Friday, January 23, 2009

Why did I delete my Orkut account ??

Finally I deleted my Orkut Account today morning. This was execution of something which I was thinking since last few days.

I had 239 friends, 22 fans, 2 testimonials & 1100+ scraps into my credit (??), at "the" orkut. These numbers are quite moderate, 'coz I know a lot of people who had something like 400-500 friends, 100+ fans, 25+ testimonials & 10000+ scraps. Uff....What a popularity..!!

But does that really mean that I had so many "friends", so many "fans" & so much popularity..?? Do I really deserve all those sweet & superior words that were all written in my "testimonials"..!! If I want to think positive & non-pessimistic (not equivalent to optimistic), I'd say, Of course yaar..they are all my friends/fans & I deserve those testimonials. But on the other hand, if I introspect, retrospect & try to see that reality, I come to know that I was seriously under heavy misconceptions.

IIT K Director's & Deans' address to the PhD students today evening, was quite informotive & motivational (atleast to me). I now understand that I am doing a 'Doctorate' of 'Philosophy'. They were rightly pressing on to the students to increase the the 'philosophical' aspect of the PhD into their lives. During the address, I was happy to note that today only I was able to understand the orkut's philosophy (and hence the psychology of so many of my 'so called' "friends", vis-a-vis my own psychology) & hence rightly deleted my account.

So called fans, never did cared to write a single line of scrap into my scrapbook (nor did I cared to do the same). On an average, I got 1-2 scraps from 1-2 frends monthly, which were actually scraps & not replies to my scraps. If I may ask a friend, "How r u dear, long time didn't hear anything from you", I may get a reply "Hi...I m fine...how r u ??"...!!

If I wish Happy B'Day or Happy Anniversary to a person 'X', I get a reply "Thanks for the wishes dear..!!". If by any chance I could peep into any of X's friend's scrapbook, I'll notice that exactly the same reply was written (actually copied & pasted) to all of the people who wished 'X' on his/her BDay/Anniv. So actually, Mr/Ms X didn't even cared to write an individual reply to all those persons who actually took some time off thier "so busy" schedule to wish 'X'..!! When a person doesn't even have 20 seconds to post a few original words of thankfullness, what is the fun in maintaining such heavy friend lists ??

There were so many people whom I added (or may be they added me) & after adding each other, we never wrote a single word message to each other, in last so many months/years..!! There are also some people whom actually I hate to the core of my heart (may be even they and/or some others who hated me to that level), but they were there in my friend's list.

Everyone likes to share their achievements, their prosperity & good times to all of his/her friends through the Orkut's albums. There are people who share their such snaps, but I felt jealous of them (something which is impossible between friends). Similiarly there are people who felt jealous seeing my snaps. But still we enjoy a place in each other's "friend list" or may be even in "fan's list"..!!

I didn't liked to display my birthday on orkut. If someone is really my friend, he/she will remember my B'Day. But in last so many years, I didn't got a single scrap of wish on my B'Day/Anniversary from any of my 'so called' friends/fans. Actually my anniversary was always there on my album, but no one ever cared to wish us on the occassion. Had I filled my B'Day on orkut, due to the continuous reminders of orkut, some 25-30 (out of 239) would have cared to write 4-5 letters into my scrapbook..!! Rest of the friends would just overlook their friend's b'day. May be even I do the same with them too.. But still, we are friends, as per orkut..!!

One reason which my wife gives to maintain the orkut is 'networking'. They are all friends & may be of some use sometime or the other. But that is what the point is. After realizing all the above, I know very well that if I'll need a help of any of my (orkut) friends & if I ask them, these are the only persons who will not help me & make the fun of my necessity. I have faced these situations 2-3 times in last days (that I needed a friend's help & the refused indirectly) & hence am so confident that one **"must must must not"** expect any help from friends. Actually I dont expect anything from any friend, and that is the best way to maintain any friendship. That is my philosophy..!! :) Also, it is well said: "One is your friend till you don't expect anything from him; and you are his friend till you fullfill all of his expectations..!!" Gone are the days of "A friend in need is the friend indeed".

And above all, orkut was sucking any of my free time (if available). Orkut kills time. The presence of orkut in my life, kept me away from blogging, newspapers & so many things; and hence now I hope probably I'd spend some more time here. At the outset, I am very happy to delete my orkut account. :)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

whatever you have said is absolutely true, a good reason for me as well to leave orkut !!!

Anonymous said...

yo.. that was a very nice article in itself.. and hence forth..i also happen to follow you up.. and i deleted my account this morning.. but didnt have any specific reasons.. but now i understand what made me do it.. and a couple of those reasons were in your staements... thanks man.. for helping me digest that i did the right thing... :D

luv sucked mah. life.... said...

thats such a nice article man...

same happens vid me also

i even fell in luv with a gal on orkut
which i still do, n m not gettin anything out of it.........
it pains such as............

anywayz what's ur orkut profile adress, i'll add u n be ur fan.heheheheheh LOLs......

atll the best man.........

lovesuckedmylife said...

thats such a nice article man...

same happens vid me also

i even fell in luv with a gal on orkut
which i still do, n m not gettin anything out of it.........
it pains such as............

anywayz what's ur orkut profile adress, i'll add u n be ur fan.heheheheheh LOLs......

atll the best man.........

Rahul said...

Excellent post! I'm also thinking of deleting my stupid orkut profile for good - I only needed some motivation. The thing is, we have emails and phones, etc. Why the hell do we need social networking websites? In a few months, I'll also delete myself from Facebook and Twitter.

Pradeep Kothakota said...

excellent dude..previously i spent my time on wikipedia..now orkut is killing my time..fans , testimonials and many things are fake in orkut..but not fully agreed with ur friends issue..ofcourse 80 % of friends are just orkut friends..anyway good post...

Anonymous said...

Hello

u have reflected on a very important aspect. this is not just the story with u but with most of the ppl who use any social networking site.
actually understanding the fact that every relationship is mutual and i have also experienced it and pondered over the fact that whats the point in having such huge friend lists.
i am also astonished about one thing , that after all these social networking websites are the subsets of the universal set called internet which in itself is a virtual world, so buddy how much can we expect from a social networking site .
truly speaking i have found great friends thanks to orkut , these ppl were not living in my country India , but elsewhere and even i had the oppurtunity to meet them personally. So all in all every coin has two sides, its just that when we toss it , what comes down is our luck . So dont loose hope about these things also dont expect much from these sites.
have fun.

Amit vyas said...

Hey buddy, very nice article :-) guess what?...Today i was going to delete my orkut account the reason "It is hell affecting my life" my parents scold me "I'm an irresponsible guy", My sister said "My face is going ugly due to high dose of orkutting my eyes is goin underneath my skin"...I havnt read newspaper, havnt watch TV from last 2 years...I have 220 frnds, 62 fans, 25 testimonials,10,000 scraps, 250 photos with an average 10 comments on every photo...! But i dont care of these fake virtual things...! The thing is I have some valid points that I am not deleting my account, Because I think rather than deleting account its better not to use Orkut or be Offline...My points are:-

I am an engg student, I have to do networking, It helps in hell many ways..I cant take phone no's of 70 or my class mates, 100+ other college mates (seniors + juniors)and some other NOT CLOSE FRIENDS... I'm in a process of making my carrier so i came to kno dat my senior of my college who is in my frndlist has got Y job then i can contact him...which is possible only thru orkut..2ndly thru cell phones u can be in contact with limited close frnds...& in this age when ur cell phone no goes on changing daily... its gud to b in social n/w king site...!ORKUT is not just for FRIENDS... through Orkut U can increase your knowledge through Communities or your interest/ hobbies... and get updated...Why do we care/expect from fake virtual friendship? Everybody knows that its all FAKE world... there is just WORDLY frndshp..!But Why u take this world SO SERIOUSLY... everybody is enjoying, y dont u?

3rd reason is that I'm a rapper and poet...I like to post my rap /poetry stuffs on orkut communities, & here i learn from other people too...! also in any other area of my interest like TEchnology, Music or other i get link of downloading stuffs or other gud information through orkut...! ORKUT is a good place if u UTILIZE its communities..!

ALSO, wat i'm gona do is... I will fix a time for orkuting say 10 minutes daily not more than that...! so that it wont Kill my time...I will control on my orkuting habit, rather than DELETING Account...! SO, I'm not deleting my account, because any decision taken in haste would sometimes left you in repenting about it..!

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS....my dear friend.
U are true.iam going to delete my orkut account.

C()()! Gal..!!! said...

it was just wonderful going through your article.. few minutes ago i deleted my orkut account abusing myselff.. but after going through yor article iam praising myself for not being a part of orkut anymore...

i'll enjoy my free time now..
really thanks