Switching Off for a Few Days; Suggest You Do That Too!

In every life there is a winter and a summer. I don't know the exact quote attributed to some Brit writer. I am not bothered to try because internet failed at home and I am in a cyber cafe and, unfortunately, the keyboard in this dingy place - like in other cafes - is just horrible.  If I press a key I have to manually raise it again to type the next word.

My winter came sometime last year. All of a sudden from an earning, hard working, concerned individual I became this bloated and sluggish individual because of a certain affliction. I won't divulge details. Good that my son is working and wife is working, too, or, else, I don't know what I would have done. They are my safety net, which also includes my sisters, brother, and friends. No amount of medical insurance can help you when you are afflicted. They show you the rule book of you claim some expense.

I never imagined it would happen. I had to perforce retire, enough was enough. I couldn't sit for long hours in front of a computer, which is what I was doing. It's an offshoot of the hectic, connected life I led. An internet connection and an airconditioned office can be a hellish trap. Which I realise now. So I am unwinding, getting away from it all in a residential nature cure centre in Ernakulam. I will not be online for the next 15 days, will not be checking mail, blogging, or, social networking. I wish to find out if all this is sine qua non of our life.

Just now, in the cafe, a guy, a harassed-looking one, who keeps smiling at everyone, left. His hair is standing on ends and he was doing something very involving on the computer. Chatting, or, social networking I don't know. But he is coming straight from work. His face shows his fatigue. In him I see traces of the person I was.

So I am switching off for a few days. I suggest you do that too!

(Managed to type this with great difficulty. Hurray!)

John is @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. He blogs here. His Youtube Channel Page. His novel Mr. Bandookwala, M.B.A., Harvard.