ORKUTTING

Somehow, going back to Orkut makes me go back to college...makes me younger looking, younger by thoughts and young at heart...all those scraps, typed with no second thoughts... all those testimonials... words, that truly cemented friendships...all those photos...where time has stood still..once and for all...

All the communities...where like-minded people all over the world gathered and exchanged views and where you felt like an important brick in the giant pyramid...also creating new communities and adding people to them was a huge thing...of course wat happened to them after a couple of weeks is another story.. wink emoticon
All those school friends...lost to transfers and school change...whose addresses and landline phone numbers were lost.... the sheer joy of 'DiscoverinG' them...finding out how much they have changed... moushtaches, beards grown... innocent smiles giving way to pretty faces...making you say... "Abe... ye kaisi thi..aaj kaisi ho gai hai..." Finding friends from your neighbourhood...with whom you learnt to play cricket, cycle together and who just got lost without even a bye!!!...AAAAHHHHH...

Trolling that school/college favorite... repeatedly checking hislher profile...for newer scrapes,photos...Searching for some special,specific name and finding it out of a maze of similar names was such a thrill...hesitating to send a friend request to him/her after so long...O GOD... acceptance of the same, made our day while,, the reverse broke our hearts... Some new friends made through casual friend requests...developing into good and sometimes not so good encounters... Yet, the idea of meeting new people somehow was very liberating...!!!

"You know SHE...she sent me a request...but I did not accept yet.", "You know he sent me a request...but I turned it down..." were common boasting points to show once worth..hahahahaha...!!!

One common thing that resonated across all homes in India, in all official languages and various dialects..."Jab dekho Orkut pe lage rehte ho...ye Orkut band karva dunga/dungi...Internet connection katvaa dunga/dungi...(All the Time you are on Orkut...will get you off it now... will cut the internet connection..)... As time passed though...many children created Orkut accounts for their parents and helped them find their friends... For the first time...both. child and parent found a common hobby and that for me was the advent of an urban social change in parental attitude towards children using computers and laptops i.e. Technology...Yet things were not turning rosier by the day...

By now, Facebook was beginning to find more space on the address bar and poor Orkut, lived on..hoping that its friends wouldnt leave him...But my friend..as we were growing up, you too should ve added to your repertoire...shouldve walked with us along... why did you stagnate...??? This question will remain forever... not for today though for discussion..

Soon, Orkut would become history, finding passing mention in Marketing books as an example of Rise and Fall...making for an interesting read...but for me the impact of Orkut goes beyond mere highs and lows of marketing...after all...how can you gauge the social impact of such a mass usage forum???

Because for a good few years...being on Orkut meant you were trendy, in with the times, and part of a social revolution...and not being on Orkut was just a shade less than being a crime and was absolutely down-market stuff... And.... the one question that we always asked all friends..old/new...strangers becoming friends on long distance trains...new people becoming friendly at a family party... "ORKUT PE HO NAA??? Scrap karta hun.."("Are you there on Orkut???Will send a scrap you soon...")

To sum it up...Orkut, once again, made kids out of growing teens and tweens...giving them something to discover on their own,... at a time when the burden of books made you feel like a Coolie...Orkut was your ticket to freedom into your world...all you had to do was..type the username and password... remember that feeling while it was loading...??????? Just like a Gift being unwrapped...and we hardly got any gifts like we did during childhood on birthdays!!!

Can Facebook come close to that feeling..??? Not for all money in the world...!!!

Orkut...Forever Friend...Never Before...Never Again!!!