Wednesday, July 16, 2014

An ode to orkut

Dear Orkut,

It's been years since I interacted through you with my friends and family members. Today, a mail from you made me realize that I can only interact with you for one last time before you expire on September 30, 2014.




Orkut, you, had been our first window to the now buzzing social networking sites. When a friend introduced you to me, little did I know that this will change the way I am going to spend time in the future. I had just finished my school and did not have much of contacts to get back in touch with. However my seniors whom I admired as role models could be approached; mere acquaintances for years became close buddies. A personalized message made me feel important. I as a person had an identity to reckon. What a boon you were to people who wanted to say million things but were shy facing others!

I had played games like anthakshari, riddles and puzzles earlier but imagine playing all these online with people whom you don't even know?! I mean, I had never played a game without knowing the players though attempted some, not knowing even the rules :) But this was exciting than anything else. Forum discussions helped me share my views on various topics. I also learnt different ways of looking at a half-filled glass.

You had your ways of tricking us and I was no exception falling prey to it. I chanced upon ( okay okay say searched for) the profile of my favorite television anchor and found his name with a single letter misspelt. Too busy poor lad, I thought. After waiting anxiously for a couple of days , he accepted my friends request and I was on cloud nine! When I asked him about his profile photo which looked like a younger him, he casually said it was a recent picture. After chatting, I came to know that he was actually the brother of the celebrity whose name rhymed with his sibling and face resembling the celeb very much! And there ended my silly searches for big heads!

Marriages are made in heaven. You showed people that relationships could begin with Orkut. Interestingly, I decided to break one such marriage proposal through you. As I was not ready for marriage, I searched for the profile being considered by parents, found it, made pretty sure that it was the right guy and decided to tell him a no if the proposal was accepted by my family. Luckily horoscopes didn't match and I didn't have to take that extreme step. On a serious note, Orkut taught there was a way, of letting others know your say ! No fairness cream or stylish two-wheeler could do that in today's distant lives. You gave us the courage and confidence to express ourselves better.

People accuse you of not changing with time but that's fine. Pioneers only share blue prints. Initiators only inspire once. We have taken to different forms of social networking and virtual connectivity but without you, this would not have happened. The unlimited availability of networking  has resulted in a slow down of our online activities. We no longer develop goosebumps like we did, when we opened you in closed browsing center cubicles. The restricted ones linger for long in our minds. So will you, Orkut. We may not miss you but will remember you forever as the one who transformed our social networking experiences to the next generation platform.

Love you!

Picture courtesy: indianexpress.com

10 comments:

  1. Goodness...that was heartfelt...you should share this on fb

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  2. Thankyou mam! I am no longer on FB. People like u keep me going :)

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  3. very nice writeup vaishnavi!!!i agree with the sentiments as also for me orkut was the first social interacting platform with my peers..hence with a very heavy heart i too want to say good buy to orkut..being an inspiration for different successful sites orkut will remain close to heart.keep it up vaishnavi..:)

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  4. Was that anchor name Prajith? And I remember u caught me red handed about my passion which I shared on Orkut...Damn! I was so dumb that it was visible to others...

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  5. Thank you preeti! It's nice to know dat my write up echoed ur views as wel...

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  6. Arjun, it was prajin and his bro prabin...
    I had caught u several times before too wid ur geometry box scribbling, gifts, photo printouts etc... Men always take pride in showin off ur mischief and women take pride in finding dem out :)

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  7. Nice write up Vaishnavi!! Agree with u about orkut... I had been a regular user till recently...met many old school and college friends and made many new friends as well in some of d communities whr I'd post and play games ����Being flooded with scraps on birthday used to b like d best gift in those days before FB took over. ORKUT I'm going to miss u ������

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  8. Ah those scrps on birthdays!!! I know how special we used to feel on such occasions! Thanku for commenting sreelata

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  9. Very nice! This article reminds me a lot about my college days memories.

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