About e-greetings...
Early nineties were when the popularity of greeting cards shone to max. During Christmas or New Year, Indian Postal department made sure that the greeting cards reached the destination appropriately on time, provided the sender gave them enough days to reach the destination.
Riding on this success - “Archie’s" stretched its business to birthdays, wedding, anniversary, blah blah. After all, it was a billion dollar market considering the population at stake. Just when the business hit the peak, we had the internet boom.
Internet/Cyber cafes started sprouting as mushrooms in every cosmo/cities/towns. People got a faster, reliable, more varied ways of communicating their feelings via e-greetings. Now if the services being offered are free and above that the sheer variety of customized e-cards at disposal, made every tech-savvy individual go for it. After all in a fast paced life, it seemed the right thing. Well, it was/is not the same situation in villages though.
After my first onsite travel, I came back home right on time for my birthday. Those were the times, when my online friends were the max. There was this individual T (profile name) who used to chat, but hadn’t met or known personally. T had sent a birthday greeting, which I could not view on my special day. It was not the ignorance, but just slip of time amidst luncheons, party's etc.
The next day when I got to check out the e-card, it was truly a pleasant surprise. Pleasant, as it was from an individual who hadn’t even seen me and for the matter inside it.
As we all know, e-portals send out a "Seen" acknowledgement mail to the sender when the receiver opens the greeting link . Later in the day, what followed was a barrage of statements from T. T had to convey her thoughts and emotions on the greeting sent. She took the whole episode of me viewing the greeting on a later day as a big issue. This is what she had to convey:
- Not all people in this world remembered my birthday before hand. It’s the warmth a person shared, which made them remember the day amidst all the other tensions in life.
- Above all tensity, they care to send a greeting, that too a customized one to suit the year and the day specially. * Believe me, customizing an e-card is the most time-consuming*
- And how she took extra efforts to send to the mail ID which I frequented most often.
- Any IT pro may forget to take bath, but he won’t let the "Unread Mails" counter to grow.
The message was clear, it was a birthday card and it had to be relished on the special day, whilst, it lost its significance. Just as I tried to argue on what I thought was a trivial stuff, which was being ripped across unnecessarily, T had to say more to it. The extra-validation of my mail address when T did not receive the "seen" acknowledgement of the card on the same day, the complaint T lodged using the e-card number with the portal, the bad shady feelings which cropped into her mind made me succumb to what I then felt was a simple but valid comment.
Now, neither I am in touch with her nor T knows where I am. But, sometimes strangers teach something simple but very effective.
Two years later, the same episode repeats but for the "thrashing" part. As they say history repeats itself. For only this time I was on the receiving end *sob sob*. And believe me, it hurts..
Riding on this success - “Archie’s" stretched its business to birthdays, wedding, anniversary, blah blah. After all, it was a billion dollar market considering the population at stake. Just when the business hit the peak, we had the internet boom.
Internet/Cyber cafes started sprouting as mushrooms in every cosmo/cities/towns. People got a faster, reliable, more varied ways of communicating their feelings via e-greetings. Now if the services being offered are free and above that the sheer variety of customized e-cards at disposal, made every tech-savvy individual go for it. After all in a fast paced life, it seemed the right thing. Well, it was/is not the same situation in villages though.
After my first onsite travel, I came back home right on time for my birthday. Those were the times, when my online friends were the max. There was this individual T (profile name) who used to chat, but hadn’t met or known personally. T had sent a birthday greeting, which I could not view on my special day. It was not the ignorance, but just slip of time amidst luncheons, party's etc.
The next day when I got to check out the e-card, it was truly a pleasant surprise. Pleasant, as it was from an individual who hadn’t even seen me and for the matter inside it.
As we all know, e-portals send out a "Seen" acknowledgement mail to the sender when the receiver opens the greeting link . Later in the day, what followed was a barrage of statements from T. T had to convey her thoughts and emotions on the greeting sent. She took the whole episode of me viewing the greeting on a later day as a big issue. This is what she had to convey:
- Not all people in this world remembered my birthday before hand. It’s the warmth a person shared, which made them remember the day amidst all the other tensions in life.
- Above all tensity, they care to send a greeting, that too a customized one to suit the year and the day specially. * Believe me, customizing an e-card is the most time-consuming*
- And how she took extra efforts to send to the mail ID which I frequented most often.
- Any IT pro may forget to take bath, but he won’t let the "Unread Mails" counter to grow.
The message was clear, it was a birthday card and it had to be relished on the special day, whilst, it lost its significance. Just as I tried to argue on what I thought was a trivial stuff, which was being ripped across unnecessarily, T had to say more to it. The extra-validation of my mail address when T did not receive the "seen" acknowledgement of the card on the same day, the complaint T lodged using the e-card number with the portal, the bad shady feelings which cropped into her mind made me succumb to what I then felt was a simple but valid comment.
Now, neither I am in touch with her nor T knows where I am. But, sometimes strangers teach something simple but very effective.
Two years later, the same episode repeats but for the "thrashing" part. As they say history repeats itself. For only this time I was on the receiving end *sob sob*. And believe me, it hurts..
posted by Pakku at 12:29 AM
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