So how do I put it? What was it that struck me? Was I surprised? Or Was there a sense of disbelief when I received that phone call. It was a bright sunny morning and I was just getting ready for a day’s hard work in my cosy cubicle, browsing some customary “Good Morning” and “Have a Nice Day” e-mails, doing the needful by forwarding few to the hallowed spammers expecting to get some meaningful mails in return and sipping what I often regard as the most talked about and discussed beverage of all time, Coffee, when my cell phone rang. It was a landline number, certainly not in my phonebook. As a general protocol for these situations I tend to ignore such calls, thereby depriving myself of an opportunity to make new-friends-for-latest-gossips, or even an opportunity to unfold my future, or even buy a fancy property in some far far away land, and more recently an opportunity to do my MBA from some Top Management Institute of North India. Instead of following the aforementioned protocol I decided to attend the call this time.
It was the naughtiest of voice exuding energy. “Hello Sunny Dadda” were the first few words and were just enough to recognize who it was; Monu, my eight years old cousin was on the other side of the line. Now, I have always found it easier to strike a conversation with kids than I do it with adults and with Monu it just gets a bit more easier.
“Hello Sunny Dadda”, that’s how he started and without even waiting for me to respond he continued and said “I have created a Gmail account and from now on I expect you to mail me daily”. Finally getting an opportunity to speak I assured him that I would be doing the same (which unfortunately I haven’t been doing) and then asked him how he is, how is everyone else, studies, cricket, Chikki and Shivansh (my other two cousins) and other umpteen things. He told me about everything and then said that he would talk to me later as he had to finish his homework.
As I hung up my mind raced back to the start of the conversation “A Gmail Account”. There was a feeling of amazement over the fact of an eight year old kid having a Gmail account, although the very fact made me happy. If I remember correctly it was only in the first year of my college that I started using computers on a regular basis. Late Mr. Orkut was a new buzzword at that time and Gmail had an aura of exclusivity attached to its name. The reason being it wasn’t open to all. Anyone who wanted to be a part of this esoteric community required an invitation from another person, and there was also a limitation on the number of invitations that a person could send. I somehow managed to receive an invitation from a friend of mine and finally created a Gmail Account. Although I had a Yahoo as well as a Rediff account earlier, but being a part of an exclusive Gmail community filled me with a sense of pride. It was indeed the start of a journey. One thing that separated Gmail from Yahoo, Rediff or any other webmail was the feature of a chat enabled mail box, wherein one can check his/her e-mail as well as chat at the same time without requiring an additional messenger for the same. Apart from that, Gmail has always been commercial free giving it a much refined look. With the addition of more user friendly features, today Gmail has become almost everyone’s favourite.
For yours truly Gmail has always been a trusted companion acting as a bridge connecting him to all his near and dear ones. Wherever I went, in whichever part of the country I had Gmail. Perhaps, there have been an umpteen number of indelible memories associated with Gmail, some good, some bad but all worth remembering.
As I see it today, the exclusivity is no more intact, there is no sense of achievement or pride in having a Gmail account, but the Google Mail has indeed taken over the masses with the tag of being the most user friendly web based email service.
As far as I am concerned my enchanting journey of Gmail continues and now I have two more people, Monu and Chikki, to accompany me in this journey. May they have their best of the times using this superior e-mail service!
No comments:
Post a Comment