The Thing About Orkut

According to an interesting survey, the first thing that most office-goers do when they log into their system is open their social networking account/s, with Face book, My Space and Orkut ruling the roost. Let me clear the air about my own networking habits. I was on Hi5 a while back (when the idea was quite novel), and soon thereafter upgraded to Orkut. I purposely resisted repeated requests from friends and family to join Face book, although I was warned that ‘you are a non-entity if you are not on Face book’. I’ll gladly wear the garb of anonymity, thank you very much! I’m pretty clear about accepting “friend requests” only from people who are my friends or at the very least, acquaintances. My privacy settings are so fine tuned as to give access to only those who are genuinely my friends. Despite all safety measures, I feel certain “friends” who, in reality, are merely familiar faces, crept into my private world. They hardly ever drop a line or utter a “hello”, and yet continue to lurk there. I think I would like to de-clutter my life a bit, and let go of a few of them.
Honestly speaking, Orkut has become slightly irritating of late. It’s a great medium for locating old friends, and I’m glad to have hunted a few down. Having said that, it peeves me to no end when I watch people play long lost bosom-buddies to the very people they didn’t bother saying “hi” to, during school days! I seriously feel it’s a mild form of hypocrisy.
Then there is this whole “projection of happiness” thing going on, which seems a tad bit fake. A case in point: A girl I know migrated to foreign lands and her idea of announcing her success to the world was to post pictures of her house, cars, wardrobe, dishwasher and even her loo for the world to view and admire. (Of course she conveniently forgot to add a picture of her work place - a soup factory).
To be very honest, I don’t know what my grouse against her is. I really don’t… ‘coz I find myself posting “happy” pictures quite often too. And here’s what came out of it:A couple of people I know (including my own self) got married recently. Giddy with happiness, we posted pictures of our wedding on Orkut. The idea was to put them up for the benefit of friends who couldn’t make it to the wedding. However, some of the comments I received from the friends on my list gave me the idea that my social status “post marriage” was being evaluated. As if they were judging, going by my pictures, if I had got elevated/promoted from “middle class” to “rich”. I refuse to comment on that. I will, however, let you in on another secret: I jumped two positions and received close to a 60% raise recently. If that’s a parameter of financial success, then yes, I am rich.You get the point.
Not to discount the benefits of Orkut, I have to agree that it’s a great medium to stay in touch with 70 friends at one go. To share bits of news, pictures and even blogs. Another plus is that the control lies with you. You get to decide who to accept and who to reject/block. I may not have the guts to tell certain people off to their face, but thanks to Orkut, all I need to do now is click “No”. I am done accepting friends just ‘coz they went to the same school/college with me. I am also done peeping into people’s profiles (and their dishwashers). After all, one has only so much energy!
Disclaimer/ clarification: The abovementioned applies ONLY to those it is intended for. If you suddenly find yourself out of my list, no, it’s not Orkut playing tricks on you, I did it on purpose. Kindly do not send a request again.And the ones who are still on my list as we speak (errr… read), please do not feel threatened! I love you still :)

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Who Am I

This is one of the comment that i got on recent post Who Am i (http://urlforwlog.blogspot.com/2009/02/who-am-i.html)

wanted to share this thought:

You can also mention about the some internet sites, which boast of creating a 3D Environment on the internet where you can - so called - Socialize. It gives one an idea about the extent to which networking sites can think and implement thereby shoving its users further into their imaginary universe. Creating a virtual World where you live, you interact, you follow a superfluous profession, and you do the Trading. At the first glance it might appear that these sites are only providing some past time entertainment but the jaws of the tiger dig deeper than they seem. Users are becoming addict to these sites thereby reducing the already little time that they get after there routine work they spend too much time on thinking about what should they be doing today so as to get more Visits on their webpage, how to modify there Avtar to get more hits. When one asks them what will they achieve after doing so, the reply is a quick and stern one advocating the fame and popularity that they will achieve within their circle by the same. But when you ask them that why they need that virtual popularity in that imaginary world where everyone is licensed to lie as frequently as one is authorized to Sign In, then there is a long and feeble pause. The sites themselves are not harmful in any way, but their excessive usage (addiction) makes them so

Harpreet

Who Am I

We all were taught some very basic concepts of society in our high secondary classes of Social Sciences, specifically in civics subject that "Man is a social animal….".An animal that is tamed by everyone to lead a social life otherwise whenever one will juxtapose it with the barbaric animals, one won't be able to differentiate. Socializing with the people is such a great hit in the society that all the latest of social events got it place on the very next page of the newspaper after the main headlines page; the whole page three of the newspaper is full of such social events. And 'Socialite' is now regarded as an equally respectable person as doctor and engineer.

Social networking sites are gaining so much of momentum in the mind of people that they spend almost two to three hours daily. Some people go to the extent of changing their picture daily for their profile on the social networking sites. We indulge in reading of 'about me' of the people on the social network that the 'about me' of ourselves get buried deep inside us. It is very addictive and turns out to be a labyrinth which has an entry point but no exit point.

But aren't we getting too much involved in all this and losing our own identity?

Aren't we losing so much time in social networking, that we don't get time for ourselves?

The answer is yes, we are getting too much entangled in maze of social networking that we spend all the time in knowing the fake personality of the people instead of realizing what kind of potential lies inside us. Sometimes that potential remains hidden just because we don't know it is present deep inside us. If who am I remains unanswered for the cost of just knowing who the other person is then it is big concern. Diamonds only dazzle if they are polished very well but if you are enticed by the gold that is present around you then you are definitely losing the diamond that you possess.
Polish your diamonds they will definitely outshine the gold present nearby.
Rajdeep Singh

The convenience of truth

I intend to present my case. I do not profess ethics or morals but simply intend to base my argument on logic and rationale. ‘Why should you tell the truth’, ‘Why be honest’, ‘Why not screw the next person for personal gain’? One word answer – ‘its convenient’ and here is why. Disorder and chaos appear to be ingrained in the genetic code of the universe. But if you look closer you will find order out of chaos. Nature and universe orients itself in ordered systems (planets orbiting around the sun, the four season cycle, the nice pattern of petals in flowers, etc) not because ‘God intended it that way’, but because it’s energy efficient and treads a path of mathematical simplicity. Putting in laymen terms, its ‘uncomplicated’. 200 years from today if we find a mathematical equation for human behavior and try to find the most ‘energy’ efficient domains then I bet my ass that it would have to be the domain of truthful, ethical behavior. This domain may or may not be locally optimal but it would definitely be a globally optimal solution. In laymen terms, being truthful and honest would not necessarily bring you short term gains but it would be better for you in the long run. The term ‘energy’ needs a reasonable definition with a logical argument, but you get the idea. And already, I can think of 5.9999999 billion sets of curves that would fit that equation. Take yourself for instance, how many times in your life have you told a lie or been dishonest or knowingly screwed some innocent creature and felt good about it. Mind you, when I speak of ‘feeling good’, its not instant gratification or excitement of the moment that I speak of, but a gradual steady state feeling that sets in permanently in retrospect of your action. And this steady state feeling would be in direct correlation with the ‘energy’ I spoke of. Let me clear it out with an example. If you score a job over another candidate through unfair means knowing it perfectly well that the other guy was a more deserving candidate, then how would you feel about it 5 years later. A shred of guilt will always haunt you, even if you keep the details to yourself and not tell another soul. Add all these shreds from the sum total of your existence till date and there you have it – your ‘energy’ level. Living with guilt is a funny feeling. It never harms you, it never interferes with your routine but it never leaves you as well. It’s like that ‘weird old lady’ that keeps staring at you in the subway. And when you get off at your stop, there is a small sense of relief that overwhelms you before you move ahead. Except, in this case, your stop is your death which won’t come along for a long time and the old lady is making you more and more uncomfortable as the years go by. You may scorn at my argument that I have it all wrong. What about material pleasures. What if telling a lie buys me a Mercedes or screwing someone over gets me a plum house? And I ask you again – Is there any correlation between ‘energy’ efficiency (that I speak off here) and materialistic pleasure? If you say yes then I ask you do a simple experiment. Measure and compare the stress levels during a day of a beggar and a millionaire. Get ready to be surprised !

Many people, in fact most people, go on with their lives with a big baggage of guilt without realizing that they are carrying an unnecessary weight. They take it for granted and the reminiscence of their actions makes them miserable from time to time. And the funny thing is that they don’t even know the reason for being unhappy. If you ask me to give a plausible proof of my argument then I implore you to wait 200 years. Let the biologists and sociologists (they would have to work together on this) come up with the equation. Of course, we all will be dead by then. But the inscription on my grave would start to make sense - ‘I TOLD YOU SO’

Sarabjeet Singh

Bed Talks

Don’t change your partners on bed if you want to live happily. Since happiness is what I was seeking, I remained loyal. More than loyal I remained adorable to my partner. But I have few confessions to make about my partner, sometime she was so exciting that she prompted me to try new positions on bed. And sometime she was so dull that I was sharing my bed with her without even turning my face to her. I salute to indomitable spirit of her that to satiate her I had to keep myself awaken throughout night, which never let sleep siege my mind body and soul.

It was long since I was sharing my bed with her. She always reciprocated my loyalty to her by being back on every night before an important day. She never let pain and anxiety to catch me alone and provided me full support throughout the night.

My marriage to her was not an arranged one but love marriage. The courtship period was very enjoyable. Everyday I was talking of her to everyone I met. Some people advised me not to indulge in all this but when you are in love you are never aware of how the time passes by and you become inseparable, every time dreaming of better future together. I literally was day dreaming, trying to forget the pain of sleepless nights.

But there are always the twist and turns in life which makes life drop down its old attire and redress itself in new wardrobe. The wardrobe this time was more calm and serene which lacked the luster of the old one. Change was inevitable as all the successful ventures were culminating in failures. Lack of concentration at all fronts compelled my mind to divert my attention from my partner and sooner the gap got widened, even quicker than it was formed. Divorce seemed to be the perfect solution, I got blessed with it.

Divorce turned to be blessing in disguise, I again started to enjoy my life to fullest .Success now became a regular visitor as earlier. Before ending I want to make a last confession …….

My partner was Insomnia.

Rajdeep Singh