We cannot accumulate all knowledge of all fields in today’s world. It is way too much. And thus we have specializations and specialists. When a doctor passes a judgment on our health and prescribes something we accept it without too much questioning. And I have also seen the same happening when people go out to purchase some electronic gadget or item. You take the words of the salesperson as prophetic. I would like to share some incidents in this post in which I hope to convince you to be more cautious and careful.
I went out to purchase a DVD player recently since the old one in the house had failed. My friends will not be surprised to hear that I read the list of all models on the Internet and when I went to visit the showrooms I took a notepad with me for noting down various things. In the first showroom I walked into, I looked around to find predominantly LG and Philips’ players. Onida found a corner spot. I was interested in an Onida model and on my asking I was told that it cannot do some of the things that other players could do. Like? I asked. I was told that Onida does read a USB drive but it does not play Video from it but only audio. I was shocked to hear this and let me explain why I was shocked.
In any player there has to be a central unit which receives the information (today, it is all digital) and makes the audio and video out of it. Now, who sends this information to this unit? Earlier, it used to be only the DVD reading unit but now the players support USB drives and memory cards. So, my logic told me that if you can play Video from a CD or a DVD then you can play it from a card too because in the end there is only one unit which is going to interpret the data independent from where it came! I was not at all convinced. And in the very next shop, I was proved right.
But I was hammered with all kinds of bullshit during this venture. I was told that Component video was useless when Composite video was working. Wrong! I can explain the difference in a simple way. Component video means that the video signal is transmitted in three parts through three cables. In composite, all is merged into one. But in the end, the TV internally splits the signal into three parts again. Now, imagine an essay made into a summary and given to you. You are now asked to reconstruct the essay based on the summary. Can you? Not fully, right? Same way, here! Component video is superior to Composite. And here I was being fed this bullshit.
I gave the salesperson a tough time. I asked him to demonstrate each and every feature of the player. I made him show me all three video modes, made him play USB, memory card and of course the DVDs. I checked everything and took me 45 minutes to get it done. And I am glad I did it. Because I discovered the HDMI cable (for Plasma TVs) was faulty! Had I not known this, I would have discovered it only if I got a plasma TV! Would have been too late then! Is ignorance then bliss? Certainly not! Much against some of the folks around me calling me a nerd or a geek (maybe a fanatic) I am glad I spent my time going through loads of information. I know now at least that what I have spent my money on is a clean product.
Yet another incident where I was saved was when I walked into a doctor’s place for my cough. He prescribes a healthy guy like me (minus the throat) five days of Antibiotics and two other pills. Two days later, this healthy guy becomes weak and dull. When he goes back to the doctor, the doctor extends my dosage to ten days! I know one thing from my experience. Ten days of antibiotics is crazy. And my instinct told me to go for a second consultation. And the new advice given to me was to forego the medicines I was already taking. And guess what? I was alright again! I was given an overdose of sleeping drugs thanks to the combination concocted by the first doctor. And an even earlier incident is when one doctor wanted to suck money out of me for a standard knee injury. Again, information helped me a lot. I knew my problem had one simple cure. Strengthen the muscles of my knee and today I have no trace of that problem.
The whole purpose of telling you all about these incidents is to demonstrate that information is power. Twenty years ago, without books and internet, we did not have that power. Today, we have the power but are we using it? I’ve seen many people getting deceived by jokers and clowns simply because they did not arm themselves with information. I would like to solemnly request you to not ignore information sources when they come along. They can save a lot of trouble in many cases whether it is about a purchase of your computer, DVD player or whether it is about some financial investment or even if it is a visit to a doctor. Insist on demos when buying products or at least read reviews if demos are not possible. If you have some major illness, try to know about it. Remember – information is power!