We are now in a world where 'Facebook' is more trusted than the face of a person. Gradually and dangerously, people are beginning to live a parallel life, in a virtual world. Anything that is on the social networking sites is being believed blindly, without even minimal reasoning of its genuineness. Although this is the trend amongst people of our generation, the older generation donot feel happy to be left behind and they are catching up with these evolutions of the internet as well.
Madhav was a college-going teenager. Naturally, like most of us, he was a regular Facebook user. Everything was happy and perfect in his life. He was a good student in the class and was a hobby artist; used to do a lot of drawing and painting, but never considered himself to be good at it. No, he didn't have any online page or web or blog to showcase his 'amateur' skills. His father was a school teacher and his mother, a homemaker. They were really proud of him. No matter how big or small are their son's/daughter's 'achievements', every parent will definitely feel proud about it; something for them to boast about in front of family and friends.
Madhav was not the quite sorts, he was an extrovert and had many friends. He wasnt behind in social networking and had developed a good stature amongst his 'friends'. Although his father was a school teacher, he never understood the nuiances of 'Facebook'. "I already have a good set of friends and there is no need for me to share what I am doing or pictures of me at places and with friends. Because, its nothing like chatting over a cup of coffee and sharing it all face to face", he used to say, whenever his son asked him to join Facebook. True ain't it? People of our generation may term it a generation gap, but in their perspective, they are right. But not everybody are like that. Madhav's aunt was a big time Facebook user and she couldnt stop herself from exaggerating everything she used to do on it. Recently, she had even added Madhav to her friends list.
Madhav was not the quite sorts, he was an extrovert and had many friends. He wasnt behind in social networking and had developed a good stature amongst his 'friends'. Although his father was a school teacher, he never understood the nuiances of 'Facebook'. "I already have a good set of friends and there is no need for me to share what I am doing or pictures of me at places and with friends. Because, its nothing like chatting over a cup of coffee and sharing it all face to face", he used to say, whenever his son asked him to join Facebook. True ain't it? People of our generation may term it a generation gap, but in their perspective, they are right. But not everybody are like that. Madhav's aunt was a big time Facebook user and she couldnt stop herself from exaggerating everything she used to do on it. Recently, she had even added Madhav to her friends list.
Madhav didnot realize that he had opened the Pandora's box. People have a tendency to keep a keen eye on a young guy or girl in their family, and more so when it comes to the things that they share on social media; there's always fear and jealousy at work. It so happened that Madhav's aunt came across a photo posted by a girl in which Madhav was tagged. The pic was captioned " Love of my life!" and obviously, the first thing that crossed her mind was to call his father and tell about it. Without wasting a minute, she called him up and said, "Seems like your son is having an affair in college", trying to humiliate him. Aghast with what he had just heard, he asked "What makes you say so?" She then narrated a spiced up version of what she had seen and concluded saying, "This is the problem of giving too much freedom! You need to monitor him more often before it goes out of your reach". She heard the phone slammed with a bang at the other end and a wicked unseen smile crossed her lips.
"How could this be? Is what she is saying true? What if she starts telling this to others? I will be answerable to people around. I will have to curtail these things as a father and see to it that it doesnot repeat", his thoughts raced. In the evening, as soon as Madhav arrived, he was confronted by his father, who asked him if what he had heard was indeed true. "Its not what you are thinking" replied Madhav. "So, it is true then! I had never expected this from you! You have let me down and put me in shame!" yelled his father. There is no way he can make his father understand, he thought and said, "You are unnecessarily jumping into conclusions and creating scenes. She is a very dear friend of mine. Moreover, I would never have often asked you to join Facebook if I ever had any fear of my doings, because I know I am doing nothing wrong! And now here you are blindly believing something that 'others' tell you, instead of having faith in your own son!" His father's temper shot up on hearing this. "How disrespectful of you to say that!" he said and raised his arm, almost about to hit him. Madhav stood still and gasped at what the way his father was reacting. A thousand things passed through his mind, but sometimes silence is the most powerful weapon one can wield. He just turned his back on his father and went away.
Three days had passed since the incident and neither Madhav nor his father had spoken a word. Although it was easy for Madhav to let it pass, his father had a tough time in not talking with his son. He began to retrospect on what wrong he had done, or was it his fault at all? A small thing had blown out of proportion and the silence in home was unbearable. He realized he had made a mistake in trusting his sister more than his son. What does love really mean? Cant friends love each other and have the freedom of expressing it? Did I make a mistake? Slowly, it dawned upon him that everything that he was made to believe was narrow minded and felt sad at the way he had treated his loving son. He decided to make it up for him. But how? Thinking a little harder, he did something which would be an out of the blue experience for his son.
The next day around afternoon, Madhav got a FB notification. Fifteen minutes later, there was another and was followed by quite a few within the next hour. By the time his classes end, there were about 17 notifications. A perplexed Madhav couldnot believe what he was seeing. There were numerous likes and comments for photos that were posted on his wall. The photos were of his art work. He was overjoyed, for he never thought anybody would even bother seeing his paintings, let alone appreciating it. And yet, here they were getting lots of appreciation from his friends. Yes, it was his dad who had posted those photos on his timeline. He had also left a message. "I am sorry son. I failed to understand you and trust you. I promise that will never happen again. And oh, I am finally on Facebook :) hope you dont get angry on me for posting your paintings!" Madhav's face was beaming with happiness, and he looked away from his screen, trying to avoid that small drops of tear that filled his eyes.
"How could this be? Is what she is saying true? What if she starts telling this to others? I will be answerable to people around. I will have to curtail these things as a father and see to it that it doesnot repeat", his thoughts raced. In the evening, as soon as Madhav arrived, he was confronted by his father, who asked him if what he had heard was indeed true. "Its not what you are thinking" replied Madhav. "So, it is true then! I had never expected this from you! You have let me down and put me in shame!" yelled his father. There is no way he can make his father understand, he thought and said, "You are unnecessarily jumping into conclusions and creating scenes. She is a very dear friend of mine. Moreover, I would never have often asked you to join Facebook if I ever had any fear of my doings, because I know I am doing nothing wrong! And now here you are blindly believing something that 'others' tell you, instead of having faith in your own son!" His father's temper shot up on hearing this. "How disrespectful of you to say that!" he said and raised his arm, almost about to hit him. Madhav stood still and gasped at what the way his father was reacting. A thousand things passed through his mind, but sometimes silence is the most powerful weapon one can wield. He just turned his back on his father and went away.
Three days had passed since the incident and neither Madhav nor his father had spoken a word. Although it was easy for Madhav to let it pass, his father had a tough time in not talking with his son. He began to retrospect on what wrong he had done, or was it his fault at all? A small thing had blown out of proportion and the silence in home was unbearable. He realized he had made a mistake in trusting his sister more than his son. What does love really mean? Cant friends love each other and have the freedom of expressing it? Did I make a mistake? Slowly, it dawned upon him that everything that he was made to believe was narrow minded and felt sad at the way he had treated his loving son. He decided to make it up for him. But how? Thinking a little harder, he did something which would be an out of the blue experience for his son.
The next day around afternoon, Madhav got a FB notification. Fifteen minutes later, there was another and was followed by quite a few within the next hour. By the time his classes end, there were about 17 notifications. A perplexed Madhav couldnot believe what he was seeing. There were numerous likes and comments for photos that were posted on his wall. The photos were of his art work. He was overjoyed, for he never thought anybody would even bother seeing his paintings, let alone appreciating it. And yet, here they were getting lots of appreciation from his friends. Yes, it was his dad who had posted those photos on his timeline. He had also left a message. "I am sorry son. I failed to understand you and trust you. I promise that will never happen again. And oh, I am finally on Facebook :) hope you dont get angry on me for posting your paintings!" Madhav's face was beaming with happiness, and he looked away from his screen, trying to avoid that small drops of tear that filled his eyes.
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