All the world is a web. And all the men and women are mere stalkers. And one man in his time stalks many times. Yes, the world is a web and there are stalkers everywhere. And it's not just Kareena or Aishwarya who are being stalked. If you are active on any of the social networking sites, chances are you are being stalked. But hang on, don't hurry and block your pictures or delete all your accounts. These are friendly and harmless stalkers.
And stalking is not such a “creepy” thing to do after all it gets an endorsement from Bollywood celebrities. Take for instance, K Jo (Karan Johar). On a TV show, he recently admitted that stalking on Facebook is his favourite pastime. Further, he said he loves accepting friends request on Facebook from his ‘cool classmates' – both school and college. It's altogether a different thing that these ‘cool classmates' treated Karan like a non-entity for his ‘un-cool looks.'
On the TV show with Farah Khan, he confessed: “I love accepting those friendship requests that says, ‘hey remember I was your friend in school or college? Ya? Friend? Whatever, I add them and enjoy going through their albums and enjoy seeing those swans turn to ugly ducklings now.” But that's Bollywood.
In the commonwood too the stalkers are here, there and everywhere. Sure, the emergence of social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, Hi5 changed the way people communicate and stay in contact with each other.
With an increasing number of people signing up on these sites, you can never be sure of who has gone through your details, album or messages. And there is a lot of browsing done. Yes, mostly from complete strangers checking you out everyday
“I enjoy seeing the ‘good girls' from school turn into wild things now. These are the ones who probably looked down at some of us for wearing knee-length skirts while they wore skirts that touched their ankles, for not oiling and braiding our hair like theirs and instead sporting it short. Now that, they are out of school and studying abroad, these ‘good girls' have changed their colours. Now, the oil is gone, they have streaks of all shades and they don't mind showing off their partying pictures. I love seeing the change and sometimes feel like showing them the high-school album and reminding them of their past and their snob factor,” laughs Shivaranjani, a second year intermediate student from Villa Marie college.
Says Gangotri Naidu, a Hyderabad Central University student, “I check on my friends. I know all about their life and who they're dating but I feign ignorance. I also keep a tab on my younger cousins. I haven't added them but check their profiles through other cousins. It's to keep myself update on their activities.” .
While some stalk, others want to be stalked. Take Priyam Saharia, a research scholar in Kentucky. Says she, “A friend actually told me that she uses Orkut as a platform to show off the flashy and expensive things she has acquired. My friend told me, ‘I was such a nobody in school and now they see my pictures and their comments on them says it all. I feel quite victorious when they say ‘love you car', you vacation in such and such place. She logs on to Facebook about 15 times a day and gets annoyed when her roommate doesn't comment on her new photo album. She says she doesn't worry if casual acquaintances know everything about her.
As they say when stalking is inevitable, enjoy it.
