About ten years ago, with internet gaining quick popularity in India, people used to boast about the number of active email accounts they had and the variety of chat ids they had on ICQ and what not!
Today, its all about Orkut! Gone are the days when people would make special trips to a studio to have a professional picture taken. With the advent of digital cameras, studio like pictures are only a click away. People click pictures and say, "Yes!! This is an Orkut picture" implying that this picture is worth showing everyone. That's not enough! People specifically click pictures to put up on Orkut. This being the norm, I suppose this fact does not seem ridiculous at this point.
How about fan numbers and friend numbers?? I know that there are some people who are fond of talking about the number of fans and friends they have on Orkut, secretly compete with their rivals in gaining more of these, and even become someone's fan just so that they will return their favor and increase their numbers!! And when the person does not reciprocate, they gather the courage to ask, "When will you become my fan?"Some even have their own fan list memorized and know exactly when someone adds themselves to their list or God forbid, decides to "unfan" themselves. That amazes me! Is that a norm? Or am I outdated?
And hey, what's your number? Yes, I mean your fan number and friend number? Really? How authentic is that number? How many are truly your fans and friends and not people who are seeking to increase their number or have the strong need to be liked by you? How many of these fans and friends can you count on in your times of need? Which fan and friend of yours are you able to call in the middle of the night to ask for help?
My fan number is 45 today and friend number is 245. Maybe, when this blog is published, it may dwindle to 25 out of 200 or something. And that's ok.
PS: Am about to make a list of all my fans this minute. So if you decide to unfan yourself, I will know. Hope that's ok too! :)
Just My Thing
15 years ago
21 Words of Wisdom:
u ve wayy too much free time on ur hands i guess :P
kidding... no harm intended :)
yes, indeed! phd students do have a way lot of time on their hands!
I always used to feel a little melancholy when I saw the number of friends the people I knew had. Blogging was my escape. And now here you are on the blogsphere, talking about your 245+ friends and 45+ fans!! Where do I go now???
hehehe....yeah orkut, friends, fans has become a huge thing...i have heard that orkut has actually secretly being used by some as a matrimonial site too...to gauge the persons personality, interests, friends and what not!
its funny though that u've written a post about fans and friends list..hehe :)
@ cosmic joy, do you not see the sarcasm in that paragraph and the next?
@ ujwal. :)
to make you smile was the intention of this blog.
i have just one FAN - in my room that is ;)....yeah this entire thing is an interesting phase....i know of neighbours who used to play together now meet only on the internet......
hey read above you doing a PhD.....where and in what - me contemplating one :) would like some insight from the other side of the fence
The sarcasm was obvious. I was hoping my being a smart-ass was obvious too :)
Lazy by birth, sensitive by nature, a nerd not by choice!
This self description is very catchy and made me open several posts here. Came by accidentally and... I'm loving it(like Mcdonald's Ad).
that was an interesting one. A nice read! In fact, I was thinking on the same lines yesterday - how things have changed - after I saw Nikhil Chinappa of the MTV fame talk about his top 5 social networking sites, and the pros and cons of the same! And according to him, Orkut was a passe, and he raised the same point, where are the ICQs of the world?
Just a little deviation, ICQ is an all time favourite for me, enjoyed it's graphics and sounds :-)
didnt count them so far ...well let me see ....
Ah well I don't even log onto my orkut profile anymore - it's become boring. I even deleted my friendster and hi5 profiles.
Btw facebook is the thing now (and as a 'time pass place' it is BRILLIANT - I won't bore you with details of why I think so). If you don't use it yet, you should create a profile.
hehee....thats sooo niceee thenn..:)
@ ceedy, I have one word for you..STRESSFUL!
@ romila, thanks!! and keep coming back!
@ su..neer-yetsofar, I had 2 ids on ICQ..one for random chat, one for known people!
@ sowri, what's your number?
@ deepali, i am appalled! did not know one can reach that stage so soon!
296 frnds but the fans list is small just 30 just 10%..i guess they dont like my songs
yeah u feel nice when u have fans and when u get that ...%trusty...%cool and ...%sexy on your page...
but yes, orkut has actually become a li'l boring now...
I'm kind of embarrassed to say that i don't have an orkut account! Dunno how it works. Everyone i know has one and they've simply given up on me! All i tell them is if someone becomes my friend i shud be able to pick up my fone and talk to them. Does it happen in orkut? But i'm amazed at people's social skills. It shud feel good i'm sure. And fan! man how shud that feel? And 25 u say. Awesome :)
@ preethi..u sure have stayed away from one bad addiction.
@ anjuli..I found an old friend on orkut yesterday. Orkut did not seem that boring yesterday.
aahhh ... i see a fellow geek ... old enuf and geekily old enuf to remember "ICQ".
go ahead "un-fan me" for spamming your blog.
Ya well I get bored fast - it was real cool in the start - finding all these people from college with whom I wasn't in touch with in the last 2 - 3 years was great but after 'hi how are you whats up' for about 20 odd times or so in a few months, I just stopped going there.
But seriously do check out facebook. It's worth the time and chances are that nearly all your friends would have a facebook account already.
@ deepali, have you checked indyarocks out? it is considered to be the "myspace of india".
Heard of it - never bothered checking it out (or the bigaddas, gogs, desimartinis of the country). I am sure I would get bored of it. I thought orkut was the 'myspace of india'
Btw logged onto orkut today and I saw some new functionality. I would have bet we would have seen a lot more happening except that google has pulled out ads from there so I am not that sure any more.
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