Social Networking- Where from Here?

“I am afraid it is a non-starter. I cannot even use a bicycle pump.”
• When asked whether she uses e-mail.
Judi Dench : in Times, 13 Feb 1999


Social Networking is ‘The Buzz’ on the Web these days. And everybody seems to smitten by this e-bug. Twitter, Facebook, FreindFeed and a host of other websites are the places to be these days.


As dynamic as it's growth is, social networking mushrooms on one simple idea- bringing people closer to each other. The keynote storm started about two and a half years ago, a period when social networking sites were literally multiplying by the day. Now that we have so many of these websites, do we really need more?

I think the way forward would be exploring ways of linking the present socio-net sites to provide a user with richer experience of social-networking and give a new meaning to the phrase ‘being on-line’. The point I want to stress is that, every possible contour of web-based socializing has been explored (well, under the restraint of the present technological know-how.), so it would naïve to pile on content on a single web-page. Instead, clever tie-ups with other sites would make the user-experience better, redefine ease of use and set bench-marks for future.

Here, I would like to point out the striking resemblance of the growth of social-networking with the growth of internet itself. During its early stages, organizations and groups developed computer networks exclusively for their firms (Arpanet et all). But soon enough it was realized that the strength of a network lies in the number of workstations it syncs. That small realization back then is the main reason why internet is the big monster that it is, today. And the same goes for social-networking. The techies should dig deep and ensure that socio-net’s future is bright.

These are early days for socio-net. There maybe divided opinions about its future, some different than mine. What’s your perception? Drop in a line.

India's crystal ball

In the race of development, it is a well known fact that the U.S. is lapping quite a few countries.

India used to be one of them, but now, with global economical meltdown the American juggernaut has slowed down. India cannot catch up with the U.S., but the current scenario has thrown up some interesting possibilities.

India won it's independence from the British rule about 200 years after the U.S. won theirs. This effectively puts Bharat 200 years behind America. Globalisation, significant economic decisions and healthy development have helped us shorten the divide.

All these factors stack up and put an interesting picture, where the U.S. has become a model economy for India. Look carefully and you will find that India as a nation is going through a lot of things that the U.S. has already experienced. The Great Depression, the bouts of moral policing are some of the redflags in the comparison.

Here, I would like to clarify that I am not indicating that India is an U.S. re-breed, but the point I want to drive home is we could America as a scale for our development and skillfully avoid the roadblocks that they have stumbled upon.

Who knows, we may be setting the pace someday?

Game for Life

Gaming is in its best phases. Stunning graphics and stupendous sounds make for an amazing experience. But as we tap away on our PSs and Wiis and not to forget PCs, we forgot what joy and thrill of gaming is. The joy and thrill only a video-game could provide. Yes, the very humble predecessors of today’s gaming monsters. Nothing beats the simplicity of game-play and sheer satisfaction that these 2-D games provide. Here is a list of things that form a collection I fondly call ‘Hall of Game’:

Oh Mario!- First he walked into video-games, then into our hearts and now he also comes in 3-D. Mario and his brother Luiggi have become the face of the gaming industry and the Mario Bros. game has become an all-time classic. Easily the best game I have ever played, it is the boundless possibilities of the title and the surprise-element it offers that makes it a memorable game. (Try cracking the 7th level....)

What to do? - No directions here! Unlike today’s games which come fully equipped with directions and tutorials, games of the yesteryear were mysteries until you actually played them. I still remember frantically tapping all the keys on the game-pad on my first brush with Contra. Which reminds me....

Contra Craze- While the Mario brothers were hogging the limelight another twosome were making ripples. These gun wielding, bare-bodied cousins of Salman Khan were on a rampage, literally. Contra caught our imagination with its flair, awesome action and never before seen sequences. And the game-play was captivating to say the least. The double-player mode was a revelation as well. Subsequent titles kept the flag flying.

Para4 9999999- Have you ever seen a name ‘Super Mario 9999999’? Well, this is one of the numerous crazy titles that you find on a game-cartridge. We kids used get really excited on seeing such names, only to find the same old game, what a dud!

Green Chaos- As we grew familiar with video-game consoles, to break open the cartridge cover came naturally to us. The little, green circuit boards were easier to carry, hide, and share sans the bulky cover. I still find it hard to believe that I could recognize exactly which game-cassette (the local name) has which game, when I was young.
These memories are hard to forget.

Oh yeah! I almost forgot the honorable mentions. These did not make it to the list but are worth a mention:
-Islander game series (Beautiful game environment and brilliant colours)

-Plug-pins (12 pin and 36 pin plugs were more common to us than the table-fan plug)

-Gunman (I still don’t know how those game-guns work....)

-Jumbo-Combos (Go ahead and press any and every key and brace yourself for a move never seen before)

Do you have any fond memories of your halcyon gaming days?

Drop a line then!