This sounds interesting. Can you expand a little more on this?
Well, I was one of the alumni co-ods in undergrad. We were trying to prepare a list for some alumni event. In the eighties - someone had completely messed up the alumni lists - which meant that all we were left with was a lot of maiden names. So if I was looking for Shruti Shukla, googling, asking classmates, asking other people - no one had a clue. (Chances are she moved with her husband to some place, lost touch with her friends.) Phone numbers change over 15 years, so do addresses. Post marriage - it's harder for women to keep in touch with their friends - especially if they have moved cities. This notion of becoming a seamless unit - means that couples end up going out together. And usually they end up going out with the man's friends. (Yes, I know things have changed - but for a lot of people they haven't - at all.). While this intellectual distaste for Orkut, Facebook and other thingys may find justification somewhere, for a lot of women this becomes highly exciting - I've found long lost friends - with half their name defaced - part of the same alumni orkut group - recognizing them through their photographs. About the male-dominated institutions - in my second work place - the bonding was mostly late at night (I simply couldn't go - I lived alone - and I didn't have a vehicle - and have you seen how safe the streets are after 11? Hell, even my colleagues became unsafe after 11.) They discussed tender amounts in "the loo". They forwarded some of the most obscene mails i have laid eyes on to each other. The thing is - even if I enjoy the humour - I have to pretend I don't - because apparently that gives out crazy messages too. You know what I love about email? The fact that it's the most permanent thing in many people's lives.
-- Neha Viswanathan +44(0) 77695 65886 London, UK http://withinandwithout.com | http://globalvoicesonline.org
