Orkutmania!!!!

ALOHAA!!!!....oops I'm not Hawaiian but maybe that was the effect of reading ELEN602-Communication Networks notes just before writing this (for the layman, believe it or not, ALOHA is a communication protocol ). Nevertheless, its again one of those really really rare moments when I decide to write a blog. But me writing a blog is rare not because I don't have topics to write blogs on or that I am too tired of typing long paragraphs. Its just that I am too occupied with something else. Something else on the internet; something that you know is wasting your time, but you would still stick to it; something due to which you may not talk with your friends who are right beside you, but has proved to be very powerful in contacting old friends from schools; something where your messages have no privacy, but you would still check it more frequently than your inbox; something where communications are not realtime, but still it has become a sybstitute for chat applications........well the list can go on and on but I guess those who have used this "something" would by now have definitely guessed that I am talking about none other than http://www.orkut.com

Nothing else has affected the people I know as much as this portal has. I dont see any obvious reasons as to why this portal is any better than myspace or facebook, but for some unknown reason, South-Asians (call them that coz i dont like the desi word too much) including me and South-Americans prefer this site to other socializing portals. The wikipedia definition says that its simply "an Internet social network service run by Google and named after its creator. It claims to be designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships." However, I believe there's much more to it than just this much; else you would not have people logged into it 24x7 refreshing the home page every 5 minutes checking if they have new scraps. A whole day can be wasted on orkut and the worst part is that you won't even realize it!! I choose to call this class of people as "orkutmaniacs" and unfortunately or maybe fortunately too, I used to be one (....which means that I now am able to control my "orkutting" ). I can use the word "fortunately" because the portal has definitely served the purpose outlined in the wikipedia definition. I have met old pals from school, college etc and have also met many new and interesting people around. Besides, you also get to wish and greet people on birthdays, festivals or special ocassions which you otherwise would never have ended up doing. It surely deserves a thumbs-up in these and many more aspects.

But that may still not justify what I would call "ORKUTMANIA". This orkutmania is related to almost every feature available to users on orkut. Scrapbooks have turned into chatbooks. Then once upon a time in the world of orkut, there was this fad of increasing one's scrapcounts and even engaging in a scrapcount competition. Again, if they are tired of increasing their scrapcount, orkutters will start joining communities and increase their community-count. After that comes the concept of starting a community either on a topic which nobody cares about or on a topic which already has say 537 communities dedicated to it. Its as if you are not a true orkutter unless you own a community. And the smart orkutters who dont make communities will simply go on the communities they have joined and will play a "number-count game" or "one word game" or "describe the person above you game" or "boys vs girls game"........and as if this much is not enough there are these annoying "messages" which people keep sending you irrespective of whether its relevant to you or not. The it may either be "XYZ wants you to join some damn champak bhumiya community" or "You can view your crush's name by sending this msg to all (and people actually do it!!!)" or "Send this to all your friends else you are doomed" kind of messages.

And then you have the photo on the profile which is a very powerful tool on orkut. Its the most noticeable feature on anybody's profile. Now you may classify orkutters on how they use this tool. Lets be a bit systematic here. There are
(a) those who are too shy to show their face (maybe because someone sent scraps saying photos are being used for pornography)
(b) those who upload their real photo once but never change it with age
(c) those who update their photo at decent regular intervals (these are probably non-addicts)
(d) those who change their photo everyday (I belonged here once upon a time !!!!!!!)
(e) those who put photos of cats n dogs n God only knows wot all
(f) those who put photos of babies (there are hate-communities on orkut for these kind of people)

So powerful is the photo on an orkut profile that it led to a new category of photographs being invented referred in orkut lingo as "Orkut Photos". It has become really common to hear phrases like "This is a good orkut photo" or "Hey listen up...take a good pic...it should be an orkut pic".... a new benchmark for photography indeed!! The next thing you may hear is Canon and Kodak claiming that their cameras are apt for taking great Orkut Photos!!
....and the saga of orkutmania continues. So far it was about how you can get addicted by being active on orkut. But we also have some inactive addicts. They won't scrap anyone or message anyone or won't play any games on communities. They will just derive some pleasure by eavesdropping upon others' scrapbooks.....maybe to see who's flirting with whom or to find someone to flirt with :P....or maybe just because they have nothing better to do. The interesting thing is that while just one account can cause addiction in active orkutters, these non-active addicts may even have more than one account on orkut......all this to do "nothing at all". Really amusing!!

Its no wonder thus that companies are having access to this portal blocked at workplaces......but its a pity too...coz the good things go as well......oops now I am really confused!! Anyways I better get back to my ELEN602 homework. I already wasted lots of time on orkut earlier in the day and now I devoted some more time to write this blog on orkut!!

Life in College Station

Its kinda odd that of all the things in my world, my first blog ever is about a not-so-significant place in the United States of America called College Station. Well, but thats the topic which I felt like writing bout a lot at this moment. So here goes.........

Though its not really significant for almost all the people in the world, it does hold an important place for all Texas A & M students, better known as Aggies. A small town whose existence is solely due to this great University, its a home mainly to students and faculty of this institute. Though this town failed to impress much while I was enrolled at the university, now in Dallas I realize the worth of this town.

A small town, its really austere. No complicated stuff here. Hardly any citibuses, no metro, no multi-layering of flyovers and you can happily forget bout downtowns. Also, not too many malls, no Indian restaurants and only 1 telephone company. Well the list of NOs can go on and on. Instead, let me be more positive and tell you what it has. Though not highly populated, most of the people here are young guys and gals. People are educated and ambitious. The shops, restaurants etc. are all designed to reflect the spirit of Aggieland, another name for this place. It feels kind of good to be a part of all this. Though not too many malls, there's one Post Oak Mall which is big enough to cater to the requirements and which many people love to visit. Northgate may not compare with 6th street in Austin of the clubs in Dallas, but on a Friday Night its flooded with guys and stunning gals from the university. The place though very small, comes alive on weekend nights. Simply walking through that road also feels great (except for the fear of being a victim of some drunkard). Restaurants are mainly the usual chains and a few more along this road called Texas Avenue which also houses shops like BestBuy, Office Depot, Barnes and Nobles etc. All this is just a walk out of the University area. The neighbouring city of Bryan does offer some other facilities and it also has the Easterwood Airstrip, but it still remains totally different from the big cities. It has its own charm. Its a small, simple, cozy and safe place to stay in, where almost all essentials are available within walking distance, a place free of the complications that can occur in bg cities, a place free of the threats that occur in downtowns, free of congested roads....in short, an ideal place for students to stay. Its developed but not crowded, populated but not too unsafe and small but not too lonely or boring!!! I must stay that though I like Dallas, I also miss the maroon charm of College Station. Its not as happening as Dallas or Austin, but its happening in its own way!!!