There are several forums that offer teleserial fans an outlet to discuss threadbare the twists and turns of the latest episode and the antics and fate of their favourite characters.

E-groups for American shows are hugely popular. The sitcom 'Friends', for instance, has 1,802 e-groups on Yahoo, with episode guides, newsletters, pictures, biographies of actors, daily postings and weekly chats. There are similar e-groups and clubs dedicated to current Indian TV serials, including the collection of 'K' soaps - Kkusum, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kutumb, Kundali, Kavita, Karam, Kalash, Kahin Kisi Roz, Koshish Ek Asha, Kuch Khona Hai Kuch Pana Hai, Kabhi Souten Kabhi Saheli, and Kuch Jhuki Palkain.

From discussions on Kkusum's outfit ("guess what???? Did you'll see the Thursday episode....Kkusum wore a western outfit...unbelievable" - asha_sanand) to expressions of gratitude ("lemme say thanx 2 the creator of the club as he has created the club of my fave serial which i never miss..." - jiten_vaswani), e-groups are becoming the hippest thing next to Pallavi's (Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki) bindis.

Thirteen-year old Zubin, whose four e-groups - Set Best Serials, Kutumb Rocks, Bollywood FM and Sony Awards -- have between 100 to 450 members each, says "e-groups are for fun and entertainment and people join them for pictures, polls, updates, news, interviews with the stars and other stuff. If there's a need for entertainment, there is a need for these groups. By posting messages and chatting, members get to express their ideas and views on the soaps."

Zubin's e-groups have screenshots taken by members, as well as stories and discussions, usually posted once a week. Proficient in HTML, he derived inspiration from other e-groups. His message boards are alive with discussions on 'What will happen next?' and 'Why will it happen?' And membership to these forums is growing. "My members are like the stock market. They increase and decrease, but mostly increase," says Zubin. However, Zubin, whose favourite soaps include Kutumb, Kkusum, Gharana, and Kuchh Jhuki Palkain, faces competition from hundreds of other similar groups.

Zulifikar Ali Halari who along with Pallavi manages a personal web site on Kkusum and the egroup Kutumb Talk, says "People actually want to know what's happening in their favourite serials or what's going to happen. It's like all the dramas and emotions are happening in their own life."

Watching serials for Zulfikar is a mixture of a hobby and a passion. According to him watching soaps is a good way of understanding human emotions. He set up the sites and egroups to offer fans like him across the world a platform to share their take on the episodes. "We provide daily updates about what's happening in the serial in case they some of them missed it," he says. "We also try to be interactive."

To that end, most e-groups, apart from discussion forums, offer polls on characters, favourite serials etc and also host message boards. Many find these e-groups a better medium of communication than the hundreds of free sites hosted on Geocities or Tripod. E-groups are like virtual, new age fan clubs, but faster and more interactive. Unlike on Web sites, e-groups allow members to have discussions on their favourite soaps. And those who miss an episode don't have to spend 24 hours, or worse still a weekend, in agonising curiosity to know what happened to their favourite character.

Ria, one of the 80 members of the Balaji Telefims group, posts: "I missed the starting episodes of Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki specially when Om n Parvati got married. So plz if any one from u watched the wedding night of Om n Parvati then plz reply me in details n also about their honeymoon."

Members also use these e-groups to express dissatisfaction and anger with the creators of the family dramas, even though, according to Zubin, it appears unlikely that the producers are even aware of the existence of such forums. One poster, ashishbhos, writes: "... Don't you think that the producer of Kahin Kisi Roz is trying to show the bad is winning always? Does she have any intension to bright up her own mind? We should stop her... and force her to stop this vulgarness."

Ekta Kapoor, are you listening?

Additional Inputs: Nidhi Taparia Rathi