Orkut

Does anyone remember Orkut?

I was in college. At that time we had phones which were not smartphones. Our phones did not have an access to internet on them. One day we were in the classroom speaking about one of the upcoming exams. My friend Rakesh told all of us that once he received any clue about the exams he would post them on Orkut. I did not know what Orkut was. Rakesh had written down the website on my notebook. He told me to go home and create an account.

I did exactly what he had told me to do. I accessed Orkut from my home computer and created an account. I called up Rakesh to tell him that I had created my ID. He guided me to add him as a friend. Once we were friends on Orkut, he had shared important tips for the exam with me on the platform. I really liked that how easy it was to share information with each other using the social media platform.

Then it had become a routine. We would receive exam tips and time tables over Orkut. After the exams were over I decided to explore the platform more. I was able to see the functionalities of the platform. I had more friends on the platform. I joined a couple of groups of my interests of art, craft, and photography. It was just the beginning of social media and Orkut felt like a beloved community.

The craze of Orkut stayed till the time I was in college. By the time my college was ending, new social media platforms had taken over the world. One of such platforms was Facebook. Most of my friends had shifted their bases from Orkut to Facebook. The visits to Orkut had started reducing. In college days I used to visit Orkut almost everyday but later I had been visiting it once in a week. Then it further reduced to once in a month. After a few months I had completely forgotten that I had an account with Orkut. I believe it was in 2011 when I decided that I no longer needed my account with Orkut and I decided to shut it down.

As the visitors to Orkut had been reducing day by day, the platform decided to shut itself down in 2016. When I read the news about Orkut shutting down I felt a little sad. Though I did not have an active account with Orkut I still felt like I was missing a part of my life. I felt that a part of my college life was being erased with the closure of Orkut. I felt like I was losing a long time friend. I felt like it was the closure of a chapter of my life.

Yesterday I came across a post which stated that the Orkut may come back to life. After 10 years from its closure I still felt delighted to read that news. I do not know why but I felt that a friend has been coming back home. I am not aware whether Orkut would really start at its operations at all. But I am excited for it. I look forward to using the new platform yet again. Maybe it is because of the nostalgia but I would like to see Orkut returning to the social media scene. As an old friend I would be there.