A few students approached and thanked me for "joining Facebook"... :) Welcome my dears! But let me tell you I was on Facebook much before any of you even planned a career in engineering. You must all have been in school back then. This is a story set sometime in 2008. Here it goes:
Once upon a time, not very long ago, when I was still a Googler a new company christened Facebook was started by this young and dynamic entrepreneur called Mark Zuckerberg. Nobody in Google, not even in their dreams, thought that it might become so big some day that it'll give Orkut a run for its money. Orkut was really really big in terms of social networking - especially in Brazil and India. So when FB launched, Googlers laughed and ridiculed the site's appearance and content. Of course, some of us wanted to do a bit of social service to our company (though none at the top management had a clue about our altruistic intentions) by checking out the new venture in the social networking circles and sending unsolicited feedback to whoever wanted it. And we were happy - creating an account, taking a tour of the site, and feeling elated because it looked way below our very own Orkut. So we thought it'll also burst like all the social networking bubbles that came and went singing a zillion sad songs - MySpace, Hi5, and many others.
But somehow over the next few months, the scene changed drastically. A relatively young entrant which was started in 2007 with all its ridiculous and absurd features like Poke, Games, Feeds, Notes, Love symbols (I remember there was something similar to a Vampire's kiss), and such silly stuff was making its way into the hearts of millions of users. By the time I left my company, FB became so popular that in my Farewell Letter to friends and colleagues I had to promise that I'll be active on FB so we could keep in touch. I did keep my promise and I was totally hooked. There were umpteen attractions - Farmville, Fishville, Cityville, Forestville, X-Ville, Y-ville, this-ville, that-ville... and I had plenty of time on hand to indulge myself generously for a few hours everyday.
So, like I said earlier, I was active on FB for the past 5-6 years. I guess some students know it too. And they also knew that I was inaccessible online to students and my account was off-limits to the student community as I didn't respond to Friend requests from students earlier. There was a reason why I chose to keep it that way. I thought it was best to keep my personal life separate from my professional life.
So why am I accessible to students now? There're reasons, logical ones, as always! In the recent past I've realized how much my students have become a part of my personal life - it's very closely intertwined with my professional life at this point in time. I love them all as much as I love my own daughter, and I love being part of their world. And that happy and exciting thought made me create a world away from the rest of the world and have this little exclusive world of our own. Now this is my personal space too which is filled with not only lots of fun, laughter, and happiness but also sometimes with certain sad phases of life - the life that revolves around my children.
And to all my students - who has ever interacted with me (even once), made me learn patience, and also to lose my temper, taught me to love selflessly and generously, and how to connect with the GenNext, showed me how to enjoy life in today's world, and the joy of giving but expecting nothing in return, made me much more passionate about my profession, and smile a little more, changed my perspective about the world around, and, above all, made me a better person - for this, for everything and for a little bit more, I dedicate this post.
Once upon a time, not very long ago, when I was still a Googler a new company christened Facebook was started by this young and dynamic entrepreneur called Mark Zuckerberg. Nobody in Google, not even in their dreams, thought that it might become so big some day that it'll give Orkut a run for its money. Orkut was really really big in terms of social networking - especially in Brazil and India. So when FB launched, Googlers laughed and ridiculed the site's appearance and content. Of course, some of us wanted to do a bit of social service to our company (though none at the top management had a clue about our altruistic intentions) by checking out the new venture in the social networking circles and sending unsolicited feedback to whoever wanted it. And we were happy - creating an account, taking a tour of the site, and feeling elated because it looked way below our very own Orkut. So we thought it'll also burst like all the social networking bubbles that came and went singing a zillion sad songs - MySpace, Hi5, and many others.
But somehow over the next few months, the scene changed drastically. A relatively young entrant which was started in 2007 with all its ridiculous and absurd features like Poke, Games, Feeds, Notes, Love symbols (I remember there was something similar to a Vampire's kiss), and such silly stuff was making its way into the hearts of millions of users. By the time I left my company, FB became so popular that in my Farewell Letter to friends and colleagues I had to promise that I'll be active on FB so we could keep in touch. I did keep my promise and I was totally hooked. There were umpteen attractions - Farmville, Fishville, Cityville, Forestville, X-Ville, Y-ville, this-ville, that-ville... and I had plenty of time on hand to indulge myself generously for a few hours everyday.
So, like I said earlier, I was active on FB for the past 5-6 years. I guess some students know it too. And they also knew that I was inaccessible online to students and my account was off-limits to the student community as I didn't respond to Friend requests from students earlier. There was a reason why I chose to keep it that way. I thought it was best to keep my personal life separate from my professional life.
So why am I accessible to students now? There're reasons, logical ones, as always! In the recent past I've realized how much my students have become a part of my personal life - it's very closely intertwined with my professional life at this point in time. I love them all as much as I love my own daughter, and I love being part of their world. And that happy and exciting thought made me create a world away from the rest of the world and have this little exclusive world of our own. Now this is my personal space too which is filled with not only lots of fun, laughter, and happiness but also sometimes with certain sad phases of life - the life that revolves around my children.
And to all my students - who has ever interacted with me (even once), made me learn patience, and also to lose my temper, taught me to love selflessly and generously, and how to connect with the GenNext, showed me how to enjoy life in today's world, and the joy of giving but expecting nothing in return, made me much more passionate about my profession, and smile a little more, changed my perspective about the world around, and, above all, made me a better person - for this, for everything and for a little bit more, I dedicate this post.
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