Hindustan Times
Happy and Peaceful Life
If ever you want to listen to a collective howl of irritation and outrage, walk into our Bombay office at about 4.30-5 every afternoon and you’ll hear it. Every afternoon at around 4.30-5, some kind soul spams at least half the people here with an email titled Happy and Peaceful Life.
What the email actually says no one knows, because it is deleted instantly and with force - delete, ENTER! But I can tell you that however happy and peaceful our lives are before we receive that mail every afternoon, the moment it hits our inboxes, our heads are filled with anger and violence. This spammer drives us up the bleeping WALL.
When I get over that moment of rage I wonder: why do we get so annoyed with email spam? After all, we don’t have to open and read it. It’s hardly difficult to delete. And now that almost every email provider offers almost unlimited storage, spam doesn’t even eat into our precious space. But it drives us absolutely NUTS.
I don’t remember being so annoyed by junk mail in the olden days of letters and postmen. I remember returning home as a kid, teen, young working woman, opening the letterbox, lifting out the contents, humming to myself as I walked up to the flat and sorted out the mail simultaneously. When I got home, the letters and bills went on the table and the junk mail went into the bin. And that was that. I don’t think junk mail ever caused me to turn purple in the face and inspire steam to emerge from my ears and flames from my nostrils.
But when I get spammed on email… oh man. The RAGE I feel. There are no words for it. And I’m not the only one to feel this way.
Do we fly off the handle so fast and with such little provocation because of the allegedly ‘fast’ and ’stressed’ lives we lead these days? Or is it because we’re primed to lead ‘fast’ and ’stressed’ lives?
Sometimes I think we don’t actually lead ‘fast’ and ’stressed’ lives, we just make ourselves lead them.
For instance, can I really not wait five minutes for the next train to Churchgate if the one I see at the platform is already pulling out? Must I really run madly down the steps and on to the platform, shoving people aside, to catch that particular train? Must I really put my life or limbs in danger by trying to leap onto that train that has now picked up speed and is halfway out of the station?
Why do I feel I must? Because everyone feels they must?
Must I really run (or walk very, very fast), even when I’m shopping on the Causeway or Linking Road?
Must I really fret when I’m stuck in a traffic jam no matter how late I’m going to be at work or for an appointment? Because there’s nothing I can do about it beyond call to say I’ll be late. Why can’t I just take out one of the books that are always in my bag and take the opportunity to read?
Maybe if I opened that daily mail titled Happy and Peaceful Life, I’d learn how to lead a Happy and Peaceful Life.
Except that the second - oooohhhh, the SECOND - it hits my inbox I howl in irritation and outrage and hit delete, ENTER!
Spam drives me up the bleeping WALL.
(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Kushal Rani Gulab on Thursday, August 13, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Filed under Mumbai · Tagged email spam, emails, junk mails, spam messages, spams
hmmm spam is bad.heheh you sound really irritated.
but i would say, many others actually enjoy receiving emails but only show disgust to appear as if they get lots of mails….
Also i think the control that we execute over our computers tends to spill over into our life where we want everything to happen quickly, perfectly instantly or just happen without any effort from us. impatience is high and i can see that in the bus stops too !
http://mywriterkeeda.wordpress.com
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Alec, I don’t think I control my computer. The way it behaves, I think it’s trying to control me.
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Maam That’s a nice post………..absolutely insightful…….It’s a human tendency we hate doing things which consumes our time for disinterested activity alike the spam mail. Inspite of knowing the fact that cribbing will only add more sorrows we still blame everything beside us and fail to analyse our own weaknesses and in the bargain our peace and happiness is lost.
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Thanks, Hope.
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Try SHIFT+DEL for a change, you won’t be needing to delete it from Recycle Bin again.
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Ah. Thank you, Sharat.
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Ishmart Alec Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
you could also set rules on your outlook so that future mails from whoever you want goes directly to junk. someone please explain the steps.. too lazy to type here. .lol
http://mywriterkeeda.wordpress.com
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Well, the opening page (the page that opens up just after one logs into the a/c) of most email accounts used to indicate only the number of new messages in inbox but not the senders’ id or the content of the mail. Even the messengers that indicate new mails only used to say tell how many mails you have in your inbox. Now, all of us are always anticipating some mail from somewhere. The sight of “Inbox (1)” almost leads you to believe that you finally got the email you were expecting eagerly. One can only imagine the plight you realize it’s a mass mail sent out to manipulate your brain into buying something. I think this is what triggers the anger.
Yahoo, MSN mails used to have this kind of setup. While Yahoo changed (I think because of Gmail) the Hotmail a/c still has this feature. Yahoo messenger and Gtalk not only indicate how many new emails you get, but also the sender’s id as well as subject line and partial content of the mail. MSN messenger lacks this feature.
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I don’t use Hotmail, Hradayesh. But even with Yahoo and Gmail, I get very annoyed by spam.
Oh well. One day I shall overcome this rage and then I’ll be qualified to open an ashram in the spiritual Himalayas.
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i’d say yes we are primed to lead a fast and stressful life. we are trained to get a perverse delight from the stressful pace. taking a moment away from it all and just breathing, helps to relax but then where do we have the time to live? we are too busy and stressed out
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Zigzactly, Rose. It’s a strange kind of showing off. People are VERY weird.
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We have to release that stress somewhere..what better than a spam..its a good punching bag;), for that matter every thing that seems extra from our set routine seems like an enemy…
a sec wasted and theres a blast. We all know hoe to lead a happy life…we dont need a writeup for it…but our current situation is the way we choose to live. The way we’d like to think out of the box, we would be the inspiration for our own selves..Until ten damn spam!!!
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Sana: Grin. There goes my keyboard!
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Well, everybody needs a punching bag, do we not?
Impatience is quite deadly in the flow of our life. It seems to ban us from all the happiness that we can get from it. As you said, you can just keep mumbling “damn this service, damn these people, I’m getting late. What the hell is this and just #(*^@$&*%*&@$ beep beep beep beep beep beeeeep”.
But if we could just see that it has to be what it is, we could stop worrying and as you said, start reading that book in your bag. Why to waste time saying bad words and spoiling your tongue which will have no impact on anything. If ya want, you can contact the officials and speak to them ( and probably waste more time, until organized for sure! ).
Another impatient idiotic behavior showed by us, quite commonly, is creating commotion and destroying property. There’s some mishappening, say rise of prices of petrol. Then people go on the road and set fire to some of the buses. Something happens or not or not is another matter. What is for sure is, the next day either you won’t get the bus entirely or its fare would’ve been increased. So, who was at the loss? Isn’t difficult to say that, is it?
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Oh yes, Shivam, I’ve always wondered at the logic of destroying public property when, for whatever it’s worth, that public property is for OUR use.
Bizarre.
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My dear city-slicker,
Time to take a break. De stress.
Spend a week somwhere in the wilderness with the phone off, a pile of books with an unlimited supply of some nice refreshing drink…….(I took a huge supply of spiced buttermilk and beer)
Trust me, the ladies in my life think I am a different person……..!!!!
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Kushal Reply:
August 15th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Chaas, beer and books. Atul, you are a man after my own heart. Such a trip is planned for the end of the month, for three days, not a week, but I’m really looking forward to it.
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I am repeating my request. Use dictaphone.
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Bunny, our patience and tolerance thresholds have gone down notches, ‘coz we’re being bombarded with too much information and with having very limited time, to absorb it all. There’s a whole lot more, vying for our attention now and every deadline has to be met, like, yesterday. Silly intrusions like spam mail, interfere with thought patterns and to a writer that can be a royal pain in the b..t.
, changing the desktop wallpaper to a lush, green meadow and a few pranayams should hopefully, turn the 
to :). Even better still, you could come treking with me on the week-ends.
This is why, our temperaments tend to behave, akin to pressure cooker valves. It’s also about, not being closer enough to or more in touch with salubrious, natural environs, which work as a balm on frazzled nerves. For starters, or until you buy a farm-house
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Spam is quite harmless (except for the ones from Nigeria which promise you untold riches, and the ‘phishing’ ones), so better ignore (in any case, Gmail is a boon for filtering spam, the best ever). Personally, I’ve sometimes found useful things in emails marked ’spam’ (technically, any unsolicited email).
As for the traffic jams, yes, a book/magazine/newspaper helps immensely. I get more annoyed at people who cut in unsafely in front, rather than plain jams.
On the other hand, ‘hard copy’ spam (read: letters) are sometimes more annoying, as it’s preferable to tear off at least the name & addr. parts before junking them, in these days of identify theft…
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hey kushal
nice article i totally agree
spam drives us crazy..
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Spam drives us crazy but arent we more crazy when somebody tells us how to be happy?
But unfortunately I delete them calmly like you :-/
I mean how can somebody else claim happiness n peace when they are not in our shoes?
I hate spam
I rather delete all official mails not concerning me with high irritation
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Happy & Peaceful life Is everybody~s dream.Peace & happinness is a state of mind & this I think will come by shear patience & Time. It is easy to advice but difficult to practic`e. No matter every day is a new experience one step towrds the CREATOR.
Plan your activities achieve. This will give u an immence happiness. Happiness is within u It is sober U have to kindle it & wake him & this I thingis the bggest thought one should have.
We always depend on fate What is fate ,it is a man made misery in the disguised form.Misriews do come in life but opne should not get bogged down
The absence of misery is happiness . Buy it.It is simple A STAE OF MIND>
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