Whats Up With WhatsApp?

I used many mail service providers, messengers, tools at work for development. With all of these at least there is one annoying thing that makes me disappointed in them. Say ads, say documentation, say ease of use, or say stupid crazy processes that make no sense anyone.

My favorites among all are Perl( the programming language that I use at work) and the WhatsApp. Never did I like anything else more than these tools that I use in my day-to-day life. Why is it that WhatsApp is so popular? I have been using it only for an year and I am totally in love with this mobile application. What is so great about it - it's simplicity.

No Gimmicks
It does not ask for you email ID or for signup. No stupid reminders or advertisements. No invitation requests. If you are on someone's contact list they can message you. Of course there is a block feature to block users from messaging. You have a smart phone and whatsapp installed, then there is no better way to communicate with your friends and family than WhatsApp.

Share Anything You Like
You can share texts, images, files, videos, audio and what not. It uses internet to send or receive. How simple is that? It is platform independent. How cool is that? There is no upload first, set the privacy and then share. You send to the people you want to and there you go. Its shared.

Respect for Privacy
Is there a way to make your cover photo on facebook not public? Seriously? Who made those rules that cover photo has to be public for people to know you? How should I choose not to make these too personal? You share with only those who are on your contact list. Of course you share your number only with trusted people. And even on top of it you always have "Block" feature.

Ease Of Use
User interface is so easy to use that any naive user who is not a tech savvy can adapt and use it. How thoughtful of that? Most importantly it is free of cost for an year and a negligible subscription fee of 1$/year. I have my Dhobi's number on my contact list and am surprised to know that he uses WhatsApp too. He cannot even do a simple addition of numbers.

Literature
I send a message to my friend on Facebook and it gives me another notification to tell if the message is delivered or not. Showing me a red indicator that message was not sent. And how does WhatsApp do it? With simple tick marks. Not so fussy about notifications you see? Isn't that enough? Telling you the status using a simple symbol than "Sent" or  "Not Sent" blah blah. Who needs literature here?

Speed
And talk about the speed! I bet no other messengers can match that speed and THAT is why it beats the rest. Could you wait even for half a second when you have to share a good news with your loved ones? All the time spent on WhatsApp is on sharing but no on waiting.

And did it earn anything by being so cheap? Oh yes! Guess who's buying WhatsApp for 20 billion dollars. Gaint in Social Network Sites - The Facebook. When they started developing WhatsApp, did they get threatened, disheartened by other messengers available in the market? Did they think of the profits? Did they think it would sustain and beat the rest? What was their motive?  Did they have a strategy? Or it was just do it and lets see what happens, and then the luck favored them?

Also posted on MouthShut.

La Vie En Rose

I never believed that there should be one special day to celebrate love. And only one person to celebrate love with. Your valentine can be your Mom, a friend, even a pet apart from just the usual of having your partner as a valentine. Anyways Feb 11th is the day I  first met my husband. So this happens to be a special day and because everyone around talks so much about this month, and valentines day and blah blah we were forced to treat 11th as our special day.

My idea was to have a nice dinner at home watching one of "MY" favorite movies. Well before marriage I made a big list of movies I would watch with my husband again someday. So this time it was "The Bridges of Madison County". How our day ended up watching boring, cynical and depressing "Her" movie and eating in a restaurant is a different story.

When I watched this movie for the first time, I was not married then. Basically if my husband has to describe this movie he would say it is a movie based on adultery. Not on love. Back then when I was single, somehow I failed to notice that Francesca was married. All I could see in the movie was two souls Francesca and Robert falling in love that they lived and longed for till their death. A sweet short story of four days that they cherished and the only reason they could continue living the way they were living with their mundane routine life's.  I have posted already on this movie and its here.

When I watched it this time. Well on valentines day i.e, Feb 14th and of course alone. I saw it differently. Somehow the scenes where Francesca or Robert were conscious of the society, the neighbors and even the guilt that Francesca has were unnoticed. But now I see them and it all appears to be such a cliche. But this movie should still be watched my married people. It does not show the adultery but it shows what a marriage should not miss. The love between Robert and Francesca is something that SHOULD be there between a husband and wife. Most importantly when you fell in love and got married to this person of your choice.

The way Robert picks her wild flowers. The way he offers a helping hand in the kitchen, the way they have conversations over dinner or a drink. The way they are curious about each other and each others life's. The way they are living it up than walking through it as machines programmed to do so. Building beautiful memories that can last a life time. Memory of 4 days on which Francesca pulled her whole life through.

Well, I did watch a movie(Wall-E) and a TV series(How I Met Your Mother) this month and co-incidentally they had this song being played and this has been on a repeat-mode lately. To all those in love:

Hold me close and hold me fast
This magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose
When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose

When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart
A world where roses bloom
And when you speak
Angels sing from above
Every day words
Seem to turn into love songs
Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose

I thought that love was just a word
They sang about in songs I heard
It took your kisses to reveal
That I was wrong, and love is real
Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose

When you kiss me, Heaven sighs
And though I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose
When you press me to your heart
I'm in a world apart
A world where roses bloom
And when you speak
Angels sing from above
Every day words
Seem to turn into love songs
Give your heart and soul to me
And life will always be
La vie en rose

Also posted on MouthShut.

Innocence

I read this somewhere - "Greatest illusion of life is the Innocence". I guess its true, only when the reality dawns on you, one realizes how blinded they are with respect to the view of the real World. You were scared in childhood, of ghosts, of devils, not knowing they were fictional. Later as you grow you realize there are more things you need to be scared of than those which do not exist. I really was very scared of these things and even till date I do not watch any horror movies. There were nights in my childhood when I thought I wont make it till the morning cause something was going to eat me up and I just prayed and prayed till it was morning. But the next morning I did not even remember the nightmare. On the contrary and on the positive side, today I can sleep peacefully
 all alone( of course with my pet). I know what is fiction and what is fact. On the negative side, now, there are so many devils inside my head that eat me up day and night. When did you grow up so much that you failed to see the day and the night separately? And I read and watch Fiction a lot cause fictional world seems better than the real world.

 I thought friends were forever. They are the family. Only ones with whom you share a secret. You laugh, you play, you fight with. My innocence did not tell me that someday people part and they are gone, when life happens. Today, luckily I have siblings and they seem to be the best friends who were there all the time. I just did not see them, and thought they were the best enemies. What about those who do not have any siblings? How do they cope being alone in this big world? On paper I seem to have many many friends today than those exclusive few friends who were only for you. Should I be happy for the life happening to me or to them?

Competition was to win. To be the best. To be the first. To be the smartest. To be the one who runs faster. To be the one who scores the high. Not be cheating but by playing the game fair. Now, none of these things matter in the race. When did these definitions change? Honesty, integrity seem to be a loser's cup of tea now. How easy was it to trust then. Trust a thing, a person. Is there truly anyone whom you could really really trust your life with? Not the family members of course. Guess it all says why people started building barriers, bridges, borders. There were times when people took advantage, people cheated, people broke the trust. But now all of us have learnt, tackled and withstood. But to be always on check for who the next one is to be careful of?

I wonder where all the time I had as a child is gone now. Time lying on a terrace and watching the stars, when there was a separate time slot in the day to PLAY. Not just go to school and study, but PLAY. Where did the summer vacations go? Where did all the relatives go? Now you don't remember  when was the last time you saw the sun rise or set. Relatives are only a nuisance now. No one stays more than a week or two anymore. I wonder how we used to spend months together at someone else's place. Everyone wants to leave and get back to their own cozy cocoons. And what is a vacation now? Just a time off from work. You really don't care where you go and what you do and how you spend and who you spend your time with. Just hit the road and be someplace. Somewhere lost. You have already seen the place in pictures before you go, enquired with people who had been there, you even have a weather forecast. Where did the curiosity in life go? Oh well, yest its just a click away. For everything you just click. Click, Click and Click.

Should one be happy or sad for being innocent? Is Innocence a flaw?

Also posted on MouthShut.