Strange is the World of Facebook

A Friend Request on FB

As usual I chose Ola Share on that day to reach my office. It's cheaper and doesn't take much longer. Thankfully it arrived on time. One co-passenger was already in the cab. I said the OTP to the driver. Then it started following a winding route for the third pickup. After few minutes as I opened my Kindle Paperwhite I requested the driver to reduce the loud volume of the song he was playing. It was a peppy Tamil chartbuster, but I was more interested in reading 'Khullam Khulla' - the autobiography of Rishi Kapoor. My only co-passenger, who was sitting in the front seat, didn't object to the change.

When we arrived at his address this guy with the unruly hair and untidy attire entered the cab and sat next to me in the rear seat. Without wasting even a minute he got himself busy on his cell phone. I continued with the autobiography - In those good old days RK Studio was brimming and glittering with film stars and parties at Raj Kapoor's residence were the talk of the town.

During a brief pause a quick glance at my second co-passenger let me know that he was glued to WhatsApp. He talked in Hindi when his phone rang. After that short conversation on the phone he went back to the chatting screen. I resumed my reading. When the cab halted for some time I looked around and realized that it was stuck in the traffic on Taramani Road. I wondered why the driver didn't take the left turn to Thiruvalluvar Salai from New Colony Road as that route was shorter and expressed my concern to him. I didn't want to waste my time on the way; nobody wants to. But in an unhurried tone my second co-passenger said, "This route is also okay."

"Lekin Thiruvalluvar Salai se hum jaldi pahanch sakte the" (We could have reached earlier through Thiruvalluvar Salai), I responded to his peculiar comment in Hindi. Then silence and my frustration prevailed. His drop was scheduled earlier than mine. Just a little while before we reached Ascendas IT Park, his destination, he unexpectedly inquired, "Where are you going?"

I replied, "Ramanujan IT City." And turned my head again towards my Kindle.

His abrupt curiosity didn't abate. Further he asked, "Which company do you work for?"

"CTS, and you?"

"iNautix." And immediately he added, "To... phir de do apna phone number." (Then... tell me your phone number.)

My focus was primarily on the book during this sudden and uninteresting inquiry. So inadvertently I gave him my phone number and name! I just wanted to get rid of that unwelcome inquisitiveness. To my surprise I received a friend request on Facebook in less than five minutes. For sure that didn't feel like a friendly chat; it was more like an investigation. Though he had got ample of time during the ride he didn't care to strike a conversation. Then what made him want to be my friend? Why was he so desperate? Doesn't he have genuine friends? These spontaneous questions popped up in my mind.

I do agree that before the friendship every friend was a stranger in the beginning, but it's also true that this kind of inept approaches don't lead to friendship. Interestingly such people are not as rare as it seems. This weird chap reminds me of a co-worker I had come across in 2014. He joined the same client's office, but for a different project. In his first week in the office he came to my desk and introduced himself. He left after we exchanged pleasantries. And in the evening his friend request appeared on Facebook! I accepted it as we both were working for the same organization. But surprisingly he never talked to me after that day even though we worked in the same building for one year.

Here, in this blog post, I would like to emphasize on this growing but least-discussed socio-psychological phenomenon. Simply the total number of "friends" on Facebook gives them a high, I guess. Or maybe they consider themselves more influential, and hence more powerful, than those mere common people who have very less number of "friends" on FB. The actual social interactions don't intrigue them at all. Then in such conditions do they cope up with their trauma when someone unfriends them?! Does that virtual world successfully replace the social support system whenever they feel sad, depressed?!

I strongly feel that Social Networking Sites have a proper space in our lives, but definitely they can't be the substitutes for our real beautiful society.