‘There are three kinds of deaths in this world. There’s heart death, there’s brain death, and there’s being off the network’ said Guy Almes, and I must say he is right. I just can’t imagine what would happen to me if my computer stopped working for a nano-second. We, BMM students, are completely dependent on machines for each and everything and they are nothing less than a demi-God to us.
Computers are fickle machines. Sometimes they work like a dream and sometimes they are really a pain err… you wouldn’t want to know where! When the computer doesn’t work, we scream and shout, throw a fit, give the computer a kick, bang it a couple of times and when this too doesn’t work our last resort is to pray to the “Computer Deva” who in all his mechanical glory has chosen to show his ire today. We sit and ponder as to what it is that we have done to invoke his wrath. Is it the fact that we yet again forgot to switch off the computer all night or dropped the monitor’s sibling, speakers, too many times today? Has the computer come down with a bad case of “viral” fever which cannot be controlled by the best medication i.e. my antivirus program? You can try and cajole, plead, beg and even threaten (not necessarily in that order) your computer but the point is that it won’t work. So what can you do?
The first and foremost thing that would come to your mind would be to call in all the favours and goodwill that you have accumulated throughout your semester and crash at someone’s place. If you are the angry young man type or the one who believes that silence is golden (basically you don’t interact much) then you may not have anyone to depend on. In that case your second best option would be going to a cyber cafe. Now a cyber cafe has its own set of limitations. So here are some tips.
The first thing you must do is fallback on books for research. Yes, books. No, they are not archaic. Every college has a well stocked library with excellent set of books which you need to make the most use of. So if you cannot use your computer, then invest some time in research. Read the matter thoroughly. What you speak is of greater importance than what you put up on show.
Now when you are armed with a lot of information walk into a cyber café and spend those 60 bucks. The first hour will go in typing out all the information that you have collected from the books. Another thing to remember; don’t carry an armful of books around. Edit and write down all the important points and then start working on your PPT. Once done, you can go back home and read through all the information you have used. Exercise your oratory skills and practise for a wonderful presentation.
Remember this when you are working on a project, “Beauty lies in simplicity”. Make this your mantra and dole out excellent presentations even when your computer has decided to misbehave. 😉
