The Cutting Edge......

My life stage (over the hill and descending) ***  and persuasion means that when someone says "Nokia Apptasting",  I hear the tasting part loud and clear, with the Nokia part barely audible.  Then I tried to decode "App" , and not really being a person who is acronym-enabled or word-stingy, I finally decided to go for the meet and find out. 


A cool monsoon evening, and we presented ourselves at the Ballroom at The Taj Lands End at Bandstand, Bandra to attend the Nokia Indiblogger Apptasting Meet.  

An amazing collection of folks from places as far as Pune, Delhi, Surat, and ages that ranged from 1 year 10 months, to 63 years (or more). A ballroom with some dramatic lighting in hues of pink and blue, and an unlikely combination of a (Master)Chef-Vikas Khanna, a TechGuru-Rajiv Makhni,  and Indiblogger organizers, just turned five, exhorting folks to pump their fists up and down saying "Hurr, Hurr", to welcome everyone.

-And so what do you say about a Tech Guru, a TV celebrity, who doesnt get technical at all, despite the predominance of tech type youths derisively looking down at the food types; Who explains the fun and useful things you can do with the latest Nokia to make your life simpler and happier ? 

 Like a phone being able to choose your best photoface from a set of group pictures, and actually coming up with one where everyone has their eyes open , scowls gone, and backs straight.   

Like a phone so clued in, into the general scheme of things  around you, that it will tell you everything from the restaurants/facilities  in the hotel where you are, as well as  such things, in specific directions, for miles around you. Some kind of Geographical Systems with an acronym, but like I said , I am acronym disabled, and its OK to know simply what it can do. 

Like a phone that will do Food and Wine pairing for you automatically, and a Cocktail Flow App.  It goes without saying that there is also an Alcohol Level App to decide whether you should drive or not.


 Like a phone that I can use to morph some features onto  a different face to convince them, that  red bangs, blue eyes, and Angelina Jolie lips do not suit them....     

- And so what do you say about a Master Chef/Author , a TV celebrity, who teaches Onion cutting to the blogging proletariat, and serves Vada Pav starters to President Obama at the White House with equal aplomb and probably doesnt bat an eye when the Pres says "Zara chatni pass kar na !"   

Like , what do you say when the masterchef  calls up his Grandma in Amritsar to virtually touch her feet, is soundly verbosely blessed with the finest vocabulary, and then he wonders, if Nokia chaps can come up with a feet touching-blessing  "App" ? 

 And you feel like wildly applauding when despite the stuffy Oxford dictionary types officially(!) declaring Mulligatawny Soup as India's favourite soup, he bestows that honor on apna Rasam ! 

 And what do you say , when he addresses the hoi polloi on the issue of onion cutting, demonstrates the correct way to do so, to keep the onion from slipping away, by ensuring it remembers it roots ?

And then it occurs to me that Cutting Edge Technology is employable in Phone Apps as well as Cutting Onions.   Techies simply dont have a clue about Onions, where as Foodies  at least try the Tech Apps,  in between sips and bites.

And I wonder then, if Nokia Apps can be used to morph an onion picture back into its uncut state using all these battered pieces ? And is someone in danger of cutting a finger with this cutting edge ?
 
 With all this creativity happening, it fell to a certain poetry blogger to write something from the POV of the Onion.   

Its Body in whorls,

Its Mind in a whirl,

an onion
traumatized and falling apart...

And she puts

a reassuring hand

on its  Root Knot,

saying,

"You must remain connected

with your Root,

whether you

Are falling to pieces,

Really cut up,

or showing someone a Slice of your life....

And a blushing tomato

watching this, sighed,

saying,

"Kaash ! mai Root Hoti !...."
         

Turns out , I am not the only one who  thinks there is cutting edge stuff happening in not just in Apps , but very much so in Foods and Tasting  too !

Great Scientist, Dr Jacob Bronowski, the mind behind the amazing BBC documentary , "The Ascent of Man " actually did say :

"The Hand is the Cutting Edge of the Mind ! "

Nokiawale, eat your heart out . Food and Onion cuttingwale,  rejoice !

Ab bolo ! 


*** All was not lost. I won a Nokia Universal USB Charger simply for going up on the stage  and doing Cutting Edge "shakehands" with Messrs Khanna and Makhni ...:-))

(posted also on the Indiblogger NokiaAppTasting Experience Page)