A million avatars

The world of avatars is the first step towards the virtual world. The difference between both is quite obvious... right now. But will it stay that way?

Most of the social networks and related apps allow for an avatar in one way or another. The word avatar was (I am guessing here) used by Yahoo! and subsequently there are many names for the same. For example, the status message in Gtalk, or the Headline in Orkut.. hell, probably even this blog!

These avatars are an expression of what we are... no, sometimes they explore what we want to be. All this sounds well and good. But isn't it all a little wierd? Total introverts writing "Hey gals, wanna chat?"... or an absolute dumbass quoting einstein or the million other quotes on the net. At some level, it is pitiable to see people coming up with some plagiarized lines just to make themselves sound "cool". And this is the final nail... the avatars keep changing, to keep up with the cool bandwagon...

Frankly, I haven't yet heard of a definition of cool, other than the "highly successful in talking to girls" one. I wonder what kind of people would love to show off something which they aren't. I wonder what kind of people would spend hours browsing and pleading for friendship on every girl's scrapbook. I wonder what kind of people struggle to keep with the handful of courses in their college but keep track of all the possible break ups in the vicinity. (And here I am refering to both guys and girls). I wonder how the country can pride itself of bringing up the biggest, youngest "TALENT" pool in the world...

When I say that, I am sure that there are people who don't fall into such groups, but most of the people do. And the point here is not just of "whether they join an IT co" or not, the point is that of the society that is being built up. Frankly, we may be wearing Levi's, smoking a Marlboro, driving a Ferrari or drinking JW, but when we do all of that, we should have atleast one cent of self-respect and decency!

For once, an avatar of decency and truth will go a long way...