I have tried.. really tried to find one person who doesn't use the internet.. Today its all about Facebook and twitter and LinkedIn and pinterest (I have no clue what on earth that is though!!) and yet, I am not the best person when it comes to keeping in touch with people.Somehow, I have managed to make friends who make sure that I do. There is always a thread of emails, or tweets or something updating me about my friends.. I feel old when I say this, but I remember a time when only celebrities would telecast their weddings.. and just recently I had to watch my best friend's wedding over a link from their "Wedding webpage" (the new thing huh?!)..and it almost felt like I was right there.. felt so real..
So anyways, going by the trend I asked one of my childhood big-sister type of friend..how she was and what's happening with her, if she was on twitter or Facebook etc etc.. and she replied in the most "matter-of-fact" way. She said, " I am still old fashioned and use emails to keep in touch with people. I don't use any of the social networking sites". Hmm.. and here I was, (like an idiot) thinking, that old fashioned meant actually writing letters, with a pen.. on a paper.. When did emails become old fashioned?? (Feel like am 10 yrs older than my age right now!).
Moving on, you know how almost every other person from India either has an engineering degree or a medical one..well, I am one from the same lot... and like the entire flock, I went to an engineering school also.. got a degree also.. moved to the US (also).. got a masters (also).. What I managed to do in the process was meet some amazing people... and managed to keep few of them as friends (still).. I was part of this girl gang at my engineering school. All the girls were way more smarter, prettier and far more accomplished than I was/am..(That said, I don't see how we became friends actually!!)..Well, anywayyyyyyyy.. point being, we are still in touch.. and the last email I saw said something about all of us meeting up soon.. It got me excited..My mind was racing with re-union ideas, themes, places, dates etc.. and then I read the later part of the sentence..where she mentioned.."Let's all meet up soon.. on Google+"... WHATTTTTTT!!!! I don't know when the transition happened...Which world was/am living in?
So, feeling utterly old fashioned, I decided that the best way to make me feel younger and part of this gen.. was to talk to my parents... :D I remember, I had to write down a step-by-step "procedure" for my mom about how to use email, how to use "Shift" to capitalize letters, explain "Caps Lock" etc etc.. you know the drill right..So I called mom and in the middle of no where.. she asked me to add her on Facebook!!!!!! WHATTTTTT!!!.. Really??!!! I am NOT on facebook.. I had to deactivate my account because it had become an addiction and here I was trying to explain that to her.. and I fell short of words.. She knew a lot more about facebook.. timeline.. sharing.. privacy settings etc.. Here I was, listening to my mom explain to me, what facebook was...and why I should be on it..and yeah... add her as a friend..
End of it all, I miss those days, when people wrote hand written letters, eagerly waited for a response, the concept of "Pen Pals"..The content of the letters were outdated by the time it got to your hand, but that's a different story, for another day. I miss actually sitting down with friends.. in person.. and having a coffee and laughing over silly jokes, I miss the phone calls, and the "Ohhh..Its been sooo long.. How have you been?" lines.. The line between reality and virtual reality has become so thin and almost invisible that it freaks me out sometimes. Its convenient, yeah! but still.... I wish I had the right words to express what exactly about it that I am missing.. I guess, it's the human touch that it had, the feeling, the anticipation, the mystery to it all.. Well..What can I say..I am old fashioned ;)
Cheers :)
So anyways, going by the trend I asked one of my childhood big-sister type of friend..how she was and what's happening with her, if she was on twitter or Facebook etc etc.. and she replied in the most "matter-of-fact" way. She said, " I am still old fashioned and use emails to keep in touch with people. I don't use any of the social networking sites". Hmm.. and here I was, (like an idiot) thinking, that old fashioned meant actually writing letters, with a pen.. on a paper.. When did emails become old fashioned?? (Feel like am 10 yrs older than my age right now!).
Moving on, you know how almost every other person from India either has an engineering degree or a medical one..well, I am one from the same lot... and like the entire flock, I went to an engineering school also.. got a degree also.. moved to the US (also).. got a masters (also).. What I managed to do in the process was meet some amazing people... and managed to keep few of them as friends (still).. I was part of this girl gang at my engineering school. All the girls were way more smarter, prettier and far more accomplished than I was/am..(That said, I don't see how we became friends actually!!)..Well, anywayyyyyyyy.. point being, we are still in touch.. and the last email I saw said something about all of us meeting up soon.. It got me excited..My mind was racing with re-union ideas, themes, places, dates etc.. and then I read the later part of the sentence..where she mentioned.."Let's all meet up soon.. on Google+"... WHATTTTTTT!!!! I don't know when the transition happened...Which world was/am living in?
So, feeling utterly old fashioned, I decided that the best way to make me feel younger and part of this gen.. was to talk to my parents... :D I remember, I had to write down a step-by-step "procedure" for my mom about how to use email, how to use "Shift" to capitalize letters, explain "Caps Lock" etc etc.. you know the drill right..So I called mom and in the middle of no where.. she asked me to add her on Facebook!!!!!! WHATTTTTT!!!.. Really??!!! I am NOT on facebook.. I had to deactivate my account because it had become an addiction and here I was trying to explain that to her.. and I fell short of words.. She knew a lot more about facebook.. timeline.. sharing.. privacy settings etc.. Here I was, listening to my mom explain to me, what facebook was...and why I should be on it..and yeah... add her as a friend..
End of it all, I miss those days, when people wrote hand written letters, eagerly waited for a response, the concept of "Pen Pals"..The content of the letters were outdated by the time it got to your hand, but that's a different story, for another day. I miss actually sitting down with friends.. in person.. and having a coffee and laughing over silly jokes, I miss the phone calls, and the "Ohhh..Its been sooo long.. How have you been?" lines.. The line between reality and virtual reality has become so thin and almost invisible that it freaks me out sometimes. Its convenient, yeah! but still.... I wish I had the right words to express what exactly about it that I am missing.. I guess, it's the human touch that it had, the feeling, the anticipation, the mystery to it all.. Well..What can I say..I am old fashioned ;)
Cheers :)
