The Women who forgot to invent Facebook & other stories

The one link on her blog about these photos that I found after some searching was a single line entry: ‘So that I remember that I was all this.’

The short stories is my fav genre. Small sips of life that connect to a part of my soul. Reminding me of the snippets of my own life. The stories are based around the time social media started amongst the Indian youth. How our lives and behaviors changed with its advent even though the emotions remained the same. 

The stories reminded me of the time during my college days when everyone was sleeping with everyone, and I wondered how things would be if there was Facebook or WhatsApp in those days.  The stories are brilliant, some borderline crazy and some as simple as daily routine. The inner minds of urban youth and their daily lives, create an intoxicating set of emotions. 

Trinity reminded me the college fears and the fashion show or dance competitions that kept the girls busy and the boys interested. Where are those batch mates of mine who burned the dance floor and sparked with the cat walk? Married to rich NRIs back in their home towns or Settled in Amrica leading a ‘better’ life. It refreshed memories of my insecurities, confusion and fears that I felt as an outsider with the Delhi gang or the Jampur hostler gang. I was nowhere, probably in the middle, or simply an outsider. Their double meaning jokes, innuendos, dating rituals, were trendy and I had to be thick skinned to survive the social massacre, we outsiders were subjected to. I remembered the membership form for Dramatics society in my college. It asked specifically to name five uses of banana! I wondered if I could suggest any thing other than food, but people had brilliantly sexual ideas beyond me imagination or knowledge.

Teresa is the obsession of a woman with her husbands dead ex wife. Like a child has imaginary friends, adults in todays social media world get infatuated with online figures. Curious to know more without knowing anything. I am sure surfing for hours over social media we are obsessing over the virtual images of people, feeling influenced rather than inspired. 

The gentle reader, gave me a sneak peak into my own possible future if I do end up becoming a writer. A marginally famous one with my own Twitter fan ship, trolls and drama.

No filter, is a dark love story. The storytelling is rich with death and normalcy chilling easily. The interesting part was that the protagonist considers his behaviors as nothing a man shouldn’t do in love. 

Workout of the day, why some men don’t get what women go thru on the day to day basis. How chauvanist pigs threaten a woman’s integrity. It angered the feminist inside me and I felt like punching every MCP I have ever met. 

How Andrew Wylie Broke my heart is an amazing story. Everyone has been catfished on social media atleast once. Especially the online days when you befriended foreign strangers and shared a certain bond with them. I have my own stories of good, losses and even ugly online friendships. Each leaving an indelible mark on me.  

Some marvelous lines from the book: 

But who is there that abstain from reading that which provided in abuse of himself? - Phineas Finn, Anthony Trollope 

She felt hollow, as if she would echo if someone shouted in her mouth. 

At one point, the song goes: you are too much for one man but not enough for two. 

Like someone who had pushed a boy into a waterfall on an impulse and wished he hadn’t needed to. 

Misomeru- the feeling on first meeting that this is just the person you’ve been looking for

Koi no yokan - the feeling on first meeting that this is going to tumble in to love   

One gif sent me a picture of his dick. It’s a thing online 

I particularly don’t like people who affect my self-esteem and damage my body image. 

Author: Nisha Susan

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Sujata for a lovely read and being the best pen friend a girl could have 🥰