My Morning Ritual in Bengaluru

Since the day I got hooked on to the WWW, my morning routine has been this; Rush to switch on the computer as soon as I wake up, even before brushing my teeth. As I walk in later with a hot cup of coffee the computer is logged on:-). My computer does take time with all the rarely used programs provided and those added by me without thinking!

Anyway this was my routine in Thailand, except when the computer(s) got ill with Virus! Many Hard(!) Discs' have crashed and died due to virus! Honestly I could never comprehend how they got infected! I thought the wall of protection created and given for free by the software companies would be adequate! Obviously not!

My routine in Bengaluru is almost similar! Except I had to add some more rituals to suit the local conditions! Here as I sit down in front of the monitor everything looks fine, but the small icons at the bottom tell me the real story!

The google icon, normally in white, is turned to a gloomy grey. The skype icon, which is green when all is well, is murky!

Usually this happens when instead of four green lights, only three or two are glowing on the modem! A sure indication that the internet is not on! Earlier I would call BSNL and complain! Nandini suggested an easier cure for this! She asked me to just switch off the modem and switch on after a minute. For some reason this works most of the time!

This is good advice as it is not easy to get the service supervisors easily on phone! And when I do get them, they put me on the defensive by blaming the modem. The modem is not supplied by BSNL and they were, in fact reluctant to use it at the time of installation. I guess that either their curiosity or professional pride got better of them and they managed to set it up for me.

But just the green lights glowing does not mean that the Internet is working! So when I again complained to them one of the techies put me through a drill ( Ritual!) which seems to work reasonably well!He taught me to log on to the modem website. It is a series of numbers which luckily the website remembers!

Once logged on I reboot the modem!

Then sometimes I do a diagnostic as recommended just for fun!

If all is well the status is all in black. If not, 'up' will be seen as 'down'

I 'reconnect' if the status is 'down'!If it is a good day the status becomes 'up' once it is reconnected or it continues to be 'down'. I then give up and go for a walk and start the ritual again on my return.

A brahmin would understand the importance of a ritual. We are expected to do 'Sandya Vanadana' thrice in a day or at least twice! This sandya is performed to invoke the blessings of surya and other gods!

Now I perform my own style of 'vandana' twice a day normally and may be thrice on some days! I do not understand why the computer (or is it the modem) works after I perform this ritual! I have no clue! That is because I am a mechanical engineer!

I am actually very impressed with the system of diagnosis and correction and I feel proud that I am able to do it by myself! My success rate has been good!

But my question is: 'why do I have to perform it everyday'? It is the same modem and the same computer!

Probably the answer would be: 'the computer gods HAVE to be pleased'!