“You are looking so good in all pics…going to lot of weddings off late!!”, my neighbor said to me. She might have seen the zillions of photographs I have put up on Facebook and got tagged into by my friends from the recent parties. Most women are equally sensitive about their looks as their feelings. It felt as if I have won an award. While she generously complimented me, I acted as if I look like that everyday and I haven’t even heard of the word ‘filter’.

This is the high of using Facebook; that its reciprocal. The moment you put up a picture or a thought, instant feedback comes to you in form of likes and comments. The positive comments lights up that part of the brain which helps us feel happy and accomplished.

Some people like to bash the world’s largest social network. I tend to disagree. Facebook is the place where friends and family who may or may not be so tech-savvy connect online and share little pieces of their lives. I feel so proud when the first comment or like on any post of mine is of my father. I am now connected with all my relatives and long lost friends. I know in which class does my distant cousin’s brother-in-law’s daughter studies , I also know which course has Nisha of House no. 87 in Jaipur enrolled into. Mehtas have taken second foreign vacation this year and Mr Mukherjee & family went to Shantiniketan yet again. I totally know how much Suman aunty loves taking selfies…she changes her profile pic everyday!!

I click photographs of my kids…with my kids almost everyday. I hardly have any baby pics of mine or my brother’s, no pics of how handsome couple my mom and dad made or pics of them when they were young. Just a few here and there. Very few actually. Few months ago, one of my relatives had put up a digital copy of  an old photograph of my Grandfather, Grand Mom, my dad and his sisters in their prime on FB. I will be eternally grateful to him for sharing such a priceless memory with us. I wonder if I would had ever gone to his place to look out for any such photograph.

Memories are like a handful of sand. You want to hold on to them but they slip away, fading gently but surely. Why not capture them in form of photographs, videos, letters, journals and you can re-visit them at your convenience any number of times. Sharing them is just another aspect of it. I am an ardent user of Facebook. Posts saying ‘Feeling’ happy, sad, amused or angry do not seem nonsense to me. I honestly enjoy looking at part 1,2 and 3 of vacation pics of my friends and am probably the first one to hit like or comment. Share your thoughts, happiness and emotions and see how a simple comment from friends and family will uplift your mood instantly and make you feel incredible.

Dear friends who silently see all the posts but do not comment …,you all be ready to comment on your friend’s posts with emoticons, exclamations and comments longer than Modi’s speeches while I go to my mailbox and see if there is any cheque from Mark Zuckerberg 🙂

“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.”  ― Charlotte Bronte