In the ancient “pre-Facebook days” we would never have called each other friends; we would have called ourselves “barely-civil-to-each-othe
A little background
It all began when a certain school classmate of ours, upon acquiring a MBBS degree, realised that there’s more to the world than studying the root causes behind the 150-or-so types of headaches. So after living like a hermit during the course of her academic pursuits, she felt a strong urge to reconnect with all her old friends – or classmates to be more precise. Coincidently, this was also the phase, when, according to her, she “discovered technology”, by which she actually meant Facebook. What started off as an out-of-the-blue message from her, proposing a 10-year class reunion, gave way to a sudden barrage of friend requests that resulted in a whopping influx of 37 people to my friends list, and this is how I ended up adding my nemesis from school days as a “friend” on my Facebook account.
Blast from the past
Yes! I may have accepted my archrival’s Facebook friend request but if truth be told, Facebook cannot make us the best of friends. And No! I am not interested in knowing her cat’s pooping habits or what colour she may be wearing today. The girl may have transformed from the short, geeky, freckle face into a drop-dead gorgeous chick and although her Facebook album showcases her drastic change in physical appearance, should I be expected to turn into a fan? Not while I can still recall the almost sadistic pleasure she got by going the extra mile to get me in trouble.
I also find it very amusing how excited she seems to be to see my photographs, making it a point to comment on almost each of them, or at least “liking” them in case she decides to spare me her comments following by an overdose of exclamation marks. I really won’t be surprised if after a while the numeric “1” key that sadly shares its space with this over-used punctuation mark wears out. As if that wasn’t enough, does she really have to be so active on Facebook? It’s none of my business really, but I fail to understand why anyone would want her entire friend list to know which crop she is harvesting in FarmVille or which character of the Friends TV show she is. Also, is it really necessary to invite me to all the groups she joins? The fact that I have repeatedly ignored invitations to join pointless groups like “Buck Fush” or “Blah” should get the message across. The girl has driven me to the point when she will soon be receiving an invitation for the group “I simply can’t take a hint” from me. Sadly, due to certain reasons, I can’t even opt out and delete her from my friends list. I do, however, plan to visit the Facebook privacy page, when I am not feeling so lazy.
Looking beyond
On the positive side, I look forward to meeting my old classmates, if just out of mere curiosity. Facebook has made possible the reconnection of 37 people – in a matter of just three days. On the other hand, in the 90’s, it would have taken at least weeks to track down everyone. It’s also wonderful to reconnect with friends with whom I had lost contact after passing out from school. Though a little surprising, it is great that people from outside the city are also making plans to come to Karachi in order to attend the reunion.
Technology has definitely brought the world closer, and has given the phrase “it’s a small world” a whole new meaning. The annoying part of Facebook is the constant bombardment of notifications, alerts, status updates, private messages, invitations to join groups or sign petitions, and the gargantuan number of applications, to name a few. Unless of course, one makes generous use of their privacy settings page, which lazy people like me seldom do.
March 26, 2010 is the date set for the reunion. Let’s see how it turns out. And yes! In a strange way I look forward to meeting you my dear old “friend”.