I am in my last trimester and preparing for the arrival of the baby.
I was looking out for a middle-aged woman, who would massage the new born, bathe him/her and also help me with the post-pregnancy activities like giving massage, giving medicinal steam using charcoal etc. Being in Bangalore, I was finding it extremely difficult to find such a lady who would be able to understand what I wanted and also understand in return what she was trying to communicate. Language barrier poses problem when it comes to such personal things. In the mall culture, language hardly proves to be a barrier, because one speaks English there. But these rare and personalized services generally are provided by women who can talk only in their mother-tongue, e.g. Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, which are like Latin and French to me.
So I posted a message on the marathi speaking e-groups in Bangalore asking availability of such women in the nearby areas. I am sure most of you know what an e-group is. It is a community of people who are connected to each other via internet. The group may be based on language, interest, hobbies, city etc. Yahoo, google provide the option of creating such communities of like-minded people and then the exchange of information becomes much easier. Meeting physically is always not possible for everybody, but today everybody uses internet and so staying connected through this medium has become easy. So when I posted my query on the e-groups, inquiring about such a woman, I got many positive responses and got 2-3 references of such women and one of the members, Mr. Pranav Gadre, went out of his way to go personally to such shops which provide materials for the medicinal steam and got their details and sent them to me on mail. I haven't met this person, I do not know him personally. But just because he was also a member of the group where I had posted this message, he helped me out with information. I do not know how to thank him. But this is just one instance of such help, which I got from the e-groups.
Being away from the family and friends made me feel lonely when I came in 2005 to Bangalore. But then I got to know so many marathi friends here, thanks to the e-groups in Bangalore. Mr. Anand Gogate, helped me a lot to get acquainted with this city. He came and met me personally when I came here. I know him from an e-group, which is very much active in Maharashtra. It is a group of the Chitpavan Brahmins, who are spread all over the world and are connected through this group. So anytime a person of this group visits or travels to other state or country, this group helps to find people and help in the new state or the distant country. Be it about jobs, about houses on rent or sale or inquiry about schools, libraries, constructive community work, this group does it all. Interestingly, there was not only a give and take of information, help etc. on this forum, but even cupid played his role here. Alliances took place between the members of this group. Atul and me are a classical example of it. We met in this group and finally decided to spend our lives together. My close friends, Meenal Phatak, Seema Kunte met their future husbands in this group itself.
I got my cook through the e-groups in Bangalore, also all the houses, in which I stayed on rent in Bangalore, through some or the other person in these groups. We have never met each other, but then I believe that god sends help in some form or the other. Atul and me have been very active in helping people get jobs. Doing referrals is one of our favorite activities. It helps other people to find a position which suits their calibre and expectations. So the help which I have got some time from some unknown person is returned in some form or the other to some different person. This cycle continues and I believe it keeps the humane spirit alive in us!
Availing help by just clicking a button has become so easy these days. My friends from office joke saying that my antennas are always active and wherever I find some marathi speaking person, my antennas start sending signals and I happen to strike a contact with them. My gyanecologist in Bangalore is a Maharashtrian, I have found marathi speaking friends in my society now. All thanks to the e-groups. But sometimes, I feel, am I restricting myself by finding only marathi people here in Bangalore. Virtual meeting is preferred by people today than going to meet personally and bonding over tea and talk. But one also has to admit that there is a sense of belongingness and comfort with the people who share the same communication language, isn't it? I have non-marathi friends too and help comes from them also many times.
After all staying connected and being of some help to the community, though virtually, is important, isn't it?
I was looking out for a middle-aged woman, who would massage the new born, bathe him/her and also help me with the post-pregnancy activities like giving massage, giving medicinal steam using charcoal etc. Being in Bangalore, I was finding it extremely difficult to find such a lady who would be able to understand what I wanted and also understand in return what she was trying to communicate. Language barrier poses problem when it comes to such personal things. In the mall culture, language hardly proves to be a barrier, because one speaks English there. But these rare and personalized services generally are provided by women who can talk only in their mother-tongue, e.g. Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, which are like Latin and French to me.
So I posted a message on the marathi speaking e-groups in Bangalore asking availability of such women in the nearby areas. I am sure most of you know what an e-group is. It is a community of people who are connected to each other via internet. The group may be based on language, interest, hobbies, city etc. Yahoo, google provide the option of creating such communities of like-minded people and then the exchange of information becomes much easier. Meeting physically is always not possible for everybody, but today everybody uses internet and so staying connected through this medium has become easy. So when I posted my query on the e-groups, inquiring about such a woman, I got many positive responses and got 2-3 references of such women and one of the members, Mr. Pranav Gadre, went out of his way to go personally to such shops which provide materials for the medicinal steam and got their details and sent them to me on mail. I haven't met this person, I do not know him personally. But just because he was also a member of the group where I had posted this message, he helped me out with information. I do not know how to thank him. But this is just one instance of such help, which I got from the e-groups.
Being away from the family and friends made me feel lonely when I came in 2005 to Bangalore. But then I got to know so many marathi friends here, thanks to the e-groups in Bangalore. Mr. Anand Gogate, helped me a lot to get acquainted with this city. He came and met me personally when I came here. I know him from an e-group, which is very much active in Maharashtra. It is a group of the Chitpavan Brahmins, who are spread all over the world and are connected through this group. So anytime a person of this group visits or travels to other state or country, this group helps to find people and help in the new state or the distant country. Be it about jobs, about houses on rent or sale or inquiry about schools, libraries, constructive community work, this group does it all. Interestingly, there was not only a give and take of information, help etc. on this forum, but even cupid played his role here. Alliances took place between the members of this group. Atul and me are a classical example of it. We met in this group and finally decided to spend our lives together. My close friends, Meenal Phatak, Seema Kunte met their future husbands in this group itself.
I got my cook through the e-groups in Bangalore, also all the houses, in which I stayed on rent in Bangalore, through some or the other person in these groups. We have never met each other, but then I believe that god sends help in some form or the other. Atul and me have been very active in helping people get jobs. Doing referrals is one of our favorite activities. It helps other people to find a position which suits their calibre and expectations. So the help which I have got some time from some unknown person is returned in some form or the other to some different person. This cycle continues and I believe it keeps the humane spirit alive in us!
Availing help by just clicking a button has become so easy these days. My friends from office joke saying that my antennas are always active and wherever I find some marathi speaking person, my antennas start sending signals and I happen to strike a contact with them. My gyanecologist in Bangalore is a Maharashtrian, I have found marathi speaking friends in my society now. All thanks to the e-groups. But sometimes, I feel, am I restricting myself by finding only marathi people here in Bangalore. Virtual meeting is preferred by people today than going to meet personally and bonding over tea and talk. But one also has to admit that there is a sense of belongingness and comfort with the people who share the same communication language, isn't it? I have non-marathi friends too and help comes from them also many times.
After all staying connected and being of some help to the community, though virtually, is important, isn't it?
In this globalised world where everyone is Facebook search or google search away it makes all sense to make use of e-groups to make your life comfortable. Your thought on being restricted to just a certain group is valid on one hand but on the other hand your community people, though at times unknown, are more reliable than others, in case of getting references and stuffs. After all the whole purpose of the e-group is to help someone irrespective of how well you know the other person.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, it does give a social life that you might crave for in a new city.