A big world in a shell

Siddharth Oswal

I WOKE up to the alarm at the break of dawn and after freshening up, dragged myself to the gym, half a kilometre away from my place. Summer had started in earnest, but this time of the day was reasonably pleasant. I entered the gym, and like always, started my hourly stint with the treadmill. Slowly, but steadily, I picked up pace. The guy on the treadmill next to me suddenly stopped and said, ‘Excuse me?’  I looked at him, a little surprised, and still panting, said, ‘Yes?’

 ‘Are you Shama’s fiance?’ he asked. Astounded, I almost fell from the treadmill. Not only was he right, but also because of the following facts:  Since my birth, 26 years ago, I had lived and grown up in the same town, Ludhiana. It had been only a couple of days since I had got engaged. And my wife-to-be was born and brought up in the national Capital, a good 300 km away. She had been to my city on very few occasions. Given these facts, only I know how confounded my state of mind was — being recognised as so-and-so’s fiance in my own hometown, that too at this hour of the day, and of all the places, a gym! Moreover, it was a little demeaning. The guy had, after all, attacked my individuality, albeit unmindfully.

It took me a few seconds to regain my composure. Still gaping, and with my tone clearly reflecting bewilderment, I replied, ‘Yes, and you are?’ ‘I am her batchmate from school,’ he said nonchalantly, stretching out for a handshake. This statement of his gave me another shock. So, my next obvious question was: How come he was in this city? He told me that a foray into the hosiery business had brought him here a few months ago.

But then, how did he know me! ‘Oh well, Shama and I are friends on Facebook and a few days back, she had posted a picture of you and her together, with a caption suggesting that you are engaged to each other!’ It took me a moment to digest this explanation before I shook hands with him.

I thought how the advent of the Internet and the use of social media had changed the face of the world. How, by the use of this platform, the world had shrunk really small. How the big wide world had been reduced to a shell. How it had changed the way we connected, and more specifically, how we got introduced to people! We have begun to lead a second existence in this virtual world called social media.

With these thoughts still meandering in my mind, I jogged back home and the first thing I did was to call up my fiancee and ask her to remove our picture from Facebook, lest I get floored by another acquaintance of hers.

Now, more than five years into our marriage, her friend and I occasionally bump into each other at public places and social gatherings. His mere sight rings a bell. Of course, we are now ‘friends’ on Facebook too!