Scrap hook

I have been on Orkut for the last four months. There are changes that it has brought about, some incremental, and some monumental. For one its just picks up your network and puts it up for everyone to see. It also puts up the conversations that you are having with others on public display through the scrapbook. So while it is a voyeur’s delight it is also a subtle reinforcement that “all is well with me cos people are scrapping me”.

Orkut marries the multiple worlds that we inhabit. It also brings together the past and the present in the same window, literally. In that sense it is the best forum to identify the Connectors as Malcolm Gladwell defines them in Tipping Point. My multiple worlds have brought back identities that I had lost as I grew into newer things. I rediscovered that I used to be poet and quite keen on maths theorems. I also was reminded by this sweet friend of mine that I was a drummer with the college band. The latest positive reinforcement came from someone that I spoke to after about 9 years. She remembered my ability to write well while in college and said that the first thing that she did was to visit my blog! Suddenly there were people holding different mirrors to me constantly and it felt good to keep looking at oneself in different avatars. It’s almost like picking up old worn out dusty albums from the closet and browsing through them. That thought itself brings a smile to my face.

Comments

Sharan Sharma said…
Amogh had sent me an orkut invitation in Feb. i signed up. Saw some of the discussions that were taking place. Deleted my profile. Didn't want to be part of it. Maybe its the age thing. Found almost everything pretty teeny.

Some of the other stuff irritated me eg. the testimonial thing. Also i sensed that everyone was in this rush to collect 'friends' as in "Mere pass 339 friends hai aur aap ke pass?".

But at the same time,like you say, it was fascinating to find so many people you had lost touch with!
September 23, 2006 7:39 am
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