An addiction I love

Every time you walk into a bigger city, do you make it a point to visit the tech store in the area? Do you wander the store and keep staring at those huge LCD screen even if you cannot afford one?Your love for gadgets is so high that you want to gift your 80 year old grandma a Bose docking station, even though she can’t hear a thing you say to her when you stand a foot away? If that sounds like you, it’s a relief to know that I am not alone!

It wasn’t long ago when I was walking the streets of NYC that I accidentally bumped into a local tech store just to walk out with a camera, an I Pod and a much bigger smile on my face. I knew that my mom wouldn’t have much use of an I Pod, but was a little surprised when I visited her a year later to know that those electronic gadgets are still sitting in the boxes and all I need to do is wrap it up and present it to one of my mates.

On my journey back I had the greatest of enlightenment, (don’t immediately imagine a, little bright light shining at the back of my head, it was just the reading lights on the plane) and realized the truth that I had shopped for my own pleasure than for the need of it. Any one before being named as an addict needs a test and I had my own. I had the option of watching a couple of TV shows; in one channel you had sexy looking babes walking around Bikinis (BAYWATCH) and the channel right next to it, you had a 35 year old dude, presenting a TV show called CLICK on gadgets. That was the moment of truth; I ended up watching CLICK but in all honesty, it wasn’t long before I checked you tube for those scintillating episodes.

When I look back from the day I started earning, till now, my major write off’s have all been in technology.As of today I have an Ipod with a video capability and have never loaded a single video in it. I have a cell phone with so many features that I have to refer to the manual every time I use it. I have a beautifully modeled Sony Laptop with features more than enough for me to make movies of my own, which I very much use to check you tube, reply to my messages in orkut and more importantly refresh cricinfo!. There is so much of technology which lies in my room unused; I sometimes feel I am the MINI ME version of the best buy store.

A friend of mine once told me that he loves driving his Porsche and doesn’t worry about the speed tickets, for he has invested some of his money on the company which makes those speed cameras, that was his way of hedging. May be I should not just stop after blowing up an alien ship or bombing the Nazi camps in my gaming console rather follow what Microsoft and Sony are planning to do and invest some money in them? But in all fairness, life without gadgets would certainly be less exciting. This is one addiction I would love to live with and think about a couple i should be quitting.

As of now looking forward to the Orlando trip and hoping there are a few tech stores not too far from our hotel. Long live gadgets and their guru’s.

Cheers
Madhu