Wednesday, September 23, 2009

tweet!

I just made my first tweet. That was five minutes ago..and now I've got three tweets to my name..the second was a reply to a tweet from Orange Fling..and the third was my reply to Shashi Tharoor's tweet. Now that's something, isn't it? To be able to share the same room (errmm) with someone like him. He'd come by our office once here in TVM. I must admit, I was overawed by his presence.

To come back to my first tweet though..and Twitter..Sure, I'd heard about Twitter quite a while back, and even seen it on one of my friend's (Phoenix)blogs..But there's something about me and things that are new and catching on..I take my own sweet time with them..it was that way with Harry Potter, Five Point Someone, Orkut, mobile phones..ok, the last one was a question of money..and that was the way it was with Twitter..I wasn't going to be tweeting like that irritating little yellow bird in Tom & Jerry!! And then the papers started going "Tweet tweet" a few days back..AS though they weren't bird-brained enough to start off with.

Tharoor's tweeting did catch the media's attention quite fast really..I guess from the time of his election campaign..but his 'cattle-class' remark seems to have touched all the wrong nerves. What was probably meant as a humourous remark went and did what it does to all self-respecting politicians of our motherland. It made them suddenly aware of the dignity of the common man - and woman. One gentleman was so disturbed that he thought Tharoor should resign..The Congress, seeming to be in an impregnable position these days, suddenly started sounding imperious. Some spokesperson said that action would be taken against Tharoor, called it a crass remark; Our Prime Singh Manmohan chose to call it a joke, and Big Brother Sonia Gandhi sternly warned Tharoor to stay clear of controversial tweets - at least that's what the papers have me believe.

They say that once you are famous, you no longer have the rights of the common man. Once you are famous, you don't need these rights anyway do you? Why do you crave the right to travel in a train swarming with people? Why would you crave the right to sit on your bike for almost an hour waiting for some God-forsaken VIP(!!!)to take his/her equally God-forsaken behind off your road? Why tolerate power cuts, scary and obese policemen, recession? Why listen to Arun Lal's inanities that are termed 'commentary' when you could fly your way to South Africa and sit in the celebrity box?

Yup...why is it good to still be a commoner? Because, you can call Air India's bug-filled Economy class "Cattle Class" or even "Swine Class"( What with all the H1N1 apparently having flown into India) and nobody would bay for your blood! You still have your freedom of expression and you don't have to be careful of what you say - unless your boss is around of course..
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So there - I've made my tweet. It's cool to be common!

After thought - First letters, then mails, then scraps, and now tweets....the last one isn't even asking for a reply...what are we coming to?

7 comments:

CuppajavaMattiz said...

I am curious. What exactly did you tweet to our most revered Shashi Tharoor? And what was his reply?

orangefling said...

tu-who, tu-whit, tu-weet, tweeet!

Everyman said...

@Mattiz - ain't really the stuff that curiosity is made up of bud..he'd remarked that a lot of work had piled up coz of his African trip..i replied that it was the same even if u took a couple of days off..

As for what he replied..well..nothing :-D Guess he was tweetless...

@Orangefling - tweet..tu weeet - true -wit!

The Penny Lane said...

Twitter is micro-blogging!
I was in Delhi last week and heard him in an award function...he even refered to the whole fiasco and everybody laughed! Felt very fortunate to hear him live!

Seema Smile said...

This is the second post I read about tweets on a blog today. I thought Twitter was like a one line blog, but I guess the first one needs to be documented in a full length post too :)

Pointblank said...

hey there! I had visited your blog once. And absolutely loved it. But then I forgot to blogroll u. Actually, I think i din't know how to blogroll back then. Anyways, I read ur other blog( was unable to post a comment there) and thought both are awesome!!! There is a certain beauty in ur simple, endearing style of writing. I think u should keep writing.. Great work!!!

claytonia vices said...

Yeah, now it's tweeting... it just keeps getting shorter doesn't it?
Facebook status lines are also serving the same purpose. Is this the pinaccle of 'briefness' or can it get shorter? :)