Track2Realty releases India's 1st real estate handbook handbook--Focus 2012

Dec 19, 2011

Track2Realty, the e newspaper on Indian real estate has launched India’s first real estate yearly handbook, Focus 2012. The handbook aims to cater to all the stake holders of the sector—developers, investors and end-users. The focus of the handbook is on the emerging market scenario of the sector where many of the industry’s leading names have contributed as the knowledge partners.
 

There are various section of the handbook with areas ranging from Outlook to the finance and investment opportunities in the year ahead. It was released at the India Habitat Centre by the representatives of the sector, including NAREDCO, RICS and KPMG.
 

Track2Realty, which is planning its webcasting channel on realty sector, had a Live webcast of the release of Focus 2012 as a test run to the upcoming channel. The realty channel is expected to take off in April 2012.

Track2Realty boycotts Jones Lang LaSalle for breach of trust

December 3, 2011

 

In the wake of the unprofessional and unethical behavior of the real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle India (JLLI), the editorial team of Track2Realty has taken a decision to boycott the firm for a month starting Monday, December 5. During this period Dec 5, 2011-Jan 5, 2012, none of the inputs, column, analysis, reports of JLLI would be used by the editorial team of Track2Realty for the news site, feature service or any other editorial service/facilitation.
 

The strong stand by Track2Realty comes in the wake of the JLLI team resorting to unprofessional and unethical practice that has been implied to sabotage the yearly handbook Focus 2012. The JLLI team has not only duped Track2Realty by dishonouring the professional commitment, but has even refused to admit its mistake. Though this makes it a fit case for a legal action, but a boycott and subsequent expose is the symbolic protest as unanimously decided by the team Track2Realty.
 

Jones Lang LaSalle India, despite of its written promise over mail for an exclusive column to the yearly handbook, Track2Realty Focus 2012, sent the same column to all the journalists across the country. JLLI’s Assistant Marketing Manager Arun Chitnis (known for his bad blood with very many journalists writing on realty sector) shamelessly justified the act, despite of being reminded about the written commitment on their part.
 

It is all the more surprising that such a professional mess has happened despite the JLLI Chairman and Country Head, Anuj Puri being conveyed about the need for an exclusive column by Track2Realty. This has been a fact that had been acknowledged and agreed by Shajai Jacob in their Gurgaon office as well. Now that the edition is in print, this breach of trust has left the editorial team shocked, and with no choice. It is not just a breach of trust, but even a conspiracy (at the behest of any competing media) can not be ruled out.
 

Irony is that the real estate consultants in general crib about the lack of unprofessional behavior in the sector. Often crying for reforms and asking the developers to be transparent and fair with the buyers, they often fail to understand that they also need to behave in a responsible manner and be transparent, fair and true to their commitment in the professional domain.
 

A series on realty consultants’ business model and functioning in India under the banner “Consultancy for whom and at what cost” is being planned by Track2Realty. After all, this business has thus far thrived on media support as well, with journalists often taking them at the face value of being ethical. The research team is taking inputs from some of the realty companies and the idea is to expose those who often take a “holier than thou” moral stand and preach what they themselves never practice.
  

A Love’s Journey through poverty, cruelty and beauty

July 10, 2011

Jennifer Sebastian’s love journey is in the first impression no different from the ordeal of any other girl. It seems to be the story of a girl who has been bestowed with twin fault lines—poverty and beauty. Jennifer’s beauty is not her virtue but a liability in a cruel society where poor girls are better safe to be ugly. It seems the writer’s vast understanding of the dark realities of the world is always at the back of her mind and she is looking at this lecherous world through the Love’s Journey where the protagonist Jennifer is her eyes and ears.
The novel is not just the writer’s imaginative piece of fiction. It has shades of stark realities as well. It probably doesn’t even shake the collective conscience to see such exploitative and manipulative society for whom a beautiful young girl is just a female body. In our comfort zones we fail to introspect whether we are that cruel.
Caught up between poverty and survival, Jennifer can control her infatuation and love….but can the society control its perversion, lust and greed for exploitation? And it is here that a young determined yet vulnerable girl is finally forced to fall into the trap of compromises and cheap sex. But wait—before a conclusion is drawn there is more than what meets the eyes.
What makes the Love’s Journey worth reading is the fact that the story line seems to have been drawn from the real life. Rashmi Singh as a debutant writer has shown tremendous conviction in narrating the cruel face of society without getting judgmental or taking up advocacy. In her storyline she narrates how a Christian family being burnt alive has its after effects. It just reminds as to how religious fundamentalism had taken the life of a Christian missionary not so long ago in real life. The novel just reiterates the fact that it was not Jennifer’s mother alone who was raped and killed, rather the poor girl was left to be raped by society at large, throughout her life.
Similarly, when she narrates the murky world of bollywood and its exploitative ways, Jennifer just stands out as a mere character to showcase as to how cruel the world is to a lonely woman. It is the writer’s sarcasm, without actually spelling it out, which points to the fact that in the big bad world where innocence has no place, a hapless girl has to be either someone’s lady or the society will force her to be everyone’s bedfellow; if not literally than by sarcasm and every eyes will be raping her than comforting in hours of crisis.
Unlike many other novelists who get carried by their protagonists and characterization gets into either black or white, Rashmi Singh doesn’t fail to see that grey shades are there in the real world. Every sinner has a past and beasts too can have a soft side—a fact that Love’s Journey finds in some otherwise manipulative characters like the film director Shambhu Vasan. Jennifer finds a savior in a satan like him, and Rashmi Singh narrates a beautiful love story around this emotional connect called love; where there has been no burden of expectations and no sex. For a manipulative world, a love without sex may be a ridiculous notion; not for a sensitive writer who understands that true love stands above everything.
The character of Jennifer Sebastian seems to have taken up from the real life—both with its mystery and grey shade. Unlike many of the debutant writers who get carried by the protagonists, Rashmi Singh has not carried any such fancy ideas. This is what makes the character of Jennifer so real like. Like any other woman she is there often reading too much between the lines in the love showered over by Vasan. And it is her mean streak that in a fit of rage she tells Meeta Ma that her legendary director son was an impotent man. But then this character is so real; not a flowery make-believe who will not betray the trust of the man who made her what she was.
While reading Love’s Journey, it is often perplexing as to how narration of explicit love scenes have walked on the thin edge called eroticism. What is actually praiseworthy is the fact that she has consciously stayed away from getting into Shobha Dey zone, something that many newcomer writers overtly do for quick fame.
However, such writers often fail to portray a genuine female character like the Jennifer Sebastian. May be the feminine instinct in Rashmi Singh was always ahead of the writer’s instinct to do justice with the lead character. After all, only a woman with no undue baggage of advocacy can understand that howsoever successful a woman may be, she still needs an anchor, a male companion deep in her dreams. So did Jennifer, even though her journey was dictated by the destiny and went through poverty and cruelty.

BJP's catch 22 with Ramdev

June 10, 2011

Ramdev’s theatrics have got the nation hysterical at a point of time when any moral high ground against corruption is sweeping the nation. The BJP has extended its support to the self-styled Bawa, initially tacit and then explicitly, and there is a general perception in the collective consciousness that Ramdev is playing into the hands of the BJP. However, the BJP that is going all out to support Ramdev and in turn hopes to revive their lost political ground is equally apprehensive of Ramdev’s theatrics.

A large section of the BJP leaders believe that Ramdev is not worth trusting and the way he took a U turn with the Congress, he is quite capable of doing the same with the BJP as well. Requesting anonymity some of the BJP leaders admit that since the party is a divided house with various line of thoughts—Advani line, Sushma line, Gadkari line, Jaitley line, but no party line; it is serving the purpose of Ramdev and the party in return is seen to be gaining in the short term. They believe the consequences in the long term can be very costly to the party’s fortunes.

The return of Hindu hard liners like Uma Bharti back to the party and with Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in sight, a section of the top BJP leaders are of the view that Ramdev can prove to be an ace up their sleeves. Though aware of Ramdev’s own ambitions, in the cost benefit analysis they feel it will take quite some time for Ramdev to float his own political party and by then the BJP can reap the benefits before dumping him.

However, not all in the BJP feel the same. The claim to train youngsters for yoga militia has not gone down well with the RSS. The Hindu hardliners believe that by getting into every district to raise cadre is the kind of road map that can make RSS insignificant and hence they are uncomfortable with Ramdev. After all, it would hit them hard if a parallel Hindutva cadre is raised by Ramdev. There is unanimous view among the hardliner Hindutva brigade that Ramdev is neither a natural ally nor his over ambitious streak will make him stick to the ideology of the BJP-RSS in the long term.

Some of the bitter critics of Ramdev in the BJP camp assert that any extended support to Ramdev will amount to creating a Frankenstein’s monster, whose support base suggests that he will eventually grow at the cost of the BJP only. That was precisely the reason why the backroom boys of the BJP preferred a soft dismissal of Ramdev’s yoga militia call by asking its Muslim face Shahnawaz Hussian to say that Bawa’s Ashtra-Shastra (weapons) are his vaani (sermon).

This happened on a day when the BJP leader Sushma Swaraj rushed to Hardwar to announce full support of the party and Sangh Parivar. After all, the BJP does not want to miss the opportunity to show solidarity with a yoga guru whose theatrics have carried the educated middle class in urban India. This has been traditionally the BJP vote bank. And hence the party can’t afford to miss it. But the voices of dissent in the party suggest that it can lead to a significant dent in its traditional vote bank as well.

However, there are very little choices left for the party which is trying hard to overcome the fact that they could draw little mileage despite of a series of scams and scandals coming out in the UPA government. Ramdev episode is seen as the last refuge by the party where internal bickering have led to significant loss of ground even among the fanatic supporters.

The BJP is equally conscious of the fact that the other pole of fight against corruption has maintained a distance with them. Anna Hazare & his team have not allowed the BJP to share dais on the issue and steal the show. They have instead gone to the extent of making it overtly clear that if Ramdev has to join them, he has to distance himself from the party sponsored protest. How can the principal opposition party not be a part of a protest that has been in the media spotlight, of late?

This inherent confusion and dilemma added to the fact that the central leadership of the party is a divided house, has led the BJP to officially support Ramdev. But the back room boys are working overtime to plan out a possible fall out. These may be early days for the final cost-benefit analysis, but the BJP is definitely in a dilemma over support to Ramdev. This catch 22 situation of the BJP is actually eroding its own vote bank, many of the party strategists believe. 

A mystery wrapped in an enigma

May 19, 2011

Poets have often described how a beauty looks into your eyes, utters a few words and your heart starts singing. But what poets often fail to narrate is the persona, the individuality of the lady and compensate it with flowery praise in her beauty. But then beauty is not just a female body, it is a personality…a complete packaging. And an element of mystery and enigmatic ways of this lady only adds spice to her aura. I could not have realised it so intense had I not met her.
 

Unlike the poetic parlance, this lady, a poetess herself, looked through my heart and soul, gave an assuring smile and my heart could not help saying, “Here comes a woman of substance”. Can the persona of a woman be so strong that even when she gets too rigid with her thoughts, you feel a special bond, something that can not be defined in words but felt from the core of the heart?
 

But then she is different, wears different caps at different times and it is often not that easy to identify which one is there before you—a thorough professional business woman, a creative artist, a loving friend, a hot headed rigid creature or a child like innocent girl. A chance meeting over social networking site Facebook led to personal interaction, initially more on a professional note than personal and later in the reverse order. This followed by spending time together as friends which led to an informal camaraderie, blossomed into a level of intimacy and started graduating into mutual trust for each other.
 

It often compels me to think whether a feminine charm can be that captivating. Masters and Johnsons in their masterpiece book on relationship, Sex and Human Loving suggest that a real woman is one who grows on you; the more you see her; the more you want to see and the more you meet her; the more you are captive of her charm and charisma.
 

However, what the relationship epic failed to narrate is that whether a woman can grow on you without even meeting frequently, without even knowing what all the other person has gone through in life. More importantly how the life has treated her and has changed her persona over the years? After all, no relationship expert has thus far met this dusky beauty to understand that there can be a true feeling beyond the boundaries of conventional relationships….where there are strong, deep and pure feelings, concerns and joys of companionship, and not the burden of relationship expectations.
 

Perhaps she is an anti-thesis of what is the prevalent norm in marketing, “packaging and not the product matters”.  But then the yardsticks of a human existence can not be measured by the parameters of marketing. Her level-headed yet strong mind always reminds that beauty is deep within, and not cosmetic. Had it not been the case she would not have been an attraction for somebody who is repeatedly finding her a mystery wrapped in an enigma. What makes it all the more important is that there are no selfish expectations either.
 

She is no doubt different and this difference is not always for the right reasons either. A person who is so lost in herself that she often does not only take more than usual time to open up but suspects to the extent of reading too much between the lines. A confused girl who is probably not sure of what she expects out of this life. It may be convenient for the world to see through it as the true characteristic of this lonely woman for whom trust might have been the first casualty as and when she tried to get out of her self-cocooned world. But it is here that one needs the wisdom of Freudian psychology to understand this beauty in her true self and spirit. This is something which clearly suggests that she is no different from other girls in her age group, yet there is a difference.
 

It is not that at the age of 29 life has come a full circle for her and she is not longing for trust, loyalty and love. After all, which woman in this world would like to see her golden years gone waste? But the scars of some old wounds, insecurities, hurt and conservative upbringing are all forcing her to get back to her own shell. Perhaps her belief in the fairy tales often reassures her that there can be a reverse process in life as well. And it is from this innocent belief that she often seems to draw her strengths too when it is an off day. She may not admit it, may portray a different persona altogether, but the innocent girl in her is ever ready to revolt, provided that she gets the comfort level with someone.
 

Not that her dreams of a fairy tale life has not crashed. And it is in this contradiction that she often feels trapped and helpless. At times she just reminds me of the song, “sheeshey ki bani ek ladki patthar key shahar ko aayi, woh dhoondh rahi thi moti aur reit sey ja takrai” from the film Dastak. The issue here is not that whether she wants to; rather she needs to flirt, love and, more importantly, live life on the edge. The sooner she realizes this, the better it is for her. After all, poise, like consciousness comes from within. And my personal interaction with her has often found that she tries to come out of her shell, yet does not have the courage to defy the norms and boundaries imposed more by the self than the society.
 

Whenever she gets the courage, whenever in the inherent contradiction between the head and the heart, it is the heart that overpowers mind; she appears to be as cheerful and lovely lady as anybody else. In her subtle, shy and at times overt exchange of feelings, she reassures herself that she too is worth loving, worth adoring and worth being a true woman. Love her or hate her, you can’t ignore her.
 

It is true that woman is the most complex creature that God has ever produced, but she is more than a mere mystery wrapped in an enigma. And that is something which makes her worth in gold. After all, which man would not love his woman to see a bit mysterious. My only wish is that the eternal quest for the right man and right destination may not deprive her of the journey called life. Her dreams may have been crushed more than once, forced her to get into a shell and suspect all around; but then it is always a new beginning.

Oh women! Pity you are being befooled

May 14, 2011

Frankly speaking, I would not have noticed anything beyond anti-incumbency politics in the emergence of Mamta Banerjee and Jayalalitha in the recent assembly elections. But then certain status message over social networking sites like Facebook suggesting this as a symbolic rise of woman power and token of feminism actually made me pity as to how men have carefully crafted theologies to keep women in good humour and continue to drive them the way it suits them the most.
 

“Mamta, Jaya, Maya, Shiela….oh women you have made it,” says an idiotic status message suggesting as if the women in general have really been empowered in India. And it is really a pity that the Indian women are really being befooled by this symbolic representation. This pseudo representation is the same as in the case of a dalit or backward leader’s emergence. Does it actually translate into a substantive change for the given masses? Had it been the case the dalit community of Uttar Pradesh under an overtly vocal leader like Mayawati would have made a fortune by now. But factually speaking, their plight under Mayawati is worse than what they had to suffer under caste conscious Brahmin and other upper caste leaders.
 

What actually compelled me to write this piece has been a bitter experience over social networking where a serious discussion over women empowerment was trivialized. It was not just a difference of opinion that was bone of contention. It was rather a carefully crafted design to trivialise the debate and thus put the real issue on the back burner. I can understand there are certain disgruntled elements who don’t like me for my overt criticism of the caste chauvinism that they carry. But the more dangerous breed are those polished & so-called sophisticated lot who project themselves in a holier-than-thou manner, but are breeding ground of chauvinism.
 

A person who is caste chauvinist about being feudal upper caste can’t be a true supporter of women empowerment. But then their real game plan is not to convince but to confuse women on the issue. And what better way to do it than give them a pseudo belief of symbolic representation, and in the process disturb any healthy discussion over what can be a substantive change in the fortunes of the fair sex.       
 

I don’t need to prove my credentials over the subject to such shallow people. Of course, I feel really pity by the fact that even educated women in general fail to read what is hidden between the lines. I know my overt criticism and strong objection to symbolic representation of women might invite criticism from some section, but then I have always believed that if you can’t take a stand for what you believe in then it means you have no spines to support the cause either.
 

For me Maya, Shiela, Mamta, Jaya….or women like these have nothing to do with women empowerment. I define them only in the given context that they have done well for themselves. They don’t qualify to be role models. Their success is individual success. To qualify into being a role model the success has to be seen in the context of success achieved at what cost and for whose benefit. Unfortunately, the few and far between success stories on women empowerment that men so craftily proclaim and gullible women feel ecstatic about don’t have the intent to uplift women in general. These women are more male chauvinist in their approach than even a feudal man who is never comfortable with women standing on equal terms, forget being marching ahead.
 

Women who think they are educated and understand their rights are, unfortunately, as gullible as uneducated women. In fact, I have the case studies with me where uneducated women are more conscious of bringing substantive change in the lives of other women. I happened to meet a dalit scavenger lady, in due course of my research for a book, who has fought against the odds and is now running a small boutique-cum-beauty parlour. She wants her business to grow not only for her daughters but also for other young girls in one of the most backward districts of India, Alwar of Rajasthan. For me this uneducated woman is the real heroine of women empowerment.
 

Most of the successful educated women, whom gullible women look upto as role models, have no such claim to fame. Can any of these so-called educated and empowered women claim to have helped other women to come up in life? If you see the core team of any of these successful women, whether in politics, media or corporate world, the fact lies that they have never allowed a single woman to grow in their respective teams. Then how come they are symbols of women empowerment? 
 

I feel if women in general are really concerned with their empowerment, they need to start it at their own level, right from the four walls of the house. They don’t need to look up for symbolic representation, and instead focus on the substantive role around them. For this they need to respect themselves and other women. After all, a woman is the first teacher in any man’s life. The day a mother starts treating her daughters equal to sons; half the problem will be solved. After all, male chauvinism has a deep rooted social conditioning in its genesis.

The idea of Track2Governance

May 8, 2011

These are interesting times for any student of politics and governance in India. While the politics has always been the much talked about subject in this part of the world, governance as a subject of academic discussion is gradually taking the centre stage now. More importantly, governance had never been under so much of public scrutiny and hence there is a need to track the real governance, its agenda, issues and concerns. The collective consciousness is getting vocal on the issues of governance and it is time to shape the public psyche at large.

The Indian media, by and large, has often failed to differentiate between the politics and governance. No wonder, they are often seen to be a party on various issues. Moreover, the public perception and middle class outburst is more based on perception than ground reality. Hence the reactive tone & tenor of India could not be channelized for a positive change in the country.
 

This vacuum demands a governance think-tank platform, something that doesn’t mind going against the collective consciousness if it is not shaped by ground reality. This is where Track2Governance aims to position itself as a news platform with a clear focus on identifying the governance, its policies, plan and agenda. Our focus will be more on channelizing the public perception for constructive politics.
 

Advocacy and activism will be very much part of Track2Governance, and we may be rubbing the government the wrong way on occasion more than one. But then the team of Track2Media that has been behind conceptualizing the news project believes that the real journalism is not about asking the sweet questions, getting the sweet answers and filing the sweet copies. We are coming in the fray with a serious approach and intent to be whistle blowers as well.
 

We will also provide the much needed media support to the deserving movements on governance reforms. But at the same time we will neither be a party to any vested interests nor support any hypocritical media managed show in the name of fighting pro peoples’ causes. We would rather take a stand against attempt to promote extra constitutional mechanism. We are quite conscious of the fact that it will be very often interesting case studies, particularly in the wake of Track2Governance going against the tide.
 

After all, it is easier to sway the collective consciousness with a populist but irrelevant cause. What is challenging to stand up against the hidden agenda and tell the misguided masses that what they think as a legitimate cause is actually lending credence to the vested interests that have a large game plan in the process. Well, the emotionally charged people may not believe us in the short term, but then earning the credibility is always a long term road map and, of course, a challenge in hand.
 

It is not that efforts to launch news projects on governance have not been made earlier. As a matter of fact, there have been very many. A few of such governance news is doing good as well. However, we have made a proper study on competitive market and aim to position Track2Governance on a different level altogether. The existing news projects on governance are too bureaucracy centric in approach with overtly bureaucratic TG in mind.
 

Track2Governance doesn’t want to have bureaucracy as TG for the right reasons. We would be rather happy to note that we are at the wrong end of bureaucrats as our TG. Our real focus would be the impact of governance & policies on the common man. We don’t intent to be a mouthpiece or extended PR machinery of the government, its policies and programmes.
 

The common man’s issues and concerns with the government is what will matter the most to us. That is one of the reasons that we will regularly come out with the survey on various issues that concerns the performance of the government and the people’s expectations with the government and their local elected representatives. 
 

For the first time in the history of independent India the TINA factor is so profound that despite of the series of scams and scandals, the collective consciousness is not ready to trust those who are trying to destabilize the government by means fair and foul. Isn’t time for a fresh approach on governance? Isn’t it time for Track2Governance?

Social netwroking is a blind date that needs precaution

Jan 22, 2010

As if a Facebook status update or a Tweet with bad language, half baked perspective and ignorant rant was not enough. One of the recent relationship invites make me wonder whether social media is the new haven for all the disgruntled souls. I can conveniently ignore the overt advertisements inviting blind dates on various networking sites, but am clueless with some weird, strange quirks that let you into places you aren’t supposed to go. How can one fall in love with me just over couple of days of online friendship? It seems organized criminals are using one’s personal information shared on social networking sites in increasingly sophisticated ways to target victims.
Social media even without these gangs can never be a safe zone in a society where conflict resolution is more about compromising than collaborating. I often come across peculiar thought process that seem to shout at your face- “I don’t like your status updates/tweets anymore, not because your or mine literary tastes or social concerns have suddenly changed. My grouse is more with your snub to the common friend in the network who is more close to me.” All this makes me wonder whether we need a primary school of social networking to remind us that we are grown ups now. It is true that social networking is also about community building. But this close knit bonding for the right reasons often turn into wrong reasons when there is an element of subtle lobbying in the process. 
In a free virtual world with no guidelines or regulations, we are getting used to see something online that makes us mad, find something offensive online repetitively nowadays. Bad language, cuss words, half-baked perspective, ignorant rant and much more that often gets to the nerves to react. Somehow I am learning to live with this reality that very much like the real life; problem with opinion online is that everyone has it. Perhaps even Lord Keene could not anticipate that in days to come everybody will be an expert on everything.
For a person like me with firm grounding in conventional means of communication, the conscious decision to switch to new online vehicles—Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook was not based on its decency level any way. The experience of close friends over Orkoot was enough to suggest how a networking site can be a catalyst to behavior pattern shift in a virtual world. But then it was a need to take the clients’ presence to the new age tools. Something that Track2Media Consulting has done quite successfully over the last couple of years.
Over a period of time I started realizing the need of this necessary evil called social media, both at a personal and professional level. I have written extensively over the pros and cons of networking over the medium. I also keep telling the students of mass communication, with whom I interact as guest faculty in some institutes and universities that it is a necessary evil. Precaution is a must if you want to play safe. 
Professionally as a brand communication expert and as an activist at personal level, my caustic, sarcastic and angry response is often not in sync with the opportunity cost of ignoring it. I often allow myself to get offended and outraged, and the activist in me just can’t resist giving it back to the offence. Though, of late, I have started questioning myself whether the person has been worth my reaction. Has my reaction only given him credibility? Still by and large I don’t care for the cost-benefit analysis of my reputation in a world where, as they say, those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter. Social media is big enough for all kinds of characters to stay and engage.
After all, social media is like a blind date. You can only wish that she turns out to be a hot chick. On your part you get your basics right and arrive in style in a blind date. Again you can only hope this date with hot chick doesn’t get goofed up. But if the prayers are not answered, who cares. And who would like to carry the blind date analogy to its logical, ridiculous extreme? If the conversation online is not right, or if the other person carries a placard suggesting he/she is the best, you just communicate for a while and walk your way, without any plans of engaging yourself.
I treat my online relationship in a similar way, and any interaction beyond this is always a slow and steady process. Handling a relationship is fragile and nurturing the respect takes its own time and judgment. It hardly matters if my friends’ list changes completely over a period of time, particularly in the event of failure to agree to disagree. As a matter of principle in my now almost two years of social & professional networking online, I have never asked someone for personal information. I have exchanged phone numbers only when regular online interaction has led to some common meeting grounds and the other person feels like connecting with me at a personal or professional level.
I have also never asked a virtual friend of the opposite sex to show me her real picture as to how she looks like. I have also never removed someone from the friends list just because her real face is not visible on the site. I have rather respected the individual choice of the person to be there online the way she wants to be. Her decision to keep anonymous might be guided by her desire to play safe in a world where photographs of even celebrities are morphed with nude pictures nowadays. Who am I to intrude into someone’s safety zones, just because she added me as a friend? For me these personal details matter if we become close enough to think of meeting outside the virtual zones. But such friendships are few and far between.
In general I am nowadays careful with who my friends are; they could turn out to be my worst enemies. There are some wonderful people whom I have met online and with whom I have interacted and built a relationship. However, there are also other people who misrepresent who they are and what their intentions are. In order to be safe, some of my female friends don’t put their real pix and personal details to be known to all. After all, they need to be constantly cognizant about who they trust and what they divulge online. It is important not to trust online connections before building a strong and solid foundation in the relationship.
Being safe in the world of social media is a choice that should not offend genuine people in the friend list at all. We have the example of Steve Boggan who discovered about the past life of his girlfriend of 12 years, Suzanne Halam, just by using the internet. It took just one hour for internet experts to find out almost every private detail of this woman's life. That includes her friends, education, embarrassing pictures, former boyfriends and long-forgotten relatives.
This happened because, in common with millions of people in Britain, Suzanne was using the social networking sites Facebook and Friends Reunited, and had signed up to the business networking site LinkedIn and Flickr, the photo-sharing website. Armed with this information, criminals could have also used her identity to commit fraud or resurrect minute details of her past, her movements and friendships to lure her into scams or even dangerous liaisons. It could have been used to con her into revealing her bank details and credit card numbers.
After all, even the CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, a man not known for worrying about internet surfers’ privacy, suggested recently that young people might want to change their identities in the future in order to separate themselves from a past lived too openly on the internet.
The relationship invite that I received was thoroughly investigated by my e-sister (I found this kiddo online). She found objectionable stuff over there and hence asked me to block it. But I realized how these criminal gangs are carefully fishing for victims online. In the past, they would have sent out thousands and thousands of spam emails in a scattergun fashion — and many still do. These are called phishing scams where you are awarded millions of $ for having used the email. Some of them invite fake requests from banks asking people to confirm their account details, passwords and so on. The hope is that, once in a while, someone would be silly enough to reply.
Fortunately, I was not silly, will never be so. A love affair over couple of days of online friendship? Oh! Give me a break. Instinctively I am now addicted with social media and professionally it has benefitted me as well. Therefore, it is no longer a matter of choice to stay connected, but the need as well. However, being less than couple of years old on the social networking sites, I am fast learning the nuances of the medium. I hope the learning curve makes me careful in selection of friends/contacts in future, benefits Track2Media Consulting in its business and goads the mass communication students in the right direction with my shared experiences.

My profile in Prabhat Khabar

Jan 12, 2011                                                                                                                                                 

Prabhat Khabar did my profile recently. Since my facebook post earlier was not readable, here's a readable version on public demand. Please click on the image above to enlarge and read.

Click on the image above to enlarge