Bye bye Orkut...

Source : Google Images

Date : 29^th Sept 2014, 11.15PM

It seemed like a usual day. The same old boring bits of information. Ms. A got married, Ms. X had been promoted….. Mr. Z went abroad for the first time while Mr. Y had his tooth extracted. Really? How exciting? Except not!

I stared at the wall of my Facebook account running over the screen, in a bid to challenge myself to find something that captures my attention.

Until there it was. Something unusual…...something different……. A school friend had posted this status –

“Logged onto Orkut today to backup my photos. 

Brought back some old memories. How sad ! L”

The word “Orkut” probably rang a bell in my head after God-knows-how-long. But I didn’t bother to find out why my friend was on Orkut ; or why she needed to backup her photos. I glanced at the status for a minute longer. With a blank face, I looked at the clock and decided to call it a day.

***********

I heard the phone ring thrice. After the third time, I picked up the receiver.

Me: Hello?

Caller: Hi!

Me: Hello?? Who’s speaking?

Caller: Guess who?

Me: I don’t seem to have heard your voice before.

Caller: I’ll give you a clue. I was your first friend on the social network.

Me: Nope, I still can’t make it out. Who is this?

Caller: *in a disappointed tone* I didn’t think you would give up so easily….. It’s me. Orkut.

Me: Orkut?.... O Hiiiii! Long time….. How’ve you been?

Orkut: Not very good lately. How about you?

Me: Great! Never been better…. So…. What’s up?

Orkut: *with a lump in throat* Nothing much. The same old routine you know. Getting ignored, waiting for people to stop by and say hi maybe…… Not anymore. I am just waiting to die tomorrow.

Me: What? What do you mean - you are dying tomorrow?

Orkut: Don’t tell me you haven’t heard. Google is shutting me down tomorrow. *lets out a wail*

Me: Ohhh! So that’s why my school friend was on Orkut to backup her photos.

Orkut: Huh!?! Listen… I don’t have all the time in the world today. I’ve got to go. I just wanted to connect with my users one last time….. Thought people would feel nice and tell me how much they’re going to miss me… I guess I was wrong………

*crying and sniffing* Up until few years ago, I was all that people had to talk about – interacting with long lost friends, scraps, photo sharing, friend requests – I started it all. But …. Ever since my contemporaries have arrived, everyone has forgotten me. It’s like I had so much to offer but no one wants it anymore.

It breaks my heart knowing I won’t be around you folks from tomorrow.

Me: Maybe there’s something that I can do to help you?

Orkut: *After a long pause* Maybe you could write to Google to say how much you’ll miss me once I’m gone….. It’s too late… I need to go.

Me: Wait!!!….. Don’t go. I’ll …. I’ll miss you.

Orkut: It’s too late… I can’t stay any longer… bye…

Me: Wait, wait, don’t go yet…. I need to speak to you………… WAAAAAAIIIIIITTTTTTT!!!!

*************

I woke up with a jolt and found myself awake on my bed. One turn to the side table calendar and the date – 30^th Sept flashed on my face. After a quick fresh up I logged on to the internet and read the news. Yes, I had been dreaming but whatever happened in the dream was all true. I logged on to my Orkut account while striving hard to remember the last time I had been there.

I clicked open my photo albums. There it was. Some long lost pages of my life. A sudden gush of guilt swamped my own body and I couldn’t stop the tears that emerged from my eyes. Pics of some get-togethers with college mates, snaps of our family functions, selfies with besties, candid moments with my fiancé. They stared at me while I wiped my wet face and remembered my last conversation with Orkut.

My email account popped with a new message from Orkut. It read – ‘Goodbye dear friend….’ I broke down and cried uncontrollably letting loose the flood of emotions trapped in me. Without further delay, I wiped my tears and clicked open a new email to write to Google.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Yours' truly,

                  **Linking to the Ultimate Blog Challenge for July 2014 and BlogHer - NaBloPoMo**