Where am I?

Few things are as irritable as getting up on a Monday morning, especially for someone who uses 5 alarms to get up at 8’o clock. Urged by some sort of subconscious memory power (technical details of this power are available in a Tamil movie called Uthama Puthiran), I logged into Facebook. Through my half-opened eyes (they were actually 10-20% open, but I don’t think any of you would expect such a level of accuracy), my semi-conscious (for lack of number prefixes less than 1/2) brain registered that I’ve received a message. Hey, isn’t that unusual? With much difficulty, I opened the message (Given the state I was in, it was taxing. Throw in the fact that I wasn’t wearing my specs at the time and you’d surely understand how hard it was).

The message was from a friend (Obvious, I suppose). No prizes for identifying this dramatis persona, it’s quite easy. A few clues: my classmate in college, one of the few I consider as “being in touch” (call once in a few months), someone who has been “invisible” for quite a while (Not an easy clue, this one. One might say that this clue indicates me as well.), a most exceptional (‘peculiar’ would suit better I think) character who is frequently referenced in many noteworthy articles in blogosphere (coincidentally, all of them are in my blog), someone whom I’ve been trying to call for the last one month (in this case, the italicization of the word “trying” stresses the lack of response from the said friend and not the lack of seriousness on my part), someone who so graciously agreed to call me “soon” a week back. Still in the dark on the identity of this friend? No matter. Read on.

What do I find in a message which was opened with such tremendous efforts?

Translation:
Hey are you in UK? (The person who opened the message became fully awake because of this one simple question)
What is your phone number? (WHAT!)
I thought of calling you today. (A laudable effort, this. Keep going)
While searching for your number in FB, I saw that you are in Peterborough. (The implications of this sentence was.. staggering to say the least)
When did you go? (Unconditional surrender!)

By the time I finished reading the message, I was annoyed, exasperated, frustrated, infuriated, perturbed… Add a few adjectives on such lines, but it still wouldn’t tell you how exactly I felt.

Everything that follows is a direct result of this incident(!).

Afterthought 1:

Looks like I should rekindle the interest in social networking. My FB wall seems to contain a number of updates concerned about current location of various friends. Perhaps i should do the same. Let me see. On weekdays (and on occasional weekends), you’ll get two updates – 1) Selva was at office and 2) Selva was at home. Sounds exciting? To add more flavour, you might also get updates like “Selva was at supermarket X”, “Selva was at city centre” and “Selva was at restaurant Y” every 2-3 days. Add a few select photographs specifically clicked for uploading in FB and a stream of aphorisms which strike my fancy, there IS a chance for Return of Me in social networking (Needless to say, comments like “who needs it?”, “did i ask you?”, etc would be summarily ignored).

Afterthought 2:

A quick introspection points out that my current location is, in some ways, similar to my hometown. You know, quiet, peaceful, not so crowded, etc. (In response to a most probable and frequent comment from a friend, let me say this again: I never claimed that my hometown is a bustling metropolis). Could it be that I got too attached to the place that I’m not keeping in touch? Could it be because of the shock I got when I saw my first phone bill after coming here? (6.2K INR, if I remember correctly. At least, it was not in GBP) Well, as always, I blame it on the time difference.

P.S.: To all those who 1) actively use a social networking website like Facebook 2) update locations regularly 3) upload photos regularly 4) copy-paste (or refer-type or “think on your own”-type) some words of wisdom as a status update regularly, the friend who sent such a memorable message and whomsoever else it may concern: Nothing personal folks. I was badly in need of subject matter for a blog post.

Advertisement