Online Identities

In today’s world, the Internet holds vital importance and one of the many facilities provided by it would be social networking. This is rapidly gaining popularity in our era due to the fact that it is an inexpensive and fast mode of staying in touch with family and friends despite the distance. Individuals who have an account in major social networking sites such as Orkut, Twitter or Facebook are now using more of their time to socialize with other people amidst the distance and lack of time. Networking sites serve several advantages as well as disadvantages.

Users of networking websites may interact in several ways and can share their thoughts, views, opinions and expressions online. This has hence brought the world closer and did not require any large expenses. Social networking websites enables users to socially interact with one another. Additionally, people  who share similar interests, beliefs or other common concerns may befriend each other. Some companies are known to even browse through their employee’s online profiles to learn more about them and their personality traits. 

However, every coin has two sides and there are disadvantages to these sites as well. In spite of age limits and barriers set on many sites, people still take advantage by entering an incorrect age or age group and creating accounts on these websites. Many people are addicted to these websites and spend valuable time updating their social network. Cyber bullying and stalking of profiles are rising issues that affect many users and threaten their privacy and security. Very often we hear of reported cases of hacked accounts and disapproving changes made to profiles. The consequence of these actions are severe and may damage one's social reputation among their peers. It also causes a great amount of grief and humiliation to the victims of this form of bullying.

Social networking websites therefore play a very important role in enhancing one’s social identity or image and may influence, to an extent, their reputation socially. Hence it is important for one to create an account in a social networking site keeping in mind the cause, use and effects of creating an online identity. Kindly publish articles raising awareness of the uses of social networking sites and the possible effects of doing so as those readers who are active online may gain benefit from them.
 

Welcoming the big one-oh is, frankly, to me, really overrated. New decade, new beginning and things. I did however enjoy celebrating. But 2010 will just be another year passed, another year learnt. But the number 2010 sounds plain awkward.

Resolutions, new years, calendars, movies, all these things hoping to start off fresh. It's an excuse to forget all the messed up actions of the past and to proceed with the future. But we must also be grateful that we're alive, today, to watch another year pass by. We are the consequence of our own actions and we shall wait and watch what 2010 holds for us.

Why my 2009 was awesome:
1) I watched my puppies grow up into dogs.
2) I discovered emotions I never knew existed.
3) My music sense changed for the better, or rather matured.
4) I discovered the magic of the pistachio flavoured doughnut.
5) I rescued several street animals-my personal best. Or maybe less?
6) I made friends who are worth befriending.
7) I've learnt who means more to whom than who.
8) I've learnt to appreciate sunrises and sunsets.
9) I rode a camel without falling off.
10) I ran down the staircase and fell off and fractured my leg. I've learnt better now.
11) I see the magic in clouds. The possibilities.
12) I've learnt to not care about society's opinion about things.
13) Lady Gaga. Amazing. Period.
14) My iPod turned 3 and a half years old.
There are many many more things I've learnt '09, but these are the most significant.

Why 2009 was not-so-cool:
1) I'm in the 11th Grade. Science.
2) I cut my hair off without realising how much I would regret it.
3) I stopped gaming and I miss it.
Lot more, apparently. But I would rather not.

What I'm looking forward to in 2010:
1) Another dog.
2) Longer hair?
3) Another iPod!
4) A better relationship with my sibling.
5) A better camera. And phone.
6) A better UAE, a better Asia, a better world.

All in all, 2009 was definitely one of the years of my life which I'd never ever forget. I've learnt the most in this year than I ever could have and I felt the significance of this year with a profound impact. I discovered some things and rediscovered some others.
I hope 2010 turns out to be another year I can cherish, another successful year for me, for you, and for everyone.
I also hope in 2010, the world finally discovers ultimate humanity.

So, have a Happy Happy New Years. Hope your one-oh is pretty damn fine. :)


Preethi Rajkumar

Black and White - A Retrospective

One really random topic that succeeds in ticking me off is racial discrimination. It's infact so commonplace that people take it for granted. And it's also very usual how people express their disapproval but when you come to think about it, what can one genuinely do about it? Sure, we're concerned and we feel bad but ever thought about how the recieving end feels? Being Indian, we cannot actually experience either extreme which makes it a whole load easier to view the whole ordeal from a third-person perspective. We cannot shrug off the fact that it is those with a darker complexion who are given less preference in terms of employment, legal jurisdiction and the like. It is a very awkward and upsetting position and brings great shame and loss of pride and dignity to the recieving end, hence lowering their self-esteem for prolonged periods and convincing them that they cannot be as good as the white-coloured people, apparently. Why? All because of the fact that their skin is darker than the white-people. For years this inhumane act has been carried on and it is high time a full stop was put to this mentality. True, it has definitely decreased as compared to a century ago but there are definitely traces of the partial practice.

It is true that over the decades this partial practise has reduced but traces of it still exist. The possibility of getting a job, of being politically considered for a post and of the like, the whites have a larger preference than the darker-skinned men. It is unfair and a very awkward situation, as all of this discrimination and all this differentiation is caused merely due to the complexion of the skin.

Have we ever thought about how the person at the recieving end may feel? It is a combination of so many mixed emotions, primaraly sadness, anger and irritation. More than anything, the shame and the embarassment that comes along with being racially set apart is unbearable. But think about it. Is it really fair how these people live in a state of permanent shame and sadness just because their skin is dark? This all seems so stupid that I am almost ashamed to think that humans are considered the smartest among all animals.

Even recently, I'm sure you all have heard about the latest racial discrimination incident in Australia? Well, a group on college-going Indian students were brutally abused and one of them even died. All this because they have darker skin? Now does the clarity of the foolishness of the human race in this aspect increase? One of the many women I most admire is Rosa Parks. I'm sure not too many of you have heard of her but she is a black lady from the 20th Century who one day returned home from work during the era when Racial Discrimination was at its peak. When a white man asked her to stand because he needed the seat, she refused. This was observed as a turning point for the blacks and people hence began opposing this inhumane act. People's self-esteem and confidence increased and although it took decades, they finally got what they wanted. For this courageous act of defiance I admire this lady. I also admire Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years of his life in jail just to prove that black and white were not different colours when it came to skin.

We obviously feel bad and sad when we hear or see an act of racism but in theory, what can we do about it? We are concerned but how many of us have the courage to do what they did? None of us do. But we must try to stand for a right as an obligation to humanity.

It is hence a really large achievement that in one of the countries where racism was a very major legal issue, a black man has finally become a president and is in fact better than his white predecessors in terms of restoring the economy of the country and ensuring the prolonged happiness of the citizens of the United States of America. US President Barrack Obama has really shown that racism was an unnecessary mentality or way of thinking and that black-skinned people can be just as good, if not better, than their white counterparts.

Aliens Fact or Fiction?

Well, have you ever mused about the possibility of existence of aliens? Well, thing is, I'm sure everyone has. It's pretty natural. But the fact is that the human mind can simply not accept it that alien species could thrive and exist at all. I mean, we often hear news reports about the possibility of the existence of an extraterrestial species on a planet or even a solar system. But one thing is that people take it for granted that aliens exist in their solar system, their galaxy or even their universe, which isn't true at all. Perhaps aliens require different dimensions to exist, or different characteristics. Has it ever occured to you that aliens could be just bits of data, of information floating around, similar to the data stored in a computer? Aliens can also be machines. They may even be highly microscopic, or even highly macroscopic. All of this; contrary to popular beliefs.

But it is high time we've opened ourselves to the fact that alien life can be assured. Yeah, and what me and the rest of us pondering people await is the news of assured existence of an alien species, not just a myth, a rumour or a photoshop, please.

And yet another highly common factor is the stereotype about what we interpret the characteristics of an alien to be. Many heads, eyes, limbs, brains, high level of intellect, antennae, massive and irregular proportions, green skin? And also we've all watched those movies like E.T. and um, Signs? It is way too uncanny how the aliens in those movies often share the same reason of thinking and the same saturation level as that of human. And aliens displaying human emotion? It's all a really large, really misunderstood cliche.

The problem is that people frankly don't have the time to care about such topics. To them, their life and everything else is important. Thinking and reason would definitely give rise to newer more better ideas and clues of alien existence and also will raise our awareness to the very same. It's so agititating how people talk about aliens as some sort of, sci-fi icon, as a destroyer of worlds, and what not. Yes, we humans are far worse than our alien friends. We discriminate, prejudge and do all sorts of guesswork and less of practical application of knowledge and pursuit of our curiousity. Talking about aliens is usually comical and we shall only learn more about the topic when we begin to place the alien genre with the same importance we view other current events. When Copenhagen discusses this topic is when we know we're actually getting somewhere. We'll wait.

It's pretty evident that there are a numerous reported sightings of unidentified flying objects, of people actually claiming to have had some actual interaction with the alien members and also another puzzling phenomenon are the famous crop circles, especially in the US. Crop circles are these really large geometric symmetric patterns that are so precise, so perfect and thus so unnatural that the human mind can simply not help but concieve it to be the work of the extraterrestrials. But yet again, in the modern era, humans have justified this piece of evidence in their favour by having recently proved that scientifically, crop circles are caused due to unusual radiations emitted from beneath the surface of the earth. Or something like that. None can be too sure. Humans are the largest self-contradicting ignoramouses I know. And ever tried arguing against scientifically proved phenomena?

Never worked out for me. Not a good idea.


Whether aliens exist around us, whether they're one among us or whether we live under their scrutiny is unsure, but one thing is for certain - we must definitely be prepared to widen our perspective and consequentially ingest the fact that aliens can exist anywhere, everywhere, and in places inimaginable.


This is merely my thought, my reasoning and there exist many many secrets left for the human mind to implore. Roswell, prime example. I cannot completely deny I know for a fact what I have just blogged, but then again like I said, this is just my opinion, my viewpoint. An eagle's eye view of the human's perspective of the whole trend. But do we really know what's up at all?


Thus I can say that I completely agree to the statement that "truth is stranger than fiction" because on a day when we least expect it and are completely unprepared, we shall witness what we cannot completely comprehend.


Preethi Rajkumar