Tid Bit from My Diary

Earlier this year I received a letter from my Insurance company wishing me on the birthday. This was a great gesture and there can be no debate about that. They had their reasons to be happy as one more year have passed without them having to part with the money that I rightfully think is mine. After all I am the pessimist here and they the optimists. I opened the envelope and read through the contents inside. The first thought that crossed my mind was it would have been nicer had they have used my name instead of "Customer". However I was pleased that they just did not refer to me by a number .... well the policy number. It was only later that I realized that there was a separate wish for each policy. At that point there was little doubt I was in the good hands of machines. Machines operated by more machines. For my next birthday, I wished there will be a little more Human Touch in this world!

Few of my roller ball head pens ran out of ink last week. As I tossed those into the bin, I paused to reflect on the past years. So much had changed over the past 4 decades that our entire lifestyle went for an overhaul. During our school days nothing was disposable, not even a syringe or the needle. Everything was meant to last a life time. We used to get refills for our ball pens when we got promoted from pencil to pen. As a matter of fact we were advised to use an ink pen rather than a ball point pen as it threatened to spoil our handwriting. Today we neither see a refill nor an inkpot! You either throw away the pen or change a cartridge...... Often we used to visit the stationery shop to buy one pencil while an eraser used to last for years and a pencil sharpener used to be a lifetime’s asset. But today I wonder if anyone sold or more importantly buy a single pencil. People buy erasers in dozens and box full of sharpeners. But those concerns our children and they do...