It happened to me twice within two days...
First an sms..
Informing me of Sai Baba's birthday...
Promising good news by the end of the day...
If I passed it on...
I did...
I got no news....
Maybe that was the good news!!!
Then another...
More dire...an email..
About the Tirupathi Miracle...
Promising disaster if I did not pass it on..
To 20 other hapless souls!!!
I did..
Two of them said they wished I had not passed on such a threatening message...
I wish I hadn't..really.!!!.
The others probably cursed me under their breath...
Which could not have done me much good..I am sure...
All of us are the victims of such forwards..
I say victims...
Because often...
These forwards catch us at a vulnerable moment in our lives...
When a loved one is at a critical phase in his or her life...
Or maybe someone is unwell...
And so on..
I marvel at those who can get rid of these...
With the click of a delete button...
They are the practical ones...
The ones who see through these messages...
But even these practical ones...
Have sent me emails...
Almost always from children suffering from cancer....
Saying they will be paid ...
10 cents per forward...never more or less!!
For every email forwarded into cyberspace!!!
A recent one was from a victim of 9/11...
Who said The Red Cross would pay for each forward...
And now The Red Cross has confirmed...
That it is doing no such thing!!!
How I wish someone could contact the Heavenly Ones...
Find out whether...
Lord Venkateswara at Tirupathi...
or Shirdhi Sai Baba...
Endorse these mails sent in their name...
Supposedly on their behalf!!!!
Such forwards have existed for a long time...
They were called chain mails...
Before the dawn of the personal computer era..
And one broke the link in the chain at ones peril!!!!
Back when I was in school...
My mother repeatedly got in the mail....
A more nasty version of the Tirupathi miracle forward...
It promised death...
In addition to disaster...for breaking the chain...
That freaked her out completely!!!!
She conscripted me and my siblings...
Between us...
We wrote five postcards each....with the miserable message...
Then randomly picked 20 addresses from the Madras Telephone Directory...
Got it all out of the way!!!
And breathed a sigh of relief!!!
With emails..
Random selection...
Or anonymity is not possible...
One is forced to choose from among ones loved ones...close friends...co-workers....
A difficult choice...
As it feels like we are really passing on a parcel of wretched feelings!!!!
And often we may not even have 20 addresses in our address book!!!!
I often wonder...
Who starts these things???
And to what purpose???
Is is some warped vow taken by someone???
Or is the sender having a hearty laugh at having set us on this futile mission???
My friend thinks...
They could be spammers trying to collect addresses to send more spam to us in future...
They could be hackers trying to get your keystrokes..
And you could stand exposed if you are doing internet banking...
Some dire consequences could result!!!
To me..
It reveals once again...
Who I sometimes become...
Especially at vulnerable moments in life...
And life is full of such moments...
At least mine is!!!!
So instead of falling prey...
I need to focus on the Essential Goodness of the Divine!!!
With Him by my side...
Need I fret over forwards???
I guess not!!!
So.....
The delete button it shall be ...
For all such mails..henceforth!!!
So Rejoice all Ye!!!...
Who have thus far been affected by my forwards...
Your moment of Liberation...
Has arrived!!!
At last!!!
Adios!!!
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About Me
- Life Unedited
- I love my family, a few close friends, my earlier profession of journalism, Franny and Zooey, watching movies, Jay Leno....mulling about Madras, nostalgia
4 comments:
Mea Culpa! I plead guilty.
Each time I receive a forward with a thought provoking message but which ends in dire warnings, I wonder whether the sender is truly any friend of mine and if they wish me well at all.
In that case what foul instinct made me send one to somebody who counts among those most dear to me.
In my own defense I remember thinking to myself "she is a religious person and might like to receive pictures of gods"
I also did it as a favour to one of my young oollege-going friends from whom I had received it.
Both are stupid reasons and very much in line with the completely diabolical intentions of the original sender.
My profound apologies. To think how a careless click of the mouse can generate so much disturbance.
Never again. I am firm in my resolve never to continue such chain mails in future, however philanthropic their intentions may seem
I forgot to mention what a hearty laugh I had over the way you described your mom getting all of you to carry out her 'imposition' work.
I wonder if the Darling reads your blogs.
No problem at all. The good thing is we both thought about it and decided 'never again'. And second, we had a good laugh!!! But do keep the funny forwards flowing in...CHeers!!!
I am as you know one of the 'practical ones', except that its got nothing to do with being pratical really. You know that too! Its one of the side effects of 'believing' I think. Makes you more vulnerable, come to think of it. Anyway, am glad you're not going to let these completely spurious mails (and trust me they are all spurious) get to you in future!
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