I Exist Damn It! What If My FACEBOOK Page Does Not!!!

“Are you not on FACEBOOK! “

“Hmm! “ , Raj replied with a half a smile to cover up his discomfort.

“Really? “ , came the question his way…..

“Hmm”.. Raj maintained a status quo. Lately he adapted to appear calm, even though the question annoyed him.

“I can’t believe it!“ the fellow exclaimed, as though a punishable offence is committed.

“You have to “, he made the point clear & leaned back to rest and closed his eyes.

“Being so”cialized, these days, implies a FACEBOOK, that’s the bottom line.

       The journey was exhaustive being lengthy. And Raj was happy to find a fellow of his age to chitchat with. But the fellow’s over enthusiasm about knowing stuff Raj did not, kept Raj frustrating as they moved on.

    “Hey... Did you ever see anything like this” he stated after an unconcerned HI, showing yet another of those electronic gadgets from his bag, besides the N* Nokia, A* IPAD, F*T* watch and some more of those cozy thing he was adorned with. He had almost everything a person of his age is expected to have.

“That’s a present from my cousin: cool huuunhh!!” … “Ofcoures from US “he informed, as if he expected the question.

“But I can’t believe you are not of FB. Come-on half of the world is!”…and he continued

    FACEBOOK has this, FACEBOOK has that… it has what ORKUT or TAGGED do not have and what it has not, that ORKUT and TAGGED have….

And he made an attempt to invent putting his brain at work … once at least …

“You know what… There should be forum in FACEBOOK for people who are not on FACEBOOK… “

“In there people who are not on FACEBOOK can explain why they are not on FACEBOOK…. There must be reason rii’ght. …. Trust me half of the world is on FACEBOOK. There must be sooo”lid reason to be not on FACEBOOK..”

“if they were on FACEBOOK and they no longer are … then what made them to move out of FACEBOOK…… who the hell would want to move out of …. FACEBOOOK : the most happening thing around…….“ he continued not being bothered if he was listened to.

“You must talk to Mark Zuckerberg about this……!” Raj interrupted, rather aggressively after his tolerance reached to verge of breaking. After all he heard the name a 100 odd times…..

“I was saying who would want to move out of “FACEBOOK””, it was evident he was trying to prove there was no world if no FACEBOOK. What Raj wondered was if he paid attention to the his statement….

“By the way… who the hell is MARK Z… Zuc.. What’s that …. Dint catch you….” ….

“ it’s ZU’ KAR’ BERG” Raj replied with a notion of pride.” He is the one who created the FACEBOOK“he concluded.

“Ohh……! “He exclaimed and he turned to face the window. One could see a certain inconvenience in his attitude. Raj assumed he felt sorry for not being abreast of the man who made half the world stick to his invention……

“Who cares anyway….”, he broke the silence with the same enthu as before, ”So I was taking of a forum in FB…” he continued being least worried of the information that was provided.

Raj paid no attention to what was being said…. wondered how the meaning of acquaintance is being changed
from being physically aware of a person to virtual sense, in the e-world, where one is least certain of the identity people provide.

“Guess what I have 1400 friends out there in the FACEBOOK ! “.. he declared after a momentary silence ….”Four”teeeen hundred odd you see….” He concluded expecting Raj to be bewildered at his achievement.

“ohk”, Raj subdued his anguish. Replied merely to respect the protocol of conversation.

“and they span, all around the world… “ he continued, unconcerned, “500 from the US, can you believe it. ?” …..
“do have a bloody choice!”. Raj ruled out sarcastically.

“u don’t believe it right !!!”, he took the sarcasm to disbelief..

“God save him from my wrath, I am about to burst.” Raj told to himself. “I believe you my friend…..!”, he replied trying to sound normal all along.

He never cared to listen to the conformation and he continued,” how can you even think of believing, you never even sa”w the FACEBOOK! “

He struck the wrong note. Raj was out of mind at his last words.

“How many friends you said you have?”, Raj was angry, but tried sounding tranquil.

“What? .. “ he was surprised at the question .

“Friends! How many of them you have? “
“1400 plus “

“Give a count including your real life friends”

“Another 20 odd! “. He replied after a moment of thought.

“Good.. When did you last talk to any of you real life friends?”

“3 days ……. 4 .. a week back I guess “

“Now think well before you answer the next question …. Say you are in deep trouble, god forbid, and it’s a matter of life and death; give a count of people who will come to your rescue- !”
……………….
“Three or four may be! “, he was alarmed no doubt.

“Where are they from? The FACEBOOOOK ? “

“No, they are my school mates and a couple of them my neighbors.”

“When is the last time you had a talk with any of these people whom you can count your life on?”

He was silent. It has been ages one can sense.

“And you claim to have 1400 odd friends. I don’t say it’s not a worth to have a chain of contacts. Or a page in the social network. But that’s not life. FACEBOOK cannot be life. “

He turned pale; Raj knew he would dislike the whole conversation. But he pulled the string harder, and pay the price he must.

“Its people around us who count. They are the real ones. They deserve our time. That is what I feel” ……

“ I have 20 odd friends, I meet every one once in 2 days, I talk to them , their families, we party we share …. We live… We exist! “

“My FACEBOOK page doesn’t exist, but I do……..!

Now…………Ask yourself! “
…
…
…
“Dude, What you do?”, Raj broke the silence, which lasted for a while now.

“Sorry sir “”,

“I said what you do for a living? “.

“I work at the reception, for a continental hotel! And what about you sir? “

Raj smiled and said,
“Well…….
…………. ……I program…………..
……………………….for the FACEBOOK”……………………………………………….”

               And silence is what followed as the plane soared, piercing its way past the ambush of clouds and the sun, after traversing half the world, continued its journey down the western horizon……

The Bicycle

         The T-Wave that struck the city recently left no part of the social life untouched. Auto’s, the only mode of transport back and forth to office, went on strike, the other day. Some way I managed to reach office. Going back was now the challenge I had to face.

            I set out. Walked past the main gate, and was aghast to see not a single vehicle to take a ride on. Couple of calls I made to enquire the cause for the horrific state. Waited for a while and seeing no light of hope, I let me legs do the job.

            People of the same profession are sympathetic to their fellow mates, and to exploit a lift under such circumstances is easy. But that hour in the day saw not many coming off their duties and there was not much movement on the road. The few, who came, were already booked with fellow riders and I was left with no option but to walk my way back to the junction from where I could manage to get a city bus.

            I walked… though the junction looked to be at farther end of the world cause of the tiredness clouding the body and soul, I walked. And after a few steps I heard a bell ring of a bicycle. Surprised I was, for, on this path I walked, a bicycle was least expected.

            I turned to see who that gentle man was, that dared move around on a bicycle. The surprised was levitated as I found that the rider was a little boy, of 10 or 12. He could barely touch both the pedals at a time. And he made a herculean effort to ride the bicycle over the elevated road.

            A boy, of 10 or 12. With curly untidy hair. The dress he wore was on the verge of being torn. Most part of it was dirty, little that was neat, had cloth patches used to cover up the torn part .the feet had cracks, evidently because of the chemicals the cement has. Paint like white shade covered all of the visible skin and most part of his dress. A boy of 10 or 12.

            A ray of hope, I realized, on a path which saw no vehicle for 15 minutes. But with the attire I possessed, would I take a ride? , pondering thus,

“Could you give a ride?” I requested the boy who kept pedaling as he moved past me. He stared at me as though I made an unpardonable crime by intervening into his world of joyousness he made out of the bicycling.

He stopped after couple of steps. Possibly for the innocent face I put up, or at the attire I wore.

“Sit”, the boy commanded.

“You sit, I’ll ride”, I insisted as I caught hold of the handle.

“Nop, I will ride!” the boy never left the handle go out of his grip.

“No, you will not be able to! let me ride”, I replied at the innocence of the boy. ”you are just a little kid”, I tried bullying.

And he handed his vehicle to me. We set off, once I made him sit on cross bar…..

“Where do you work?” I questioned out of curiosity.

“Back at the construction “, he replied, “my mother, father, and uncle work “, he continued, mostly, enthusiastically.

“No school?” I asked. I could see his face turn to an expression we call frown.

“T-Band – !”, he said.

“Hmm…. Where are you going then? “,

“To get a cigarette packet!” the boy replied, “to the junction!”

“You smoke? “, I teased.

“Noooooooo… for my father, mother. Uncle and their friend!” he smiled as he replied.

“Don’t they know it’s harmful” I questioned to see what he would say. He nodded as an answer and smiled.

            My muscles were stressed at the effort I put up. It was ages that I rode a cycle. Ages it has been that I even touched one. Or well... the truth is that the body has accustomed itself for a stress free life. It’s the mind that is stressed out in the kind of work I do. The body, it’s at resting state most of the times. And for a sudden motion from stand still, after effects are deemed to follow.

“What work u do..?” I asked him breaking the silence which lasted for a while.

“I carry brinks to the top and empty cement trays to bottom”, he replied. “And I water the walls when all bricks are over!”

“And what are you paid.”

“My father knows it!” he said. ”he buys me a rubber ball and couple of chocolates now and then.”

“He promised that he will buy a dress this Sunday. But there was no work for two days. So he doesn’t have money now.”

            There was no work for two days. I remembered the T-Band and yet another national band called by the opposition condemning the price hike.

“We dint even had breakfast today”, the boy interrupted my flow of thoughts.

“Mother said, we have to save some grains for couple of days, there could be more bands soon.” the boy concluded.

            Save the daily wages the family gets, they seem not to have any regular source of income. And the price hike and agitations add to their misery.

We neared the junction and my thoughts were filled with vacuum as I peddled.

There was misery, suffering all around.  Question was “who is responsible?”

“wanna eat something ?” , I asked the boy out of concern. Long days work it must have been.

“May be a cup of tea? “, I re-questioned after he nodded.

            He took the control of the cycle back as soon as I got down. And before I could even make an attempt to offer him something, gone he was……….