Digital Detoxification Digital Detoxification

 According  to a Paediatric Therapist in U K excessive touch screen use by modern day kids is preventing children`s muscles from developing sufficiently making it increasingly hard for them to even hold a pen or pencil, leave alone writing.  A lady speaker at our Rotary meeting mentioned that addiction to electronic gadgets is like drug or liquor addiction. Billions of people in this world, especially the youngsters, are gadget addicts living in a virtual world leading to a major social crisis. I was shocked.  Is there no solution to this problem? It seems there is.

A news item talks about the idea of `Digital Detoxification` becoming very popular in the Western World. The idea is to temporarily get disconnected from the `Data Deluge` that every one is subjected to every day. This is done by enrolling oneself in one of the hundreds of special `Digital Detox` camps which are held periodically in Resorts or in any facility available to the organizers of such camps. In the camp the participant refrains from using electronic communication devices like the smart phones or computers. This provides an opportunity to reduce stress, focus more on social interaction and connect with nature in the physical world. The benefits include increased mindfulness, lowered anxiety, and better appreciation of one's environment. I wonder if people undergoing this treatment also suffer from withdrawal symptoms.

Closer home, many of the Nature or Ayurvedic health camps have already been banning the use of gadgets during the duration of the camps  by participating members. Of course in these camps the primary objective is to `detox` one`s body by various treatments offered by the organizers. If you also get `digital detoxification` it is a bonus .

I believe that such temporary efforts will not cure society from the harmful effects of the `data deluge`. What is required is to tackle the problem at the grass roots level. Right from the time when children are exposed to these gadgets. As the lady speaker mentioned earlier is attempting to do through her ` Jhoola Activity Centre` where  children  are  kept  away from  gadgets  and taught  social and life skills.   They are taught history and mythology through games. They are also introduced to traditional games. She  believes that parents should create and share gadget-free time with their children.  

She recommended that new born babies should not be exposed to any form of electronic screens until the age of two. Seems a good idea. But will the young parents take this advice seriously. I wonder. Because it is the parents who thrust the gadgets in troublesome children`s hands  to divert their attention so that they are free to do their chores.

I was happy to learn about other initiatives like ,`Utopia` started in Chennai which has facilities for fitness, music, dance, play, adventure and art where parents and kids can immerse themselves in a real world away from gadgets.

But you will agree that electronic gadgets have been a great boon to senior citizens, who have retired from active professional life. They spend most part of the day either watching television or are busy connecting with their near & dear ones through `WhatsApp` forwarding all kinds of messages. No need for them to attend `Detox camps`!

This article has appeared in the Adyar Times issue dt 21-30,2018, under my column `Rajan`s Random Reflections`

Feedback welcome on rvrajan42@gmail.com or 9840392082

Doctorate at a price?

One of my unfulfilled dreams in life has been that I could not acquire  a doctorate in a subject of my choice. I always wanted to be called as Dr.R.V.Rajan. Unfortunately, since I  do  not have a Masters degree,  Universities in the South refused  to even consider registering my name as a Phd student. I could have done a Master`s late in life to qualify but the very thought of sitting down to write a formal examination, sends shivers down my spine. You see, my handwriting is so awful that  I can`t decipher my own handwriting after I wrIte a piece. (I find that I am not comfortable typing my thoughts directly on the computer) .With that kind of handwriting I am sure I would never pass any written examination. Throughout my working life, I was lucky to have a super efficient secretary, who would type a draft which would have captured 90% of my manuscript  right and I could make corrections on the printed draft
.

Some well meaning friends, knowing about my  ardent desire, suggested that  I apply to one of the many unrecognised Universities in USA which offer doctorates at a price. All that you have to do is send them a collection of a few published articles on the topic of your expertise,  accompanied by a cheque for the prescribed fee. Within a couple of weeks you will be holding in your hands a beautifully designed and printed Certificate announcing to the whole world that you are now a qualified doctor in the subject of your choice. No research, no thesis, no defending the thesis- A Phd certificate on a platter; Sounded very tempting. But my conscience did not allow me to take that easy route as I was particular about acquiring my doctorate the hard way as some  of my  friends have done post retirement

But I have had the privilege of being addressed as Dr.R.V.Rajan  during a certain period in my life without actually getting a Phd. I had the opportunity to rub shoulders with academics  during my long stint as  a Country Representative and later as a member on the board of AMIC ( Asian Media Information & Communication Centre) an NGO devoted to promotion of Mass Communication in the Asia Pacific region with head quarters in Singapore. At the annual conference of AMIC held in Singapore every year, there would be a seminar on a communication related topic. While as a country representative,  I had to present an overview of the topic of the seminar, there would be another subject specialist, invariably a person holding a doctorate in the subject who was expected to present a more in depth presentation on the topic. Since most of the participants around the table were having doctorates, they would assume that I was also a Phd. Most of the mails I used to receive those days ( pre- email days) would come with envelopes showing my name as Dr.R.V.Rajan.  Later, when I started teaching Rural Marketing  in many management Institutes across the country, I would be always referred to as `Professor Rajan`  - a position which is given  only to a    teacher in any college who is  holding a doctorate. So I  am a professor without the necessary  Phd.  Did my conscience not prick receiving a recognition without  the necessary qualification. Of course not because both the recognitions were offered to me without my seeking them.

At my age I think I have no other choice but to live only with memories of my days as `Prof Dr.R.V.Rajan`

  

This article appeared in Adyar Times issue dt 14-20, Ocotber,2018 under my column `Rajan`s random reflections`

Feedback welcome on rvrajan42@gmail.com or 9840392082                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Lost & Found

Most `bespectacled` human beings like me would have gone through the experience of misplacing their specs; then frantically searching for it and very often finding it tucked above their foreheads. A couple of days ago I found my missing specs in an unusual place.

While at home, I normally don`t wear my specs. It will be lying around in some place , until I wear it when I am going out. On that day  I could not find it anywhere in spite of a desperate search. I remembered that I had placed it next to me while doing my physio lying on my bed.  I was very sure it must be somewhere in the house but I could not locate it. When my housemaid came to work, I told her to look for my specs while sweeping the floors, hoping that she will find it as she always does with the things  I miss like  utensils in the kitchen or  any other personal items like my wrist watch, pen etc. I was relaxing on my easy chair with a cup of  degree coffee and the morning newspaper, when I heard her scream, `Saar, I have found your specs`.   I rushed to find her  holding my specs  in her hand sitting next to the washing machine. She told me that the specs had popped out of the bed sheet, when she was removing the washed clothes from the machine. I was surprised to find the specs  totally intact with not even a  scratch. It had withstood all the churning and twisting in the machine . Amazing! I realized that while pulling out the bed sheet from the bed, the specs which was lying on the bed, had gotten entangled in the bed sheet and gone into the machine. I heaved a sigh of relief and thanked God for saving me a couple of thousand rupees.

On another occasion I was not so lucky. My wife and I were on a visit to Brindavan in UP, the birth place of Lord Krishna, as a part of  our pilgrimage to Divya Desams. A place teeming with monkeys, where you are warned , not to carry anything in your hand as the monkeys were trained snatchers of items carried by pilgrims on their person. Though I did not carry anything  in my hands I was totally unprepared for what happened to me that day. Only when I heard people looking at me and screaming ` Aap ka Chasma ( specs)… `, I realized that a monkey had snatched my specs straight from my nose even while it was in  motion, jumping from one location to another. An incredible act of speed and precision indeed! The next minute I saw the monkey sitting on top of a structure and waving my specs, as if to tease me.  I tried to throw some stones at it hoping that it would  throw my specs back. No such luck. In a few moments it vanished from the scene. I had lost a good pair of expensive specs for ever! Later I learnt that snatching of specs from  unwary pilgrims by monkeys  is a regular feature in Brindavan. I was sure that the monkey was an agent of some guy who was dealing with used spectacles. I managed the rest of the trip with the spare spectacle I always carry with me whenever I am on tour. 

 As they say, In life you  win some  and  lose some!

This article has appeared in the 7-13^th October,2018 issue of Adyar Times