Innovation, thy name is Zig

We were travelling, in Munnar and Valparai, visiting bungalows that once served as the residences of tea planters. Most of these edifices sank foundations around the turn of the century (the last century, natch), when, we deduce, there were no three-point plugs. And our battered Compaq Armada, old though it is, is not, we hasten to tell you, of quite that vintage. Its battery being shot to hell, it needs a power source or it dies in about 15 minutes. Power was available only via two-pin plugs. Net net: the darn thing was just so many extra kilos in the backpack.

So, while we traipsed from bengalow to bengalow (that is the prevailing pronunciation among the Malayali cognoscenti, so we do as the Romans do), therefore, we took notes in our handy paper note book.

(Now, of course, we're faced with the grim task of transcribing our own handwriting. We had atrocious handwriting in school. In college, our professors whimpered softly when we submitted papers. Computers were our salvation. For years, no one has known that we produce hieroglyphics instead of copperplate. And, as a result of lack of practise over the last decade or so, our writing is—believe it or not, Prof Vishwanathan—even worse. Oh yes. Digression from a digression: we write beautifully with a brush. Weird, innit?)

Said notes were dated, random and self-indulgent scribblings recording our impressions of the past few days, wee turns of phrase that struck us as being save-worthy, a lot of essential data that we had to make sure we wouldn't forget. Which, if one thinks about is, how we've always used this blog. So (fanfare), ladieeees and gennelumen, we are proud to present our latest invention: the paper blog!

Ha, you say. That's just a diary. nuffing new about that, smartarse. Wait, we say. If the the erudite geeks at BlogCamp can call a bulletin board (the real as opposed to virtual type, y'know, board, cork or otherwise, where folks could come pin up or stick on notes) a paper wiki, then we old economy types can damn well re-label other stuff in nonsensical ways too, no?