An addiction called orkut

“You mean you’re still not on Orkut?” exclaimed a friend giving me a pitying look usually reserved for endangered animals.

“How ancient can you get?” she added.

Stung by her critical tone I went online that very day and fashioned a new identity for myself on a site whose meaning I still don’t know. For all those who are still Orkut-less here’s an account of the newest form of cyber-silliness. You have a profile of your own where you get to lie a lot.

One of my cousins had described himself as ‘Sexier than Hrithik, Cooler than Shahid and Hotter than John’ followed by ‘Girls! I’m Available’. He is all of 12. But then who am I to judge? My own profile asserts that I am ‘Mature beyond my years’. So what if my favorite show is Mickey Mouse’s Adventures and I haven’t read any book which doesn’t have pictures?

You also have to choose a picture for your profile. Most of my friends have put up their own mugs. As for me, I stick to elegant, beautiful pictures. My current one is that of a lizard eating a fly.

Incidentally, the dictionaries need to be updated. No longer is a ‘scrap’ something a dog gets after dinner. On Orkut, it’s your calling card. And failure to leave one elicits responses like ‘How dare you visit my profile and not leave a scrap?’

There’s no doubt that it is more convenient than a mail. But it is also much less private. When a long-lost pal of the opposite sex found me online she was so delighted that she left a huge scrap with innocent phrases like ‘darling’, ‘lover’ and ‘when are we getting married?’ My scrapbook was flooded the next day with congratulatory scraps from my friends asking me about the honeymoon plans.

The worst part is that this pastime is as addictive as a bag of potato chips. When my mother checked the history on my web browser, it listed a hundred visits to Orkut and that too, on a single day. She promptly reported my addiction to the relevant authority — father dearest.

He did not flip; in fact, he was really nice about it. He just took away all my privileges (books, movies, walks) except breathing. But in retrospect, I’m glad that I’ve got over my addiction.

The only problem is that my mother, who started her own account, can’t seem to kick the habit.

Hi Dear,

This article was indeed good. Yes, you said rightly about your frds response on hearing that you are not yet registered in Orkut because I too got that kind of frosty-nose stair when I said my frds that I am not registered in ORKUT when I was doing my PG. I feel happy when I hears from my pals that they got to know abt x and y thr Orkut, but don't know the reason for what I am still not registering myself in that Super-Hyped site.
Feel really amused to read your article and keep writing such pieces now and then, its really entertaining.
Take much care of yourself to write another good piece like this.
Bye.
Meeta

Hi vidya,

nice post, ORKUT indeed is an addiction but one good thing is u can find lot of your missing friends. i got in touch with many of my school friends throu it.

cheers
sreelatha

hi what about addiction to IL. It is equally dangerous.

A week after I registered in this site I told my son who was at the computer, that I needed to check some thing for a moment. Poor fellow, after an hour he was totally upset to see me still glued to the computer. the conversation that followed-

Me: one minute baby.

My son:You'll say one minute and sit for 1 hour.

me:mm....

My son : you wanted to go for bath.

My nephew: There is so much water in Indus! She is bathing there!

Look at me today I vowed that I'll just check out Religion & spiriluality, and ended up here! WE ladies never log in umpteen times, just once for a few hours.

regards latha