It's a 'rite of passage': You get addicted to email, surf, listen to music, and start living on the net. Then you begin to think the rest of the world, too, lives online. And that's when you start looking for lost friends and old colleagues, not realising that this is going to be one of those great journeys. Things may or may not go your way but, with a bit of luck, you'll arrive.
There are many ways to go about finding lost souls. Try looking for four or five people at a time to buffer yourself against disappointment. Start your search with everyone's favourite, Hotmail and Yahoo! If the world may be divided between the bearded and clean-shaven, it can be better divided between those who use these email service providers.
So, to take Hotmail first. While the white pages turn up no answers for India, 'search email' fetches too many, but the Hotmail Member Directory seems clued in. I type in a few friends' names, find several matches to each name and promptly mail them all. "Last night, I suddenly dreamt of you and decided I must find you. If you're the same guy who got lost with me on the hike to Matheran, do write back."
Then I wait. Chances are, only a few sentimental people you mailed by default will write back saying "Sorry, I'm not the one you're looking for." But that's okay. All in a day's work.
Next stop, the Yahoo! People Search. Since you're not looking for new people though, the Member Directory's a better option. Repeat the process used at Hotmail and, as usual, wait.
At ICQ.com, the 'People Search' is it. Fill any one of the four simple categories - first name, last name, email, or nickname, and wait. You will need patience, again, and the right spellings. If you're looking for Ruchi Dhawan, when she's actually Ruchi Dhawal, you can forget about finding her. The trick is to gather as much information about the person you're looking for beforehand - full names, maiden and married names, family details, hobbies, profession, so on. The more you know, the better your chances of finding him or her.
In the meanwhile, no harm browsing around. I find a site that seems tailor-made 1billionindians.com. While I couldn't find myself (though I'm online a lot) I found my dad (who's rarely online, if ever). Probably goes to show that there's nothing much here other than telephone directories. Good for locating addresses and telephone numbers though.
Telephoneno.com is a similar site, useful in finding telephone owners. If your friend does happen to be one, this site helps. Type in the old telephone number (which you have and which no longer works), and you'll promptly get the new one.
Switching to more modest sites, batchmates.com is a comfortable place if it's a school or college friend you're looking for. Chances are, you won't find your friend, but may find someone else from your college listed. And if your college isn't listed at all, you can always put it up and be the first.
Ditto, Coolbuddy.com.
Alumni listings? Try Alumni.net. With a comprehensive listing of schools, colleges and universities, peering right at your particular Alma Mater's registry may ring some bells. Imahal.com, positioned as a community-building site, also has a fairly helpful list of alumni associations for India, besides UK, USA, and Canada.
Now that you're done looking at nooks and corners, it's time to plunge in headlong, via search engines. I type in an old friend's name, 'srigurunath' but get too many arbitrary links. I know he likes solving crosswords, loves animals and lives in Pune, so I type 'srigurunath+crosswords+pets+pune'. What I get are sites on Pune civic planning and pet foods. I decide to be less aggressive and try 'srigurunath+crosswords'. Bingo. The guy's homepage, with lots of crosswords on it.
I feverishly start looking for other friends, but lose interest fast, thanks to more arbitrary links. Still, for what it's worth, what one loses in patience, one gains in terms of deduction. I dive back in, looking for another friend, Charuhas Pandit, who's a cartoonist by profession. I remember he wanted to name his cartoon 'Chintu', so I type 'charuhas pandit+chintu' - and get a whole website on Chintu, along with my friend Charuhas in tow.
I have to admit, I'm glad to have rediscovered my friends, though it's rediscovering what the Net can do that's giving me the high.
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