Dosti ka naya mantra

Blame electronic communication or thank it. It’s the new age and you have arrived! Personal feelings and warm gestures are a passé and have been replaced by plastic expression and emotions for internet crazy Generation-X.
There was time when to brighten up someone’s special day, required personal touch like selecting a letter pad, envelope, or variants of ink colours to pour out the heart’s feelings. Telephonic conversation took over from this tedious paraphernalia of letter writing, but it is expensive. Hence, chatting has become the most favourite activity for Generation-X. North Delhi’s cyber-crazy youths are not to be left behind in this new adventure.
Chatting is fast becoming a good pastime for young and not so young. It avoids the costly charges of telephone and also eschews stale information of e-mail. It is the real time conversation on computer screen where you type in the conversation through net and your net-friend types back for the conversation to continue. Chatting can be done with a known group and also with hidden faces, wherein you can log on to any chat room and start chatting with whosoever sharing your interests. It can just be for fun too.
Take for instance Pradnya Shrikhande, 22, a management student. She has never burnt midnight oil otherwise, but when it comes to chatting with her boyfriend, she becomes nocturnal. She confides, "I don’t need a make up or new outfit when I am on-line. The added advantage of being invisible gives the courage to pour the emotions uninterrupted." However, those who have web-cameras can show off their new dress or new hair do. Informs Ruhi Priya, 18, a first year NIFT student, "Many of my friends have web-cams. You can see the image but it isn’t flesh and blood."
Those who do not have friends can vent out their sentiments by making net friends. Net-friendship can be changed into real relationship as in the case of Vivek Dixit, 21, a final year engineering student.
Vivek regularly chatted with an unknown girl in Delhi for nearly two months. He informs, "Our interest were common and we decided to meet. We met last month and watched a movie together. Our friendship is still thriving."
Apart from hackneyed phrases like `I love you’, chatting can be useful to maintain platonic relationship with friends and relatives. Says Kamini Singh, 19, a college student, "I chat with my friend who has gone to the USA for further studies. I also chat with my cousins in Mumbai. Unlike e-mail where conversation is usually stale, chatting gives the thrill of real time conversation with friends."
Net-friends have replaced pen-friends as in case of Juhi Bhatt, 18, who is seeking admission in college. Every night she goes on-line to converse with strangers all over the planet. Her sessions last hours if she meets someone interesting.
However, sometimes on-line chatting and flirting with strangers can be dangerous. Sonu Verma, 19, a college student narrates, "Once when I was chatting with an unknown person in a cyber-café, I received a compliment during conversation that henna on my hand was looking fabulous. I then realized that the person with whom I was chatting with was a fat, middle-aged man sitting next to me."
For those who have a craving for knowledge and learning, chatting can be informative too. Like Abhijit Jadhav, 20, a college student, enjoys chatting with the on-line science group. Abhijit chats everyday for an hour. He tells, "We discuss space missions, new scientific developments and discoveries, space vehicle and programmes on Discovery Channel. I get immense information on space and astronomy which are my favourite subjects."
Apoorva Pandit, 21, an engineering student improves his language skills through chatting. Apoorva, who is learning French, says, "Through chatting I understand the usage of a word in a sentence. If I have used wrong phrase or words, I immediately get corrected and my French is improving." Knowledge or fun, information or pastime whatever one may say, but the fact remains that chatting absorbs Generation-X and real time conversation gives thrills to your thoughts.