Fb-ing

Of late a constant thought has been hovering over me. What is the logic behind us sharing our personal and intimate happenings with the world? Be it photos or incidents or Newtonian thoughts that strike us in the most bizarre moments. And it’s not really the world – but just to our so-called friends and their friends and their friends in the bookish world of Faces!

On the face of it, it is an absolutely terrific idea to have your connections accessible in such an easy and fun manner. Contacts once made can forever be nurtured with a few clicks. You meet a random person, have a conversation, and then add them to your connections. After ages, you are instantly able to access every tiny bit of their life (Of course whatever they have shared or their friends have shared about them – which is a lot nowadays)

For instance, I was thinking of updating my profile photo on Fb. Then I thought, why am I doing this? Just to let the world know how I am looking? Nay… that’s a trite point. Is it more about showing off how young I am (Courtesy of course Photo editing tool) in spite of what the numbers read against my birthdate? But then looking young does not make me any richer or happier. Or is it just to let a friendly beep to all my “friends” saying I got something to show you- which is nothing but my photo clicked in some exotic location? Then again save the very close friends whom I am anyway in touch with, why would others be interested in knowing about how I look like? Curiosity? Frankly, beats me…

It’s a funny world we live in today. We can boast of 1000+ connections in our friends list but how many will genuinely care? That’s a clichéd question now! Sometimes I ask - Is caring a word stretched too far when it comes to friends? Is it being too idealistic and utopian? Is it not possible to share bonds of friendship where we don’t do anything for each other and not really care about how the lives are going but just happen to accidentally browse on each other’s lives as we scroll through the virtual “Walls”? Perhaps cross each other one fine day to shake hands or say hello? 

On the other side, what is interesting about FB is that with the zillions of multimedia content that it circulates, it creates a platform for interaction. Even with “friends” whom you are not so close with, sometimes a random video maybe a way to interact. A press of a button is maybe a way of acknowledging you exist. Perhaps a one worded comment will help establish a long lost bond again. Can we call these as modern ways of being connected with friends?

Personally, I have not been too active on Fb. When it began as a photo-sharing website, I didn’t have pics that I deemed fit to share. Then the whole effort of transferring camera pics onto the PC and then uploading it to the internet was too tiring a task for me. Most importantly, the thought of updating “What’s on your mind now” or “what am I up to now” or “Where I am checked in now” wasn’t too appealing to me. Then one day I started sharing my blog links on Fb. To my surprise, this gave my blog a phenomenal number of hits. Earlier I had only fellow bloggers to access my blogs but through FB, I was able to cater to 100 times more the crowd. I then tried my bit at the profile photo - updating it once in a while and then waiting to see the no: of likes or comments it generated. But the idea was very insipid. Even now, whenever I happen to browse Fb (which is mostly when my wife tags me over things she wants me to look into), I see a great no: of profile picture updates. The funny part is no matter how the pictures are; compliments will always flow! Perhaps it’s just humanity being nice.

Of the things that I find most intriguing is when people share pictures of their personal events. Life events, outings, and not to mention trip photos. It is amazing to see the lengths people go in order to show how splendid a trip they had with their family. How joyous and how absolutely terrific the place they visited was. Through the pictures and videos, a virtual free tour is provided to onlookers. An ad agency perhaps hit it right with a satirical ad on the whole episode where a travel agent was convincing his clients about how a virtual studio tour – photoshopped pictures, custom social media updates is a much better and cost effective way of making their trip rather than actually visit the place.

A friend of mine remarked in the early days of Fb that he finds it disgusting to share his marriage pictures on FB. His logic was simple – why would I expose my most personal life event to the general public rather than to people whom I am very close with? I found him to be extremely pre-historic then. But now with the way a picture circulates, his comments make a lot of sense. Perhaps a crude fall out of this phenomenon is when a person is no more. The first place that is scavenged is their FB wall. 

All said and done, Facebook manages to get the attention of the world with numbers that are the envy of every marketer. From retailers to researchers, everyone is present on FB. And we have no dearth of success stories of FB marketing from the most rural of world cities. It has perhaps mixed the world of business and personal, intermingled both in such intricate ways that we are at times left wondering about what really is happening and who really are we talking to?

Tomorrow is unknown. But for today, Fb reigns supreme. An invention that has created a revolution in almost every part of the world. How their whole Free basics and other virtual reality offerings play out will be interesting to watch out. As for my photo update, I guess I’ll just hold it for now! But then I’ll update with my blog link :P

From Jeddah with Love!

They say first impression makes for the best impression. Undeniably it remains a lasting impression. I still remember the first impression of my better half (which was hardly to be found after that. it is that impression that I have to cling to at times, if you get what I mean ;)).

 

The first impression I had of Jeddah or Saudi Arabia as a country was anything to remember. After alighting from the flight, we had to take a 10 minute bus ride to reach the airport - one which makes calicut airport(a small airport in a small state of India) look mighty.  And then the sight - hordes of people in a snake like queue, many squatting and some even making the floor their bed, was anything but inviting. I was to wait through that queue to clear immigration! To make it worse there were no immigration officers. One would expect a little more from the countries biggest airport (in terms of passenger volume). Especially if the country is filled with oil wells!

 

To add to all this, when it actually came to the immigration counter, their system collapsed - software system! The officer in charge kept restarting for some time but all to no avail. Finally he gave up. Like as though it was a daily occurrence, he asked me to wait till the system was up and went for a smoke! That sort of summed it all - If something doesn't work, you have to wait. The duration of the wait varies depending on your luck. On that day however, I was lucky for their system regained life pretty quickly.

 

Now, if the airport scene was chaotic, the roads were even more. Cars jumping queues and driving over pedestrians. Bikes wheeling and racing. The indicators hardly in use. Now coming from India, this wasn't too surprising. But to see it in a Arab country was - perhaps I was expecting a little bit of order!

 

The chaos apart, as days pass by, I realise the different colours that make this place vibrant. Now of course, colours are not something that you'll see around. People here have taken a fierce liking to black and white- all around you will see women in black robes and men in white!

A walk through the mall can at times be a little discomforting - for you may fail to distinguish between your own woman and others! Needless to say, bird watching will simply not exist in this part of the world. In fact, if you were to go as a bachelor, many of the places will be prohibited for you. Mall food courts, few of the shopping arenas and parks are strictly reserved for families. And what's more, this is perhaps the only place in the world to have dedicated manpower to over see that no moral wrong takes place! Makes it all the more safer for women - or so is the argument.

 

Fittingly perhaps it is the colourless waters of Red sea that lends this city its charm. The long coastline buzzes with life at all times. Walkways, jogging tracks, lush green parks, well developed corniche all make for very lively places. On any day its a common sight to see people come and spend evenings by the corniche or parks - mostly with sheesha or barbeque or the ever famous Albaik chicken.

Now as much as the ills that plague this place, it is an oasis for many a people. For in spite of the numerous restrictions and the maddening laws that govern this place, swarms of people pour over to make their life better. It is in fact a testimony to the riches this place holds that so many immigrants unmindful of all that they are asked to do, labour on.

 

Oil apart, the industrial boom that is happening currently is unmatched in any other part of the Arab world. Paradoxically though, while the whole world scramble to make the most of the country's oil riches, their own citizens are left to wander. As with any other development story, the disparity in income is evident from the numerous hawkers knocking on tinted German,American and Japanese cars at almost every traffic joint.

 

Recently though the ruling class seem to have finally woken up to all this and have embarked on some ambitious reform programs. Mammoth funding to thrust development, sweeping reforms to address inefficiency and illegalities. The result is that on one hand there is an ocean of opportunity while on the other there is confusion and chaos regarding ever changing government rules. Like an announcement will be out in the papers that a new way of doing things have come out, without any hurdles in a single click but the bureaucrats handling the affairs may be completely unaware of any such change! 

 

Lastly about Makkah - a place that lends Saudi Arabia its unique identity and culture. The Haramain (in conjuction with Medina) as it is called in Arabic make up for all the other follies of the state. The government has left no stone unturned in making sure a visit to either of the place is hassle free and comfortable. A commendable job indeed. A visit to any of the Haram is enough to soothe your mind of any lingering troubles. From all the hopelessness that exists, they fill you with ocean loads of hope! At least in my case.

 

From Jeddah

With Love!