Common Sense near me

Even to this day my father has all rights to scold me and these are the opening lines " ಅಷ್ಟು ಬುದ್ಧಿ ಇಲ್ವಾ ನಿನಗೇ " (Don’t you have an ounce of common sense)

Last year I did my son's head tonsuring ceremony. I am standing near the ceremony hall, fixing up the caterer, photographer and ah! I need a barber. What's a "choodakarma" ceremony without a barber!!!

The techie me pulls out my phone and starts typing "barbers near me".

A loud voice, " ಅಷ್ಟು ಬುದ್ಧಿ ಇಲ್ವಾ ನಿನಗೇ " (Don’t you have an ounce of common sense)" … I ..I am...err... Yes it is my father scolding me, rather my common sense. He says turn to your left and there you see the hair salon, our very own barber!!! It's basic common sense that these kind of ceremony halls always have their own barbers!! Common sense my darling!

We head out to a family wedding. Car fully loaded with my father, both my in-laws and my kids. DH starts the map and I start searching for a "bouquet shops near me". Aah ... again!

The conversation starts off like this - 

MIL: Isn't this where they got married? (Yes, THE wedding hall were we got married!)

My father jokingly tells to my daughter, you know what, your parents got married in this very wedding hall.

DD: Is it? Then why is Appa checking the maps? 

Father: Now, they are checking the fastest route and your mother has left her common sense in the wardrobe! Won't she get flower bouquets right outside the wedding hall?!!

This is the truth of our generation and also dangerously so of our future generations as well. How many times do we bury our heads into our phones, while all that we have to do is to just look up, I mean in the literal sense (;-))?  And talk to people, I mean real talk and not "Whatsapp". In this era of "Near me" are we losing our quintessential "common sense"?

I took a bus journey of 3.5 hrs from Bangalore-Mysore on a late Friday evening and I did (oops, sorry) a peek-a-boo on the phones around me. All head-phones plugged-in, mobile lights glowing (not fireflies) and only Scroll Up, Scroll Down, Zoom-In Zoom-out !!! The only body parts alive and active were the thumb finger and index finger and eyes wide-open and occasionally ears!

My neighbor looked up at me for a brief second when she had to answer her dad's call - "Sweetie, where are you, shall I start from home now?" I did understand that question mark look and I said aloud - Where am I? or rather  "What, is near me?!"

Searching for my lost common sense 👀👀👀👀