Midnight’s Children

(Apologies Sir Rushdie… for stealing the title of one of your masterpieces… But I’m in so deeply love with the book that I just can’t get it outta my head… please forgive me for the childish act of blasphemy!!)

Social networking has become a pseudo life for millions across the globe - a fact that has been endlessly chronicled in volumes.

Though I unabashedly admit that I, too, am hooked to the “evil web of woes” like most of my family and friends, yet I differ from the majority on these social networking sites on grounds of rationality, sound reasoning powers and a busy professional life.

Thus, I use these sites JUST to connect with family members, friends and pals separated by time and space. That new friends add on along the way, goes without saying but then, here too, I practice utmost restraint and trust my almost-always-right discretion – even though the mail box is always jammed by spasm and junk mails and friends requests pour in by millions.

But here, I need to make a confession which cannot get more candid. Though the restraint and discretion that I just boasted about have always been my friends; temptations, curiosity and tendency to fall prey to puppy love have held their own tiny little place somewhere inside me. But then, I have to say that I been fortunate enough not to land in any major trouble because of these “vices”.

However, not many are lucky like me in such matters. I have heard and seen numerous incidents of people fooling their “Orkut”, “Facebook” or “Twitter” friends.

Out of all cases that I have ever come across, the most serious perhaps emanate from a community on Orkut, the erstwhile “happening” social networking site.

The public forum called “Want to Marry An Army Officer” was formed by two Indian Army officers for reasons best known to the duo. Speculative reasons, however, are - To attract youngsters to interact and get to know each other; to give the “Olive-Green stuck” young girls a fair chance to mingle with the officers and find a suitable match; to give the “deprived” officers a chance to befriend PYTs or perhaps to boast about their “heroic tales” and “gallantry”.

That the member numbers swelled within days, is needless to say. But what needs to be mentioned in all gravity is that even sooner than that, the community became a serious threat to the nation’s security - thanks to airheaded young officer members and love-stuck ladies. However, with some “sane interference”, the matter was brought under control, though not completely sorted.

However, the point here is of fooling one’s online friends. So back to WMAO, of which even I was a member – thanks to my eternal love for the Greens and also, for a dear friend who had taken over from the original founders of the community.

The comm (as all members called it) was undoubtedly a lively place to spend free time in and would really get active in the late hours. 

Youngsters from all walks of life would chat and post frantically in various public forums on the comm – most of which were frivolous songs, dance and trivia games. Playing silly games, when the members became “Midnight’s Children”, I’m sure, even they didn’t know. In the process, friend requests flowed freely – some accepted, others put on hold but seldom rejected.

From friend requests, members graduated to phone calls and then to meetings. Many met, developed a liking for a particular someone, met in solitude, celebrated in groups, fell in love, went around, made promises, broke them only to make them again with someone else –all seemed like scenes straight out of some Ekta Kapoor-produced daily soap.

Unfortunately, the name of the comm ultimately remained that – just the name, with virtually no happy ending in sight.

With overstressed-with-work officers looking for “some fun time pass” and desperate-to-fall-in-love girls looking for their proverbial “knight in shining armour”, the comm soon became a living hell. Rumours, heartbreaks, tears, lies, link-ups, cheating became the norms of WMAO.

Every now and then, an incident about how an officer cheated upon a lady member became a routine affair, as did talks about girls two/ three-timing brother officers.

Guys and gals fought with each other, disgracing and exposing fellow members in public – some genuinely, others out of jealousy, fear, hatred.

Some even levelled grievous allegations on their fellow WMAO members – fraud, infidelity, betrayal, settling of professional scores, avenging an old rivalry, love snatching, molestation, mental and physical harassment and even rape and spying, to name a few.

Many members, including me, fell out as an after-effect of the overdose of such incidents – with sore hearts. After all, all that we wanted was simple, pure friendship.

And fortunately, we had, by that time, made some real friends but did not know if it was wise to depend on them anymore or should a safe distance be maintained.

I left the comm, taking a silent vow never to get into the web of woes ever again and only interact with the people I know.

Four years passed by and the site’s popularity dwindled. Facebook had taken over and the forgotten cousin was now a pale shadow of itself. Another community by the same name found its way into FB as well. Along came its massive popularity but this time the members – some old, majority new, seemed to have matured beyond all expectations and having adapted well to social networking, knew exactly who to interact with and who to avoid.

Again on a friend’s insistence, I joined the all-new WMAO but knew inside that it was just for the sake of increasing membership of the community in its initial days that I was there. I had nothing to do with the new members – I had thought to myself.

However, curiosity in general and boredom in particular, took me to the new WMAO once every blue moon. I peeped in to see what was on and how members were behaving in public. In case I found any officer divulging more professional info than required, I would not lose a chance to snub him – a trait that came naturally to a responsible journalist like me, I would like to believe. Other than that, I was just not interested in WMAO and its members.

But as I said boredom did get me there once in a while, it was on one such occasion that I decided to sneak a peek into the group chat. Just as I ventured into the chat room, I found 4-5 young officers who suddenly got interested in the new entrant – me!

All of them wanted to know about me, what I did and where I belonged. After answering a few queries, I realised it was all so taxing – facing questions i.e. After all, I had always been on the other side of the table as a reporter.

The sudden bout of attention made me a tad uncomfortable and sent a wave of envy down each female member’s spine – a new entrant (actually an old dormant member) was stealing the show from right under their noses. The boys, on their side, had found a new PYT to flirt with!

Friend requests followed within no time and included one from an over-curious but a finely handsome looking officer. On friendly advice from a girlfriend, I accepted his request and he became one of the three people I had not met in my life, to join my friend list.

Personal chats followed and phone calls came in almost no time yet again. We got along well and displayed great potential of being the best of friends. And the awesomely good looks and killer smile of the charming young man somewhere deep down inside made him the subject of my puppy love.

Within a couple of days, chats got longer. Joys, sorrows, secrets were shared. Eager waits for the late-night chat session, too, became part of the new-found friendship.

On a dull, lazy, grumpy Sunday afternoon, my new friend and I, during one such chat session, started sharing our online experiences. While my friend had never befriended anyone from the “big bad web world”, I conceded having made one good “girl” friend.

Reality dawned on us. We were actually the first in each other’s lives to become online pals – and being from the opposite sexes only complicated things.

He shivered as he listened to my stories from the old WMAO, scepticism sweeping across his mind even though his heart said in faint tones that I was his friend and could never be a character out of one of those sordid WMAO tales. I, on my part, suffered from a strange overpowering sense of cynicism – what if this guy turns out to be like one of those officers of WMAO!

Few hours passed quietly. Evening brought along a sense of great discomfort – an extension of the irritated morning and livid afternoon. Discussions followed by a bevy of questions gave way to a mild argument and a few rude words. When realisation dawned, silence prevailed. We were friends, for God’s sake and had been talking for nearly two months now.

“We somehow know each other now,” consoled the gentleman. “Yes,” I replied, not knowing what to say.

What started as a normal discussion on how people cheat and deceive others through social networking sites, was now a case in study among the two of us. But how, why and what, we did not know!

So deciding to take some time off away from each other, we called it a day at 9 pm - quite early by the standards of "Midnight’s Children". But my friend wanted some alone time. Respecting his need for personal space, I retreated, though desperate to talk my heart out with the one I shared a strange instant bond of friendship.

Restless questions darting in my head were sure to give me a tough time and as expected, they brought along a long, sleepless night.

"He is a nice person, that’s why we had been talking. If he questioned me ruthlessly, it was because he was as jittery about me as I was about him. We just knew each other through FB and it’s JUST been a few days," I kept thinking repeatedly.

"Whatever said and done, I like him, so does he. That is why we are pondering over the matter so much. Had there been no bond, we would have parted ways right away," I reasoned with myself.

Morning was no better. Torn between confusion and hope, I decided to leave him alone till he wanted to talk.

Afternoon was a little better, with a brief chat with my friend. But his beloved Archer was ill and that was sad news. My heart wrenched to think of the poor ill baby. But I could do very little – so I prayed for his well being. Hopefully, tomorrow’s sun brings better health for Archer and a brighter, happier day for my friend – I wished with all my heart.

But amid the wretchedness, a ray of hope has erupted – probably we are still friends!

Of course WE ARE, I say. We cannot and should not let others’ experiences ruin our own relationships.

Guess, in fact, HOPE that my friend agrees with me on this!!

This onez just for U.... PJ!!!

P.S. I: Penned in a terrible state of mind! Friends, please excuse for the seemingly incoherent piece of writing.

P.S. II: Suggestions to make it a coherent piece will be more than welcome!!

P.S. III: Friends will be kept abreast of the latest on the subject of this blog post who is getting married later this year... Let's wish him good luck people :)