I exist in two worlds:

The “imperfect” (I) world-

I have been living here for the past 22 years or so. I have a permanent name here & some nicknames too. This is because I don’t have the liberty to decide about either of them. My parents decided the former one & my friends the later ones. Infact, this could be generalized to almost all my activities here, because I seldom have control over my life. I make plans about my near future & they are thwarted, not once, not twice, but again & again… till I almost give up & resign to the fate. Yes, destiny plays a very significant role here. But, the most soothing thing here is that I know for sure that whatever happens in this ‘I’ world is REAL. I can feel it, physical entities exist here & emotions have their say too. Moreover, it is more fascinating because you can never predict the future.

What is going to happen with you during the next day, next hour, next minute & even the next second!!! “Uncertainty” rules the roost. And that is why it is an “imperfect” world. And this is the reason why I LIKE it so much.

Till 2006, february was the month, I don’t remember exactly: this was the world in which I lived, I survived, I laughed, I cried, I made friends & then more friends. I went through almost every human emotion possible.

And then something happened……………………………..

“Virtual reality” (VR) world-

5 MAY, 2007: jitin.sharma@gmail.com

Welcome Jitin(~College~)
You are connected to 51,799,530 people through 271 friends.
Grow your network now!

You have 43 fans.
3,369 scraps.
Your profile views:Since Feb '06: 4,932, Last week: 39.

And so on & on it goes…

I can bet 99 percent of the people who are reading this article know what I am talking about. This the homepage of the most famous social networking website on internet: orkut. And I am also sure that not even half of you all ( including me) would have had any idea whatsoever about this, before feb 2006 or so ( one year back from now).

This is MY world. I control everything here. I can change my name here. I can write whatever I want in my profile. I can even explore other’s people world here without any restriction. In a nutshell, I can do whatever I like & whenever I like to do anything.

But still I don’t like it more than the ‘I’ world. And there are reasons to it.
This is an UNREAL world, almost a case of “virtual reality”. Where you cannot feel anything physical. You have friends, but you can’t touch them. You can write scraps, but you can’t talk. You may be connected to millions of people through one another, but you may not be knowing even 0.1% of them all. Here, you don’t know the TRUTH. Just like yourself, others possess the same powers too. They can penetrate your virtual world, whether you like it or not.

And this VR world is the one which is dominating our lives now. It is spinning its web on us, without our knowledge. We are being caught unawares. We are getting ADDICTED!!!

But the fact is that now, we have become slaves in this world. We can’t survive without it. The Yahoo messengers, google talks & other chat rooms are intruding in our daily life.

So what should we do?

“Everything in excess is a mess”. So the need of the hour is a perfect synchronization between the two worlds. A harmonious relationship between both of them.

Because its not a battle: REAL vs VIRTUAL world.

Infact its just the opposite: REAL & VIRTUAL world.

A mixture of both ingredients would make a delicious & nutritional dish. The excess of any one of them would spoil it.

What should be the percentage of both???

That everybody has to decide for himself.

After all, its always a matter of personal choice.

Hope all of us make the right decision!

PS: This is not meant to undermine the inherent benefits of social networking sites in any way. This only serves as a wake up call from the slumber we are in now. To get over this addiction.