Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Whither-Censor?

Except that they are same literally, there is nothing common between the title of the post and that of the blog. Before you leave this post having decided otherwise, let me assure you , I have not lost track.

When I received the invitation for joining orkut (I hope it doesn’t need an intro now) 3 years ago, I could hardly imagine that what I was rejecting outrightly would one day be a way of life of most of the netizens of the Generation next. After ignoring three- four invitations I gave it a half-hearted try and became one of the first few thousands members of the network.

I do not belong to the lot who keep their personal spaces safe to share them with their fellow residents in the heaven only. But what has caught attention is the very readiness of baring all on the social web in all spheres. This practice of sharing the most personal memoirs in the form of videos, snaps or anything else and the most hardly earned information has progressed at such a fast pace that the swiftest of the surveys and researches could not accomplish their goals before the maturing of the phenomenon called social networking itself.

During all this adaptation of a new way of communicating there has been one casualty, completely ignored and that’s privacy. It has been rejected, dismissed and sabotaged at the cost of social acceptance in the virtual world of web. There is not only a philosophical side of it. Of late all this information has been made available to the government and the various agencies leave alone the commercial uses.

Moreover, you can see numerous communities discussing topics of no relevance. There are facilities available, which are not only legally prohibited but punishable offences in the law of the land. These self-acclaimed remedies of wounds received during our very own kumbh’ fairs (pun intended) have largely undermined our good-old-days’ channels of communication. The picture could become gloomier before things are put in the right perspective.

The moral of the story is that care has to be taken for being a party to this new way of socialization. Though the utility of the fast mode of connecting, these works-on-net provide, cannot be overemphasized, the very vices they bring with themselves should be felt and deserve a cautious deal.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Please don't forward for God's sake..

Though it defies logic to put a forwarded mail in this space, I found no better way to share this joy of finding such vent to my frustration. Please go thru this mail sent by one of the guy who was frustrated at receiving unsolicited mails asking to forward them to ppl to get fortune in return..Please forgive me for I could not collect stamina to find and delete some objectionable words..read at your own risk!
.
.
. Here's the letter:
. Hey dude,
. Why don't you remove me from your mailing list? If I knew who you
. were, I would have probably kicked your ass...
. And while you are at it, here is an email you might love ........
. Hello, my name is K Shah. I am suffering from rare and deadly
. diseases, poor scores on final exams, extreme virginity, fear of being
. kidnapped and executed by anal electrocution, and guilt for not
. forwarding out 50 billion fucking chain letters sent to me by people
. who actually believe that if you send them on, then that poor fucking
. 6 year old girl in Arkansas with a breast on her forehead will be able
. to raise enough money to have it removed before her redneck parents
. sell her off to the traveling freak show.
. Do you honestly believe that Bill Gates is going to give you and
. everyone you send "his" email to $1000? How stupid are you?
. Ooooh, looky here! If I scroll down this page and make a wish, I'll
. get laid by every Playboy Bunny in the magazine! What a bunch of
. fucking bullshit.
. So basically, this message is a big FUCK YOU to all the people out
. there who have nothing better to do than to send me stupid chain mail
. forwards.
. Maybe the evil chain letter leprechauns will come into my apartment
. and sodomize me in my sleep for not continuing the chain which was
. started by Jesus in 5 A.D. and was brought to this country by midget
. pilgrims on the Mayflower and if it makes it to the year 2000, it'll
. be in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest continuous streak
. of blatant stupidity. Fuck them. If you're going to forward something,
. at least send me something mildly fucking amusing. I've seen all the
. "send this to 50 of your closest friends, and this poor, wretched
. excuse for a human being will somehow receive a nickel from some
. omniscient being" forwards about 90 times. I don't fucking care.
. Show a little intelligence and think about what you're actually
. contributing to by sending out forwards. Chances are it's your own
. unpopularity.
. THE FOUR BASIC TYPES OF CHAIN LETTERS:
. Chain Letter Type 1:
. (scroll down)
. Make a wish!!!
. (Keep Scrolling)
. No, really, go on and make one!!! (Keep Scrolling)
. Oh please, they'll never go out with you!!! (Keep Scrolling)
. Wish something else!!! (Keep Scrolling)
. Not that, you pervert!! (Keep Scrolling)
. STOP!!!! Wasn't that fun? Hope you made a great wish. Now, to make you
. feel guilty, here's what I'll do First of all, if you don't send this
. to 5096 people in the next 5 seconds, you will be raped by a mad goat
. and thrown off a high building into a pile of manure.
. It's true! Because, THIS letter isn't like those fake ones, THIS one
. is TRUE!! Really!!! Here's how it goes:
. *Send this to 1 person:One person will be pissed off at you for
. sending them a stupid chain letter.
. *Send this to 2-5 people: 2-5 people will be pissed off at you for
. sending them a stupid chain letter.
. *Send this to 5-10 people: 5-10 people will be pissed off at you for
. sending them a stupid chain letter, and may form a plot on your life.
. *Send this to 10-20 people: 10-20 people will be pissed off at you for
. sending them a stupid chain letter and will napalm your house.
. Thanks!!!! Good Luck!!!
. Chain Letter Type 2:
. Hello, and thank you for reading this letter. You see, there is a
. starving little boy in Baklaliviatatlaglooshen who has no arms,no
. legs, no parents, and no goats. This little boy's life could be saved,
. because for every time you pass this on, a dollar will be donated to
. the Little Starving Legless Armless Goatless Boy from
. Baklaliviatatlaglooshen Fund. Oh, and remember, we have absolutely no
. way of counting the emails sent and this is all a complete load of
. bullshit. So go on, reach out. Send this to 5 people in the next 47
. seconds. Oh, and a reminder if you accidentally send this to 4 or 6
. people, you will die instantly. Thanks again!!
. Chain Letter Type 3:
. Hi there!! This chain letter has been in existence since 1897. This is
. absolutely incredible because there was no email then and probably not
. as many sad pricks with nothing better to do. So this is how it
. works... Pass this on to 15,067 people in the next 7 minutes or
. something horrible will happen to you like:
. *Bizarre Horror Story #1 Miranda Pinsley was walking home from school
. on Saturday. She had recently received this letter and ignored it. She
. then tripped in a crack in the sidewalk, fell into the sewer, was
. gushed down a drainpipe in a flood of poopie, and went flying out over
. a waterfall. Not only did she smell nasty, she died. This Could Happen
. To You!!!
. *Bizarre Horror Story #2 Dexter Bip, a 13 year old boy, got a chain
. letter in his mail and ignored it. Later that day, he was hit by a car
. and so was his boyfriend (hey, some people swing that way).
. They both died and went to hell and were cursed to eat adorable
. kittens every day for eternity. This Could Happen To You Too!!!
. Remember, you could end up just like Pinsley and Bip. Just send this
. letter to all of your loser friends, and everything will be okay.
. Chain Letter Type 4:
. As if you care, here is a poem that I wrote. Send it to all your
. friends.
. FRIENDS A friend is someone who is always at your side. A friend is
. someone who likes you even though you stink of shit, and your breath
. smells like you've been eating catfood. A friend is someone who likes
. you even though you're as ugly as a hat full of assholes.
. A friend is someone who cleans up for you after you've soiled
. yourself. A friend is someone who stays with you all night while you
. cry about your sad, sad life. A friend is someone who pretends they
. like you when they really think you should be raped by mad goats, then
. thrown to vicious dogs. A friend is someone who scrubs your toilet,
. vacuums and then gets the check and leaves and doesn't speak much
. English...no, sorry that's the cleaning lady.
. A friend is not someone who sends you chain letters because he wants
. his wish of being rich to come true. Now pass this on! If you don't,
. you'll never have sex ever again!
. The point being?
. If you get some chain letter that's threatening to leave you shagless
. or luckless for the rest of your life, delete it. If it's funny, send
. it on. Don't piss people off by making them feel guilty about a leper
. in Botswana with no teeth, who's been tied to a dead elephant for 27
. years, whose only saving grace is the 5 cents per letter he'll receive
. if you forward this mail, otherwise you'll end up like Miranda. Right?
. Now forward this to everyone that you know otherwise you'll find all
. your knickers missing tomorrow morning!!!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Cute or handsome?

The other day one of my girl-as-friends was asking me how I do like the Mishal Raheja of a tele-sop Lovestory...( with all my gratitude to the die-hard fans of the dude for forgiving me for forgetting the name of the character). And when I showed ignorance about that name I was reprimanded on my face. The agony lies in the details. For all the precious time we talked I was being cajoled to believe how Mr Raheja had maintained his cute face. My senses, which remained idle for most of the period of the conversation felt the awe on how could a man, look cute?

Though I, like most of my gang of friends who have to bear the brunt of having a gal-as-frn by talking to them for all petty things they hate to like and agree to all the things they never agree with otherwise, didn’t oppose, I was happy inside on Mr Raheja being complimented with that word as my own past conclusions told me that a man should not be cute. But then the likes of Salmans and Amirs gave feeling of alienship from the league of the liked-ones.

That one discussion had always been a controversial one amongst us as to why a man should not cherish being given tags of cute, chocolaty and so. And the one thing we mostly don’t reach is the consensus. So I keep telling people blessed with the sense of glorification on being called one that they need weigh their choices on what they wanna be called?

The discussion is still on. And I am still happy.