As we sipped our tea on a quiet
morning, glued to our own copy of the newspaper – we, my wife and I, subscribe
to two newspapers to avoid any conflict early in the morning – the trending
topic of controls on Whatsapp came up for a discussion. She wanted to know, if ever
we were to be restricted to 5 whatsapp groups, what would be my order of
preference.
As I was about to respond, I had
no idea that I was walking straight into a well-laid trap. I quickly jumped
into evaluating the various groups that I was a member of. One group that generated maximum clinks on my
phone was that of a large family group on my maternal side – a typical Tambram
group spread across the globe – sharing a few good or bad family news, some
jokes some riddles a lot many divine pictures, shlokas and reminders or alerts
to the upcoming festivals and rituals. This
group kept me connected with my roots and therefore I declared my large
extended family group as my first choice. Her face appeared to be quite blank
and expressionless.
For the second choice, I picked
up my colleagues’ group – the group helped me to stay updated while I was
traveling. And by far, this was the
group wherein I was most active, amongst all my groups. Besides, the group was always very generous in
its appreciation for my blogs and hence I did have a vested interest in that. Then came my apartment friends’ group. It was
equally important as it carried a lot of gossip, some internal politics and all
the important announcements on the basic amenities. I was quite active in this
group as well. And I could notice a slight change in the expression on my
wife’s face now.
The fourth group was a no brainer
for me. It was a group of my ex-colleagues from my previous organization. We
were a bunch of youngsters who had joined a large public sector together. A few
of them left the organization mid-way but many continued. This whatsapp group
kept us connected and brought a bagful of happy memories of the past. The good
old days, as they say. I wouldn’t want to stay away from this group either – I declared.
Now, picking the fifth and the
last group was a big challenge. My wife was running through the pages of her
newspaper but had all ears on my last choice. I realized that I had not yet
named her large extended Punjabi family group and it would be akin to scoring a
huge self-goal if I did not include that in my final list of five. On the other
hand, I had this strong tilt towards another group of my school /college
friends who kept alive those spirits of my adolescence. The memories of that
gay abandon. The remembrances of those childhood crushes.
As I was about to commit a
cardinal mistake, the Manager in me woke up just in time. I cleared my throat
and told her that the last group was very critical. And I explained - Your
family group is most important for me. I love those Punjabi-Multani jokes doing
rounds there. I admire some of the intellectual posts shared by your brother. At
the same time, I wouldn’t want to inadvertently share any of that crude stuff
that sometimes slips in from my college group. You know what I mean. I would, therefore, not like to freeze it on
some particular group for the fifth slot. Let me keep it flexible and I will
take it based on the context and significance of the topic.
I was not sure if I had
completely doused the fire, but from the reaction of my wife I could make out
that a major damage was avoided. At least, the tea session ended peacefully.
