This is my story , story of a
10 year old who rose the ladders of fame bringing about a revolution in
connecting people… I was named after my Turkish Dad creator, who was so loyal
to his company Google , that he gave me up to them to be brought up and they
lovingly called me Orkut ..
Like any child , I started on
my knees, crawling, trying to find my way and I kinda found it quite fast. I
was termed a child prodigy then.. My website was a novel idea basically to
revive friendships, bring people closer, connect people and allow them to
freely interact and express….. I was witness to so many outbursts of joy and
happiness when people found their childhood friends on my platform, when
classmates had a great time scrapping messages for all to read, when lovers
found a way to express their self privately… Scraps, testimonials, videos and
photos… it was a lovely world of glitter for everyone to see….People across the
globe loved me…
But just like every coin has
2 sides, some people misused me …they created fake profiles, chatted with many
at the same time under different names, made groups on me that insulted the
public sentiments of certain groups . Photos and pics were misused and
subjected to vulgarity. Users were dragged to several groups even without their
knowledge or mine…
USA, India and Brazil loved
me , while Iran, UAE , Saudi & Bahrain hated me and banned my presence in
the names of national security , ethical issues about dating and matchmaking
etc.
I was just a silent spectator
to all this abuse. I let myself be carried away in the glory of my fame. Nobody
was there to guide me and put me back on track.
During the same time, I noticed
a severe competition budding up… new kids on the block were Facebook, Twitter,
My Space etc .. And Facebook was the strongest competitor. I should admit, the
kid had great looks. He learnt from my mistakes and people love him for the
same. He was charming yet private, he was friendly but cautious, he had groups,
but had moderators, he had pictures / videos but they were protected. The kid
started pumping blood ( hard cash) into the website… marketing campaigns, like
groups , internet marketing etc etc. In
2011, he became a hero by surpassing me ….
My own Dad started praising
Facebook, I even hear from private sources that he invested in him. And in 2011
, my Dad himself paved way for my fast death today…he brought in my younger brother
Google +. Instead of trying to revive me , bring me back from my rehabilitation
, he disowned me ….maybe he was ashamed or maybe he wanted a better son ; a son
who would put him back on the charts with his peers.
Today my rehabilitation centre
too, has given up on me. I used to get a few loyal visitors every now and then
, now they have been strictly prohibited as well. I am confined to this room as
in quarantine. In fact the rare visitors and my old friends have been told to
take back any of their memories or remnants they have mistakenly left behind
with me.
Today I’m just like a brain
dead vegetable, people have taken out all the removable parts from my body – my
life, my heart, my lungs, my brain and I have been left to die… a silent death…
the D Day has been fixed , September 30th is when I shall breathe my last, will
the hangman come with his noose or will I be beheaded… don’t know…all that I
know is that I have been left to die, unwanted , uncared for …Couldn’t they have
been a little more kinder to me than leave me suffering till the D-Day ? Will
someone come and release me from this pangs of waiting for death?
With these thoughts, I bid
Adieu to you today….
Lovingly ,
Yours Orkut ….
This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda
