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My friend then began giving me a lecture on the benefits of internet. He said, "The Net has many advantages. Do you know recently a Muslim family in Lucknow solemnised their daughter’s nikah ceremony over the internet? The girl sat in a cyber café in Lucknow while the boy was in Saudi Arabia". "That’s wonderful," I said. "That means if proper video conferencing be held the boy and girl can be at different places, the Panditji or Bhaiji could be at the temple, the bandwalah could be playing the band at some other studio and the relatives could send in their good wishes right from their homes". Unperturbed by my comments
my friend carried on with his discourse. He said if ceremonies could be
performed on the Net, it would help in cutting down the marriage cost. I
asked my friend what if both the partners decided to have their
honeymoon on Net. If the bride goes to Shimla and the groom goes to
Mussorie then through the internet, they would be enjoying two
hill-stations at a time." Before I could even finish my sentence,
my friend had gone away, leaving me alone on the bench. |
WE
were relaxing on a bench by the lake. My friend asked me, "Do you
use the Net?" I told my friend that I didn’t have any particular
interest in fishing. "I am not talking of the fishing net", he
clarified. I continued, "If you are talking of fixing my beard, I
don’t use a net. I simply use a pin to fix my beard". He hit his
forehead in desperation, "That means you are not Net savvy". I
told him that in the good old days I used to sleep in the mosquito net
to save myself from potent attacks from mosquitoes. My friend, who was
about to lose his patience, explained that when somebody is talking
about the Net these days, it means using the internet. I told him that I
did use the internet but only occasionally.