The very title may remind you of Marshall McLuhan who famously initiated the Medium-Message discussion through his well-known axiom , "medium is the message". What he was discussing was the fact that the message gets impacted by the medium chosen to convey it.
Let me give you a very simple example to corroborate the McLuhan principle. A radio debate would not be the same as the t.v. debate, right? Nearer home, while conveying our happiness about a new arrival in the family, the way we would speak about the happy news would be different from the way we would write about it, right?
Our blog today is not really in to such high-funda stuff. While writing this blog, I just remembered how connects happen due to media. I am going to narrate two anecdotes to prove my assertion.
For the New Indian Express, I once wrote an article on that disappearing tribe, the family doctor. In my personal opinion, the family doctor is an institution that must survive despite the era of super-specialities. Well, many minor to major ailments are psycho-somatic, and a kind, understanding chat by the family doctor is often half the treatment.
Given such enthusiasm on my part, my article waxed eloquent about a GP (a Maharashtrian) in the locality. My article was read by his long-lost relative, who extremely happy to thus know the whereabouts, came all the way to Seetafalmandi, and they met literally after ages, as the huge Hyderabadi distances had literally alienated them for decades. Next I met the good ole doctor on the way, he thanked me profusely. See, medium (newspaper feature) was the message!
Yet another example. Yet again with a doctor. Aai's homeopath during her very happy stay with Sanju and family in the Woodland Colony was very friendly with Aai. Medha Tai used to like Aai as Aai never ever carped the typical mother-in-law way. She reads my blog entries regularly, and the connect continues even when Aai is sadly not there any more. The same way was re-established my connect with Vaiju Mavashi who, too, misses Aai, but never ever my blog posts.
Media-ted messages may create a lot of sound and fury, not signifying much, when it comes to the public arena. Media can, however, make relationships in the personal space!
Pratima@ A HUGE "Thank You" to the regular readers of my blog. Many amongst you, dear (former-)colleagues and my dear forever students, my bankers/tax consultant, you all never miss a single post. Thanks a ton!
As for Seema, Pannu, Prasad, My Dear Bro, Raju, and our very own daughter-in-law, Ashwini, (and often her Aai) when you never ever fail to give a dekko to my blog, the physical distance does vanish, right? See, medium makes the message!
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