MY FIRST ONE HOUR ON FACEBOOK

20^th of June 2013 shall always be a red letter day for me of my so called life. Today I was allowed to open my first ever Facebook account; or to be precise, a social networking account.

Since class 10, I had seen my friends put up about their daily mundane lives on Orkut, Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. I was like a dumb. I had none. My parents forbade it. I was not sad, but somewhere deep in my heart it always struck me that I could get more site views on my blog if I had an account on Facebook.

My parents never approved of this. They knew that I was worse than a drug addict. I can sit glued on my laptop monitor for hours, without a single blink. And Facebook is nothing other than addiction. [Sorry if I hurt anyone] but this is true. Even I admit it and I know it is hard to admit this when you are a mere 17 year old ‘kid’.

I had permission to access Gmail, WordPress.com, and other websites where I could post some of my writings so that I could be called as a Content Writer or a Freelance Writer [you can call me an Unwanted writer or whatever]; but never to Facebook. “These sites kill your zeal for studies, provide you fun in the virtual world; keeping you miles away from the real thing, an internet zombie, a whiny kid, you kill your own privacy, time waste and what not.[sorry, no offence]”: mom said right. I got the taste when I sat down thinking it as a treat for my stranded, stagnant living.

I rushed into my mom’s bedroom with great excitement in the air. “Mummy!” I screamed. I need my FB account! Now!”

Mummy had no excitement on her face, though. So in her plain old voice, she told NO.

“Please, you had promised to me that you would allow me to open my account once I finish my Class 12!”

Why I used this cause I don’t seem to understand, because I feel that it was better to study with big headaches of home works, practical and tests rather than that of results, questions on capability, and admissions to good colleges. [I mean, moving into the big league].

“If you don’t allow me then I’ll use your account to create a page to popularize my blog.”

This was the real reason why I was pestering my mom during her afternoon nap. Since June 1, I’ve been an all time blogger [translated, I’ve nothing better to do], and I am trying helplessly to get at least one freelance writing project. Everything starts off smoothly- I send my email id to the person who needs the work to be done, he/she takes my CV- and then does not reply back. They check out my blog as well, but perhaps they don’t think me as much capable to handle out big responsibilities like part time jobs. Or perhaps, I’m a downright stupid. A jump in the site statistics would soon change all that.

So I was inclined towards the all time favorite FB.

Perhaps Mummy’s heart melted. She smiled.

“Go and open your own account.”

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just going mad. I mean, I have a reputation among the people who know me that I am a great guy. I can never manage Facebook and all that stuff.

I took my seat and in no time filled out the details that FB demanded. It’s free & cool. So what’s wrong in that?

Sonali rang me up the moment I sent her the friend request. Nilofar too added me on her friend list. In one hour itself, I had acquired over 15 friends [I was going on sending friend requests to friends, relatives and seniors; OMG! It’s absolutely amazing! Others recommended me]. FB even warned me: SLOW DOWN! But did that damn know that I had been never so happy in my life?  Many commented on my profile photo and my first post. It read:

I’M SO HAPPY THAT I’M ON FB! I’VE GOT BACK ALL MY SENIORS!!!

With a solace in my heart, I came out of the website, thinking what would be my first step to enhance my blog’s statistics. I went out for a short walk. Just then daddy called me up.

 He asked me to DELETE my FB account.

“You can have a Linkedin profile but not a FB account.”

“But I had taken mummy’s permission!”

“No, no, it’s not good for you. Delete it now. And why have you put your photo? Take it off at once.”

I was not sad. It was okay. He must have said it for my well being. But what was he doing on FB? He couldn’t have seen my mail request as today morning itself he had called up to say that his mails have some problems in the office premises.

Aha! So he was on FB as well!

After much pestering from my uncles and aunts, my mom decided to give FB a chance in her life. But since our internet is very slow and she remains very busy, after a week she stopped checking.

“Bah! Hogwash!” She would say.

I returned home drenched.  2 hours later, I sat down to delete my account. When I opened my page, I had 56 friends!

Voila!

From 0 to 56 in a day. What a transformation. My eyes misted, my heart felt heavy, and I started crying. I got a big splitting headache. My body was a big ache. I thought I was an eyesore.

I started crying. Nothing could console me now. The thought that I would lose contact again with all the friends like Sambedana, Subhasis and many others with whom I was with till Class 10 and after that we were separated due to change in courses and institutions. My senior Arti didi had loved me a lot. She was my House Leader when I was in Class 6. She was smart, affectionate and cool. She had accepted my friend request too.

I started to miss her too.

Today’s generation solely depends upon FB, only old fashioned guys like me demand an email from the friends every day.  At FB, every thing’s updated frequently. You get lost contacts. You can make your old friend groups again. You can say publicly sorry.

You can also increase your site traffic.

The addiction had hung me up in an hour. Now I really think this FB is not for me……..Daddy’s right. I would not be able to concentrate in my studies………………he knows me better than me……………..I’d go zany again………………….

So this is my first and last appeal to you, my friends. Thank you for your tremendous support. Thanks for being my friends on FB and in real life. I love you all. I shall remember you always, no matter what. You have filled my life with warmth. If you really think I’m worth it, please pen me down a line or two on my blog. I’d be more than elated.

See you next time on my blog’s comment page!

Take care.

Regards,

@Debashrita

TODAY’S FRIENDSHIP: ON SIGHT OR ONLINE

Friendship: this relationship is bigger than a spaceship or a sea ship, and deeper than an ocean or as infinite as the universe. Mostly we should check out the persons we are going to befriend. But in this digital world, where everything is possible, then why not online friends? It has already begun, with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Myspace, Orkut and lots more. People initially came here to share posts and gossip about their lives. But these gossips are actually becoming too private. And I’ve started to believe that this new generation[that includes me and my sister] are really getting out of the world.

Nishi is a happy kid. She’s 10 and she has no depressions. She completes her home work on her own and I teach her. But still I feel something is wrong with her. She’s unable to make best friends. In her life, I’ve seen so many futile attempts of hers. She always struggles to get a friend, or even a playmate. Either she ends up disgusted with the child or else the child gets angry about her straight forward attitude.

Straight forward attitude runs in our family, I guess. My mom, me and my sis. But my mom never had trouble with her friends. She still calls up her friends Ashima aunty, Purnima aunty, Surekha aunty, and a lot more aunties. I had recently problems with my friends. But just look at Nishi. She hasn’t any real pals!

The problem lies in the new generation itself. Lots of new technologies have taken off our mind from actual sports and games, and even friends. I’ve seen my classmates[especially girls] who don’t like Games classes[I look forward for them!]. Instead they keep gossiping about others,, without a care in the world. Some even smuggle up phones, games and cameras from their homes. Teenage, I guess, is really troublesome. “Why should I go out when I can watch videos, play video games and chat online for hours?” Guess who love these lines.

Lets’ get back to Nishi. My heart sinks when she says me: “Nani, I thought Sneha was my best friend but she started a gossip about Preethi and Namrata and then gossiped about me to them and then there was a big fight”, and a ”big breakup”. Just two days before Sneha had handed over a card to Nishi with pink drawn flowers and had written: ”You are my best friend.” I don’t know what’s going on. When I was in class five, almost the whole class knew me and we talked with each other. When we grow up, our mind becomes more complex[I think my mind isn’t yet] and move on to a smaller circle. But on to bigger gossips.

I didn’t know what was complexity then. There were many things I didn’t know. Time is a great teacher. I learn from my mistakes. I love to do my home works. I love playing outside. I love internet. Nishi’s still small. Smaller than me. Why is time taking such tests of hers? And all other kids who are fans of Internet around the world? The problem is that they’ll suffer more in the virtual world rather than in the school playground.

I’m afraid that when my sister will take the first step in this mind boggling Internet, she’s going to get friends. Yes, many of them. But I don’t know how many will turn fake. I hope she never gets along those X rated sites. Maybe I’m exaggerating. But all I can do is hope…….

God bless my sister!

THE HABIT TO SAY ”THANK YOU”

Today I’m really very happy. I’ve scored CGPA 10 points. 10 of my classmates out of 52 have achieved this credit. Now my photograph would be displayed in front of my school. My parents, friends and relatives are really proud of me. I’m also glad that I could meet their expectations successfully. I was watching news in the afternoon when the students were being interviewed about their grades. So my mother asked me ‘’what would be my response to such a situation?’’ I started in this way….

‘I’d like to thank my teachers, friends, parents and tutors for my achievement. I’d like to thank this and that…….’

Then an idea struck my mind: Why every time I’ve to say thank you to every person who owes something to me? When I was wished ‘congrats! , I had to thank everyone. Or else, it would be considered rude by my side.

Actually, saying Thank you is a very nice etiquette. There is no shame in thanking anyone. But chattering it every time gets a bit boring. As my friend Punyadhara says: How much I do try, but you’re such a stupid that you never forget to thank me! What a comment, I must say. I’m very much addicted to these words. I’m sunk. Most of my replies to emails and blog comments start with a vote of thanks.

My mother does every chore around the house. I help her by 20%. Whenever I do something, she thanks me. But I don’t deserve that, I think. This is my home, so it’s my duty to take care of it. But I always need someone to boss around so that I do my work properly:] And I do demand a thanks when I do something for someone but it shouldn’t be asked……silly me!

But we don’t thank others for a comment. Rather, we become more arrogant. I’m the biggest example:] Laugh at yourself rather than laughing than on others, then you’ll be a great personality someday. But we are the opposites!!!!

In the evening I went to the temple. It was closed. But still I went around the idols. My eyes were filled with the tears of hope and joy. I could say nothing to God but only this:

THANK YOU GOD, YOU MADE MY DAY!!!!!!!!!

Many a times in our life, situations come when we manage to say only thank you: these two words express your gratitude for the other person. It’s music to my ears. So when my mom hands me my dinner, I’m cute enough to say Thank you! Or when my friend gives me a message, Thnx yaar is my reply.

Finally I can only say that to write this I needed the help of my internet connection: Thank you Internet:]

BEYOND THE KEYBOARD LETTERS………….

Since 2010, I’ve been blogging with wordpress.com. Within 1 year, I’ve noticed that this place is a great site for expressing our views and ideas with other fellow bloggers with the same thinking: LIVE TO WRITE, AND WRITE TO LIVE. I feel that it’s better than social networking sites. Sorry, Facebook and Twitter lovers, I didn’t want to hurt you all, but these sites have shortcuts for everything. Nowadays, people have forgotten to write letters and instead send “‘scraps’ to each other, “like” the “tweets” and don’t feel like writing sentences. But here, we bloggers can write on almost all topics and seek comments for it. Take me, for example. I like to read books and magazines, so I’m learning how to write like you all. Frankly to speak the truth, my blog gets the least traffic. So you might be thinking, my writings are a waste? Not at all!  That’s the main advantage of blogging.  We learn writing ourselves. Here are my 6 points why blogging is the best thing to do once you are online:

• IMPROVING WRITING SKILLS: Blogging is a great way to express yourself. If you are a prolific writer, you can use the same QWERTY keyboard that others use for chit chat, but still, you’ll be ahead of them. Writing is the best thing you can do when you get bored. If someone’s birthday’s round the corner, why don’t you send a poem written by yourself? Remember, originality is the most important thing that we have to maintain while blogging.
• SAVING MEMORIES: Often people write their experiences in their old faithful diaries. But once you get them on the web, people get to read them. Diaries get moth eaten and torn, but your webpages don’t.
• MAKING NEW FRIENDS: Who said that only Facebook and Twitter get friends? While blogging, if you are really a cool writer, then compliments will pour in, making you more able to write. And with so many people coming online everyday, you’ll surely find yourself a friend. No scams at all. I guarantee.
• A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT THE WORLD: When you blog,  you create an identity of your own self, without any makeovers. A liitle place is made for you in this world of Internet, so you no longer remain Sam185 of Twitter, where we don’t get to know the original identities.
• UNDERSTAND YOURSELF: When you write, try writing about your daily experiences so that you can relieve all your pressures out of your mind and get relaxed. The thoughts should come out of your heart, not forcibly written, just for the sake of writing. Haste makes waste. So take your own time to get away with your write ups.
• STRIVING THROUGH COMPETITION: Competition, as we know, follows our life. So it is not astonishing that here also you’d have to compete with millions of bloggers around the world, to make a special place for yourself. This is a good thing, because your writing improves once you start competiting. Remember, billions use internet, but millions provide the writings to them. So whatever you write, take it up proudly.

You want to get into the FEATURED POSTS list, don’t you? So do I. So just stop bragging and start blogging. Good luck!!!!!!

THINGS THAT SCHOOLS CAN’T TEACH……

Since many days, I’m at home, waiting for my Std Xth CBSE Exam Board results. Within these days, it’s true that I’ve become a couch potato and get glued near my TV and laptop; but I’ve also got a lot of time to think apart classes and tuitions. There are many things that schools can, but they usually don’t care to teach since they consume time which can be used to inculcate education and sports in students. Here is my list of such activities: { if you have more ideas, then please drop down some lines:] }

1. SELF RESPECT: In this case, I’m talking about myself. I’ve got a stage fearness and it got worse when I reached Class X. Being the School Captain, I had to deliver a speech on the eve of Republic Day. But, just see my cursed fate, I forgot my speech, infront  of the whole crowd and the principal. I felt so embarassed that day. Year after year, competition for getting best in academics was increasing, so was my determination for achievement. My responsibilities were also increasing. So I eventually lost my balance and experienced the blues. But, after my family and friends confronted me, I was okay again and regained my self respect back. School teachers and juniors only commented on me.

  

2. TO BE SAVED FROM BULLYING: I’d like to thank God that I’ve never bullied or become a victim of bullying. I’ve read many articles about bullying, and how teachers and parents mistake it for just small fights between kids. But this can lead to the victim being depressed at later stage in life and the bullies being criminals. According to a new study, 30% of bullies consumed alcohol and did criminal activities 4 times more than the kids who aren’t. Infact, school is the starting place for bullying and now it has taken a new turn: cyber bullying. Eventually, the victim may commit suicide under peer pressure. In one year alone, 14 kids killed themselves because they were bullied in Japan. When the tormentors were arrested, they merely said, ‘it was fun’.

3. MONETARY VALUES: Schools often teach life values to children, but what the life’ll be without money? It’s rightly said that ” any fool can make money, but it takes a wise man to save it.” Children should be taught to save money, so part time jobs are the best option. But in a country like India, where unemployment is vast, part time jobs are difficult to come. I’m also searching job for last 2 months, but I’ve failed. I see my parents working hard, almost 10 hours a day. I avoid pocket money, I believe in ‘work and pay’ option. And all my saved money from running errands for my mother goes into the piggy bank.