On 3/10/07, Neha Viswanathan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Well, I was one of the alumni co-ods in undergrad. We were trying to prepare a list for some alumni event. In the eighties - someone had completely messed up the alumni lists - which meant that all we were left with was a lot of maiden names. So if I was looking for Shruti Shukla, googling, asking classmates, asking other people - no one had a clue. (Chances are she moved with her husband to some place, lost touch with her friends.) Phone numbers change over 15 years, so do addresses.
Ah, Facebook! Here's one hapless individual's adventures there. http://www.slate.com/id/2161456 As someone who answers to the description in the article above that reads, *You know how in *The Tipping Point* Malcolm Gladwell describes the person he calls a "connector"— the charming, gregarious individual who knows everyone and makes things happen? I'm the opposite of that person*, I find I've had no difficulty keeping in touch with those classmates dating back to even the Plasticine era in my life whom I've wished to stay tenuously connected to. Google, job-related media visibility and airport lounges are my personal nightmares, as long-well-lost acquaintances pop back into my life About the male-dominated institutions - in my second work place - the
bonding was mostly late at night (I simply couldn't go - I lived alone - and I didn't have a vehicle - and have you seen how safe the streets are after 11? Hell, even my colleagues became unsafe after 11.) They discussed tender amounts in "the loo". They forwarded some of the most obscene mails i have laid eyes on to each other. The thing is - even if I enjoy the humour - I have to pretend I don't - because apparently that gives out crazy messages too.
I have found that most male colleagues are unaware of the exclusive nature of their bonding routines. Particularly to those men and women who are unable or unwilling to participate in the late night, alcohol centric, scatological or sports varieties. Advertising in the '80s and '90s did seem to require one to be one of the boys to have access to certain kinds of conversations/opportunities. And women in less gender-equitable industries have suggested they had a harder time of it than I did. Male clients in Delhi and Chennai, in particular, seemed less comfortable dealing with women professionally especially when it came to hard bargaining or socialising. I remember assembling a repertoire of mildly smutty jokes to put some groups of men at ease! Mumbai, fortunately, was easier in every respect - feeling safe travelling alone at night, interacting or competing with men (colleagues and clients) in a gender agnostic manner etc. -- "The future is here; it's just not widely distributed yet." - William Gibson
