virtual world,real lives.

As i was flipping my scrapbook just now,i saw my first ever scrap dated 6/6/06 (haha..!! now,how wicked a co-incidence is this :D) by palla saying 'bey dofi,you're already on orkut.somebody must have made the profile for you'! Which i believe is true because my homepage shows that i've been around since feb' 06! The scrap by palla was in response to something that i'd said to her on that very day when we'd met at a reception.I said, "bey palla,i think mujhe tera invitation mila hain,to join er..er..erm.. something called otter( for harry potter readers,otter is hermione's patronus,for everyone else,it's a fish eating mammal,with long body,thick fur and webbed feet).ye kya hain?
Three years ago i didn't know what orkut was,i also didn't know that what started off as a lackadaisical attempt to join a certain social networking site,would result in such an incorrigible addiction! I'm addicted.I admit it.But not all addictions are detrimental,this one definitely is not.Ok,maybe it didn't change my life altogether but it brought about some significant changes,which i would unfold by degrees ;)
I have observed that the most fascinating sides of human nature,the intricacies of their fantasies are unveiled in this virtual world.i know guys,who in real life can't even as much as blink in a girl's direction,send scraps like "hey good-looking,what's cooking?" to host of girls .Or people who are single to the last drop of their blood, oscillating their relationship status between single and committed just to advertise their..ahem.market value ;) .From the people who join iron maiden's community despite the fact that the only english song that they might have heard is titanic's theme song,to the people who claim to wear just branded stuff..(i need to check if levi strauss has shifted his store to municipal market area or nehrunagar cirle!)-one finds them all. suddenly guys become more macho(passions: bikes,river rafting,paragliding,rifle-shooting,bungee jumping..oh really?),girls become more syrupy( i am a very simple,homely girl with great values and big dreams..bah!),idles become workaholics,classmates who behave like strangers for some reason want you to be in their friend list,people who shirk away from talking face to face send you sugar coated scraps..it's a crazy crazy world out there.you can either call it superficial or you can call it genuine,it's a matter of perception.i choose to call it the latter.yes,true that people lie about themselves a bit(a lot in some cases!) in their profiles.True that they're not what they appear to be,true that it's all a charade.But what is also true is the fact that maybe people are not what they write,but they want to be everything that they write.real life heroes,ultra successful ,intriguing,womanizers, coquettes,thriving,hep,torch bearers,cool,loaded,centre of the universe.let's face it..every human soul,all of us, need attention all the time(dunno,why we leos only are blamed for it!).and this is a place where people can get all the necessary attention, (or bhaav,as we call it here),even undue ones.The reason being,it gets so much simpler to impress people when you're doing it with a lot of preparation, and no pressure of standing up to someone's expectations.It boosts confidence..yeah totally! It makes people happy because even if their real lives suck,they're just a click away from their dream lives. The unseen net amigos often turn out to loads better than the kind of crowd one hangs out with. I,at least have made some really good friends in orkut,and have found equally good friends in the people i was extremely formal with.so,it can't be that bad,this addiction,can it be?yes,it kills away a lot of time but then at the end of the day,if i go sleep with a smile on my face,i'm happy :)
And let's not forget the curiosity factor.All of us,i think are genetically modelled to be curious.Haven't we at some point of time logged in only to check somebody else's profile,updates,pics etc? Don't we browse profiles after profiles just to see a reply that a certain somebody posted?Don't we know at least one person in such sites who doesn't know us.Don't we scan people's communities to get a better insight into them?Don't we read stuff that doesn't concern us at all? Do we not spy upon our ex-classmates/collegemates?
I know,i make it sound like,we're all a bunch of wannabes who want to wallow in their self weaved lives.no,we're not(at least most of us aren't).we are just normal humans,and therefore are abnormal and insatiable in our demands from life.Thoda hain,thode ki zarurat hain,yeh zindagi phir bhi yahaan,khubsoorat hain :)

ps: what about the significant changes in my life? well..i guess i'll write it as a new post-maybe!! :D