Falling in love again...with my laptop

Last week I learnt a very valuable lesson in my life. Thanks to a lifeless mess of semiconductors called a Computer..more specifically my Laptop.
Ever since I left India , I was sure my laptop was no good. It had 256 mb RAM and 60 Gb HDD which was pathetic. Even more Pathetic was the fact that it was a Celeron Vintage. I mean in this age of Dual Core and quad core ,Celeron was a Dinasour. And 60 GB as like trying to move a home by packing into a tiny vanity bag. Too much crap..too less flip flops.
Add to this the fact that it was a low end compaq and not very good looking. Kept gathering dust on its screen and to put it simply it was too ugly, too slow, too small and too old(it was only three yrs old). The pages wre loadaaaadddiiinnn for eternity and formatting, defragmenting , reloading OS ,cleaning registry etc all tried and all failed.
I had decided that I wudnt spend a pie on this piece of shit till I throw it away. I mean the logic was this . ..If I upgraded the RAM, changed the drive and bought a new HDD , it would cost 1/3rd of the Cost Price of the laptop. And accounting for the 20% depreciation cost ..it wudnt make any sense doing the upgrade as long as it was "just working".
So gradually the Laptop was used as a stop gap and only for browsing while I did all my work on IIT computer.
One final nail came when I tried to load MATLAB 6 and the computer gave up.

As soon as I earned enough I wud buy a new ..most likely a VAIO laptop...That was the decision made.

Soon however settling down into the humdrum I couldnt get time to think about changing it. Infact everytime I went to a store I was always in the laptop section ..comparing this ..seeing that etc.
One fine day I decided that I needed storage space and my 2gb card wasnt much help. So I started looking for a portable drive and relised that it doesnt make sense to invest in another small flash drive ..I wud go for something where I could do a back up of all softwares . There was an offer for a 1 TB hdd and I bought it.

Now things began to change.

As I shifted the data to the drive. My laptop picked up...but just. I mean nothing noticable but I could feel that it was making a valiant effort. The fan was trying to cool its already overburdened processor as it tried to take on newer softwares,and I could hear it.

You may find it funny but I felt something for this old machine. I mean as I waited for the pages to refresh and heard the furious roar of its cooling fan...I felt that poor guy ..its trying its best. And I felt ashamed of myself. Seriously. I felt that while this laptop gave me hours of trouble free time(it had never broken down even once)..I was denying its basic "computer rights".
Every laptop had rights to better RAM and HDD and here I was being a creep ..thinking of throwing it away without giving it a fair chance.

So I thought lets make a try. I went and bought the cheapest possible RAM 512 and added it. Defragmented, removed junk data and cleaned up the entire thing...including the now dusty TFT.
Half expecting it to respond. As I switched it on again..I expected the same huffing and puffing and maybe a slight increase in speed . But nothing prepared me for the burst of energy.
It was as if I actually had a new laptop..The speed and response was faar faar beyond my expectations and it was actually as if I bought a new laptop.

I dont care about the money spend on HDD or RAM. What I care about is the fact that it taught me a valuable lesson.

A lesson that often we try to impress and invest time and energy in new people we meet. How often do we(make that "I") make a sincere effort to show that dedication to people who have been always there for us?
Yes, that is an oft repeated lesson and u may ask ..oh we knew that all along.
I am cool with that ..I do not deny that . But as far as I am concerned most lessons make a mark when you relearn them yourself ...and this was one of them.

BTW I am searching for a new name for my lappy..Any suggestions? ;)

What Germany is teaching me!!

I have been in germany for 3 monthes and its been a life changing expierance for me as far as I am concerned. Life changing in the sense that I have never have been clearer that I am a deeply religious person..and the religion is India. 

I have never ever thought how sensitive am I about my country than since I have left its soil,never has been the soil of my country been holier, never has been my identity so stronger. Never have I ever been so fiercely angry about my country being criticised. 

Germany is a also a fiercely nationalistic country and its people are generally chauvinistic about their country and I dont know its a good thing but I find myself sensitive even when they are not very critical. 

I agree that germans have their good and very good points. They are public concious and civic to a fault. They use Please and thank u with irritating repeatation. They are professional and workohlics ..and they are very duty concious. Things we cud learn. 

But at the same time the most surprising thong I found that none..none ..i mean none of the Germans smile! I may be alittle critical on that aspect but I travel on a "local train" called S bahn and its quiet as death even at peak hours. Even with rush hour traffic. 

Coming from India I am pertrubed by public silence and since living in mumbai..I dont feel at home till I bump into someone every second. And yes I am pertrubed by people not smiling! I mean its strange..How can these guys not ever smile?

Its not an European thing becos in Paris ..I see animated people..People talk smile laugh..Yeah have seen them dance too!! but none of that here..

The only thing these people enjoy is getting drunk. No other means of fun..!!Yeah I forgot ..kinky sex!Thats it! 

Dont get me wrong I am all for getting drubk and wild sex ..but can that be a national pastime ? I mean even a football game here is incomplete without getting drunk!

Yeah and food..Puhleese! Its sausages ,sausages and more sausages with bretzel! Its not difficult to see that why the people are so sad. u wud be ..if u had sausages and bretzel every single day! 

Its as if these were a bunch of dumb school boys. Its as if they follow a manual on everything. No one thinks outside the box.

Compared to such a living...India may not be the garden of eden but somehow ppl smile..no,they laugh...they plot,they conspire ..they cheat...yes all of that but they live life as they want! And yeah food..food ..glorious Indian food. 

I dont have anything against germans ,just want them to know that ..sorry boss..mera mann nahin lagta!