The Virtual world

The other day I found my grandson (14years) busy with his Tablet which was emanating some music. When

I asked what music was he was listening to, I was surprised to hear his reply “ I am not listening to music Thatha, I am composing music`. I became curious and wanted to know more details. 

 

It seems while browsing through his Tablet one day ,  he discovered an App called `Garage Band`. As a student of Guitar he was curious to know more about it. He found that it is a free music editing and recording software.  It has a variety of instruments that can be played on screen, from various guitars to more than 100 types of keyboards. The App also featured other instruments like  violin, cello, distortion pads for electric guitars, audio recording for song inputs etc   Besides providing sounds of  a variety of drums  it also  features   countless recorded music pieces that are pre loaded so it makes music recording far more easier for people lacking composing techniques. It’s like a virtual studio for music.  He learnt how to use the App by visiting the You Tube which had  a series of videos explaining the use of the APP. My grandson played a couple of  tunes he had composed using the App. I was impressed.

Another App related to travel that he showed me was even more fascinating.  It is called called ‘Maps’. A map service  that provides you with all the basic features like directions , GPS etc. What’s special about this particular App is  that it has a preloaded setting for select cities called a ‘flyover tour’ or ‘3-D tour’ featuring satellite images that are stitched together to make a seemingly 3 dimensional appearance. It gives a feeling of a video taken from a plane. Depending on the City you want to see,you get an aerial view of Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, Empire State Building, Tokyo Tower and other sights . It is a virtual tour of famous spots in selected cities. The 3 D images are so realistic that you feel as if you are really seeing the spots sitting in a plane or a  helicopter. I was thrilled to go on a virtual tour of Paris.

Sitting and listening to my grandson about the variety of games that he can play on the computer by downloading them from a host of Apps besides being able to see movies of  his choice made me understand why modern day kids literally live in a virtual world. They have very little or no time to interact or play with their friends, besides lack of open spaces for children to play near residential areas adds to the conundrum. The advent of smart phones has only made this process going from bad to worse resulting in many kids unable to face the challenges posed by the real world. I will attribute this to the growing no of suicides for trivial reasons by many kids as reported in the media.

While technology has made lives easier to live , it is without doubt  the reason for creating a society without any values. Are we witnessing a growing number of very  Intelligent zombies without any interest in inter acting with real people? I shudder to think of the future of our kids.

This has appeared in the 1-7^th April,2018, issue of Adyar Times under my column `Rajan`s Random reflections`

Feedback welcome on rvrajan42@gmail.com or 9840392082

`Involuntary` Habits & Stammering

 I have this bad  habit of constantly  clearing my throat  which according to my late wife sounded like a` `neighing of a horse`. She would get irritated but felt helpless. In the Western World this could be a possible reason for the wife seeking a divorce. Most of us have some irritating habit or the other which we are not aware of. Some such habits could also harm a person.
 

Like my friend who has the habit of  inserting a pen or pencil in one of  his ears and constantly twisting it  while he is in deep thoughts. My ex-boss , a handsome man with a lovely moustache had the habit of constantly caressing his moustache but suddenly he will start pulling a hair or two from the moustache when he was agitated about something. Nail biting or nose picking are a few other  obnoxious habits which some people have even when they are grown ups.

According to a report in the Press,  experts have divided repetitive, non functional motor behaviours into three categories .”First there are classic tics involving quick, jerky motions of the head, neck or arms preceded by an urge, akin to an itch that needs to be scratched. Tics can also be phonic such as grunting, sniffing,or throat clearing (as I do). Next are more fluid and rhythmic like body rocking, finger drumming and leg bobbing. The report groups compulsive  nail biting, hair pulling , skin picking etc. under  body focussed repetitive behaviours.

All these behaviours are what experts call `Unvoluntary` as opposed to involuntary muscle twitch or tremor. It is interesting to note that the experts feel that such acts are a form of communication. They may be  reflecting the anxiety, boredom, anger, sadness or tension that the person might be undergoing resulting in such behaviours.

Can such behaviours be controlled or stopped completely. There is no  conclusive findings on that.

There is another behaviour,  unrelated to the above reports,  that we know as  stammering. I know of a few friends and relatives who  stammer , some very badly, during a normal conversation. But when they are behind a mike or on the stage, they talk normally. The most well known  example of this was -late `Zul Vellani` who used to stammer very badly when in conversation but transformed himself as a  fantastic `voice over` when lending his voice for a documentary or as a stage actor in some plays staged in the sixtees and seventees. Another example is that of actor  Hrithik Roshan.

'What causes stammering?' Most experts agree that “it is due to a combination of factors - physiological, neurological, psychological and environmental - but the precise ways that these factors operate together is not known, and clearly the combination will be different from one individual to another”. Fortunately it is possible now to get over this problem by speech therapies  and  cures offered by other specialists.

There are many speech therapists in Chennai who claim to provide cure for stammering. Some of them specialise in treating young children with the problem. If treated early the success rate is high.

( This article has appeared in the Adyar Times issue dt 11-17^th March,2018 under my column `Rajan`s Random Reflections`)