Thank You Orkut!

A couple of weeks back, I heard that Google is going to shut down Orkut on 30th September, 2014. The news made me nostalgic and also a little sad. So I decided to write something about my memories about Orkut before it disappeared into oblivion.

 

Orkut Login Page

Orkut and Facebook both were launched 10 years back. But as we know it takes time for things to come and pick up in India. :D  I was introduced to Orkut I guess 8 years back by a college friend. She told me it is a great way to be in touch with friends and I can get to know a lot about my college crushes. :P I was new to Internet, therefore had zero idea about websites and surfing in general, let alone social media. I think no one was aware of the term 'social media' back then.

My Orkut Communities! :D

Reluctantly I joined and gradually explored the world of Orkut. Initially I thought it is a name of my college online community. Lol! How wrong was I!

Orkut opened the world for me (literally the world because prior to that I lived like a frog stuck in a well :P) and I met so many interesting people. Some are still part of my life and  many are not but they all taught me some valuable lessons about life, trust, love, deceit and friendship. From scraps, testimonials, recent visitors list, fans, quirky communities, & polls, Orkut had many interesting elements and was less chaotic than Facebook. When all my friends migrated to the next big thing 'Facebook', I had to migrate too because suddenly Orkut went dead. Communities died and people started deleting their profiles. 

But I kept mine and still have. I login occasionally and relive those past memories. After the shut down news, I saved screenshots of my profile, testimonials that were written for and by me and communities that I was part of. This is my way of preserving Orkut and cherishing it forever. 

Thank you Orkut! You were good to me. :*