(18 Nov ’06)
I’m a member of several groups on the Internet. One is the old school network, where most of the guys are recognizable by their names, but the girls have had to identify themselves by their maiden surnames. It’s interesting to note that the brilliant ones aren’t necessarily the most successful or happy ones. As one put it: “the marks didn’t take me anywhere, the quality that did was put down in red by my teachers…talks too much.” There are duds who’ve ended up as principals of schools, looked up to as intelligent academicians, who have the audacity to pull up young ones for bad marks. There should be a law that all principals’ school report cards should be put up on notice boards.
Another group that actively sends me forwards (what, I wonder, in computer vocabulary, would backwards mean??) is of my husbands’ ex-colleagues. Mostly retired, these young-at-hearts send us articles from newspapers, news about the present state of their erstwhile institutions, news about who’s dying, dead, ill, still living it up. The young retirees are now in hugely different professions, and when they send their inputs and comments, it’s interesting to note how their perspectives have changed. Those who drove recklessly on rickety motorbikes on unbelievably rugged terrain, who didn’t blink at running cross-country marathons for measly bet, now can’t cross a road without driver and Honda. Others who lived on flesh, blood and liquor, have turned strict teetotalling-vegetarians. The good part of this active group is that long-forgotten names suddenly crop up and someone or other traces them out in a matter of hours, no matter which part of the planet they’re on. Amazing.
I have a habit of reading all the names in the forwards or groups. Through one I traced an old college mate, now a rich somebody in…where else, the US of A…. who wants to do business in India. Whilst tracking the path of a particular mail, I found that it had originated in the Netherlands, went all over the world…to Australia via India, thence to Poland, Japan, the middle east, then back to India, from where I sent it again to two different continents. Through the writers’ groups I have managed to hone my skills. The persons who give the criticism and feedback are terribly objective, for they don’t know me. That ruthless honesty comes from anonymity. Those appraisals are totally fair. Friends have networked with common-interest folk through geographical and social zones. No one cares whether you are disabled, an aristrocrat, a neurosurgeon, lazy, male or female, old or young….if you can respond to a mail, that’s good enough. I know of a couple who raised a couple of lakhs in a couple of days, for their child’s medical treatment. It made me aware that everywhere there are innocents ready to part with their money if the story they’re told can jerk tears.
I’m a member of an animal-lovers’ group, an aeroplane-amigos group, a book-lovers’ club, a how-to-invest-the-peanuts-that-you-earn group and one of housework challenged ladies to boost my morale when there’s dusting/tidying to be done. None requires me to pay anything. I get free tips in tick care (if you’ve ever owned a dog in Goa, you know how helpful that is), which book never to buy, how to change (my) job, and when to draw the curtains so the dust doesn’t show.
Although I delete much of what’s in the inbox, I don’t have the heart to discontinue membership of any. In fact, I plan to start a group of like-minded persons who have a common interest in being members of different online groups. Anyone interested?
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I’m a member of several groups on the Internet. One is the old school network, where most of the guys are recognizable by their names, but the girls have had to identify themselves by their maiden surnames. It’s interesting to note that the brilliant ones aren’t necessarily the most successful or happy ones. As one put it: “the marks didn’t take me anywhere, the quality that did was put down in red by my teachers…talks too much.” There are duds who’ve ended up as principals of schools, looked up to as intelligent academicians, who have the audacity to pull up young ones for bad marks. There should be a law that all principals’ school report cards should be put up on notice boards.
Another group that actively sends me forwards (what, I wonder, in computer vocabulary, would backwards mean??) is of my husbands’ ex-colleagues. Mostly retired, these young-at-hearts send us articles from newspapers, news about the present state of their erstwhile institutions, news about who’s dying, dead, ill, still living it up. The young retirees are now in hugely different professions, and when they send their inputs and comments, it’s interesting to note how their perspectives have changed. Those who drove recklessly on rickety motorbikes on unbelievably rugged terrain, who didn’t blink at running cross-country marathons for measly bet, now can’t cross a road without driver and Honda. Others who lived on flesh, blood and liquor, have turned strict teetotalling-vegetarians. The good part of this active group is that long-forgotten names suddenly crop up and someone or other traces them out in a matter of hours, no matter which part of the planet they’re on. Amazing.
I have a habit of reading all the names in the forwards or groups. Through one I traced an old college mate, now a rich somebody in…where else, the US of A…. who wants to do business in India. Whilst tracking the path of a particular mail, I found that it had originated in the Netherlands, went all over the world…to Australia via India, thence to Poland, Japan, the middle east, then back to India, from where I sent it again to two different continents. Through the writers’ groups I have managed to hone my skills. The persons who give the criticism and feedback are terribly objective, for they don’t know me. That ruthless honesty comes from anonymity. Those appraisals are totally fair. Friends have networked with common-interest folk through geographical and social zones. No one cares whether you are disabled, an aristrocrat, a neurosurgeon, lazy, male or female, old or young….if you can respond to a mail, that’s good enough. I know of a couple who raised a couple of lakhs in a couple of days, for their child’s medical treatment. It made me aware that everywhere there are innocents ready to part with their money if the story they’re told can jerk tears.
I’m a member of an animal-lovers’ group, an aeroplane-amigos group, a book-lovers’ club, a how-to-invest-the-peanuts-that-you-earn group and one of housework challenged ladies to boost my morale when there’s dusting/tidying to be done. None requires me to pay anything. I get free tips in tick care (if you’ve ever owned a dog in Goa, you know how helpful that is), which book never to buy, how to change (my) job, and when to draw the curtains so the dust doesn’t show.
Although I delete much of what’s in the inbox, I don’t have the heart to discontinue membership of any. In fact, I plan to start a group of like-minded persons who have a common interest in being members of different online groups. Anyone interested?
@@@@@
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