, right ?

So, I asked Sambuddha - when does it end ? He said.... just wait it out.. it will. Hmm.. to a girl who when looked at her birth chart (the one time that she did), it looked like a crossword puzzle gone very wrong. Why was the chart made ?  Because every Hindu family does it. Just as every Hindu man has a thread ceremony when he is young. Except, my dad had his the day before his wedding otherwise he wouldn't be allowed the luxury of holy matrimony. And where is that thread now, Papa ? I don't know, child, I lost it the day after the wedding. Hmm.. so my dearest Sambuddha, you need to tell me exactly when it will end - or give me a formula, or a method.. something!

And I thought it was over, until I was in a minor car crash today. I am seriously upset about it. I'm still paying off this car. It's my first real car and I love it with all my heart. The whole thing was so unnecessary. But it makes me think, had I left the house a minute later, would this have been avoided? I had been thinking of stopping at the laundromat all morning to check my balance, but in the end, I just decided it could wait. Crash.

I have always believed that all events are linked. All people are linked. Everyone you know, you have met for a reason. But are there certain times in your life where the stars are so grossly misaligned that every hand dealt to you-sucks ?  If something can go wrong, it will ?

Do you believe in Astrology ? Do you believe that the planets and the stars are sitting up there playing a morbid game of hopscotch wherein suddenly they decide  to line up, and screw you over? And what is the average time frame in which they decide to un-align themselves ?


And please, my stars, enough is enough.. this is just not funny anymore.