Microwaved Conversations

We’ve just instituted a new policy in our home. The computers go off at seven pm.

Right now it’s 6:49, so this is going to be short.

Emails are a cold form of communication. Face to face, we can say almost anything to people we like, and even give them a slap, “What the hell’s the matter with ya?”

Internet “communication,” on the other hand, is like microwave “cooking;” so far removed from natural human interaction that we have to use all sorts of tongue-hanging-out-winking emoticons to let people know we’re not intending to leave a smoking crater where they once stood.

Ever cook on a wood fire? You get a nice wood-burning aroma; you get the endlessly fascinating glow. It tastes better.

Even stovetop cooking gets the job done with reasonably real heat (either the red glow of electric or the blue from the gas) in real time. A pot of rice takes twenty minutes.

In a microwave, you’re not really sure what’s doing the cooking. There’s a buzzing sound and a fan sound, but damn it, what’s making the stuff inside bubble? For some of us, microwave=Satan. There’s warmth, but somehow IT JUST AIN’T RIGHT!

I see email as “microwaved conversation:” It’s quick! It’s easy! But are there any lingering after-effects we don’t yet know about and wouldn’t want?

It’s difficult enough to really feel a connection with anybody on this Earth, especially in Kali yuga, and email (a tool for “improved communication?”) can often do a great job of helping me misunderstand you faster.

Unless there’s a semicolon and a lower case “b” so I know you still like me.

6 Comments

  1. Sitapati das said:

    Sounds like the kind of thing people said about the new-fangled telephone when they first encountered it too….

    February 15, 2009
    Reply
  2. Madhava Gosh said:

    The saying is that the internet is good at communicating information and ppor at communicating humanity.

    February 16, 2009
    Reply
  3. Nama Rasa das said:

    hey Ekendra prabhu, i love the writing!!!!! Thanks you and mataji for the tulasi book, we got it a while ago but i didnt get a chance to tell you! haribol!!!! i will go chant now….

    February 16, 2009
    Reply
  4. satyahit d said:

    one study showed 2 plants watered by regular & the other by microwaved water. the later looked 1/2 dead in 3 days
    there is a story of an infant fed microwaved milk which died in hospital 1970
    as far as
    progress” goes, ya, looks like we and animals would have been far better off with gasoline motors . deisel also , and jet propelled and O,
    missles .
    many studies show that cell phones & electromanetic waves cause all sorts of disease
    and may be disorienting honey bee’s .
    but, be here now .. someone else said get out now
    and someone else said
    hare krsna

    February 17, 2009
    Reply
  5. ekendradasa said:

    @Sitapati: LOL!
    @Madhava Gosh: Yeah. Humanity.
    @Nama Rasa:You better go chant.
    @Satyahit: Hare Krishna.

    February 17, 2009
    Reply

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