(Image Information: created with Simitator)
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Have you ever felt like you were getting too old to figure out the modern day technology? I think I finally hit that point today. I decided to make my first Facebook profile today and understood the process of adding my friends. It was quite simply, really. I just had to search for a name, and then click on the button "Add Friend". That button would then say "Friend Request Sent" and later on this bubble would show up to send me a notification that the friend had accepted. Easy enough, right?
So, I add Lakshmi, Brahma, Shesha, and Shiva to my Facebook. It was great getting to finally connect with them and have a faster means of communication. I crept on Brahma's profile while I was at it. The profile listed that Brahma had a bunch of friends. Who knew that Brahma was so popular?
Well, anyways, I live a double life. Only my friends know this. When I am online and interacting with my friends, I am known to be Vishnu. This is the nickname I was given by my friends, and it has stuck with me all throughout my life. But, to the rest of the world, I am Narayana. So, today I ventured to seek a way to find a setting on Facebook that allowed me to live my double life. It was amazing to see that there was nothing that I could do to help my situation. How can something so technologically advanced not be able to do something as simple as letting someone like me live a double life? I decided to post a status to see if my friends would know anything about this.
Poor Brahma had no idea how to go about fixing my situation because even Brahma faced complications! There was no way to go about changing a gender status to something more neutral. How bizarre! Everyone in my friend group knows how important it is to Brahma to be represented as genderless. Facebook strikes again.
It got even more interesting when Lakshmi said she had accidentally changed her profile picture to a picture of a cow. She was being represented as a cow to the entire Facebook world! How hilarious! I mean, in my opinion. Well, she couldn't figure out how to change it back. Shouldn't there just be a simple undo button on Facebook? I am not the creator of Facebook, but that's just my two cents.
Then, there was Shesha's smart-aleck comment that said "You guys will figure it out ... Facebook is going to be around for a long time. I would know ..." Of course, Shesha thinks he knows everything. He just thinks the universe revolves around him, and that when he says time will stop it will. Unbelievable.
Well, so far, Facebook has been interesting. I hope to figure it out. But, in the meantime, I will just enjoy writing in my journal about my days. Maybe, I might figure out how to do the same on Facebook one day.
Author's Note: I based this story on the facts I learned from the video by Pattanaik regarding Narayana. This video talked about Naryana being the observer. When his eyes are open, he is Vishnu, and when his eyes are closed he is oblivious to what is happening in the world. This is what I tried to implement with the online and offline situation. Brahma is eternal. Brahma is genderless. I tried to get this idea across with the inability to change gender status on Facebook. Lakshmi is represented as a cow in the Hindu religion. This is because she nourishes mankind. I represented this with her profile photo and tried to make a joke out of it. And finally, Shesha is the serpent on which Vishnu rests. This serpent is known to control time.
Bibliography: Pattanaik's Calendar Art Part B Narayan Reading Guide
Sonali, first of I want to say that I think your idea for this weeks storytelling post was super cool and very fresh! I have not read anything similar to it all semester. You did a great job in your authors explaining why you did certain things in the story. It also provided me the information that I needed about your original inspiration that helped me better understand what was going on. I liked the image that you included as well I think it went really well with this story and was super creative.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this storytelling post you created. I think the way you researched about each person to make your story more believable was great. I like how you also explained well in your author's note about why you made Lakshmi a cow as the profile picture. This added a lot more depth and understanding within the story even if you did not add it in the actual story. Also the way you describe why you did the story the way you did was well put and as a reader felt very thought out.
ReplyDeleteWow Sonali! This was really creative and interesting. I think it was really cool that you decided to use Facebook as kind of a "setting" in your story. I think I remember that Vishnu has a bunch of avatars, which lends to the fact that he could have a bunch of aliases on Facebook and that he had trouble with Facebook because there's no real "gender" that he falls in. I really like the line "Facebook strikes again." This was really nice to read because of the humor and the modern twist. Great job.
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