oldest inbox

you know how, in those black and white movies, people would open up an old steamer trunk filled with half-white, torn envelopes, the pages sprinkled with yellow dust and the nostalgia of a different time left to be opened at will? I have that too. Only, it is called gmail.

For most people of my generation(what is WRONG with me..I cannot believe I said that), getting a gmail account equalled either a hot-shot-geek status, or it meant that you knew someone who was a cool-hot-shot-geek who sent you an invite. Cool and hot in the same term, you ask? I know. Good times. *cackle*

I was lucky enough to know such a person, (lucky me!) and that's how I ended up with a gmail id way before most of my other friends. Punnu, who did send me the invite..said it was one of the last few he wanted to send out. Incidentally, he didn't immediately send one to Aditi when she asked for one( which made her want to hit him) and ultimately I don't know who sent her the invite. But all this unnecessary melodrama just goes to show how coveted gmail was. No shit!

The cool-hot (gag moi) thing about gmail then, was the unlimited storage and counting! What I didn't realise then, was that years later I could open up the Oldest inbox and click on parts of my life that I'd forgotten even existed.
Try it. I did, (this whole idea was inspired by punnu, of course) and I unleashed several good things, several horrors and I cannot begin to describe how lame and ridiculously funny I find my previous self to be.

Disclaimer: I am not 50 years old, as the nature of this nostalgic post might suggest. I am merely coming to terms with the dramatic change in my persona.

So, anyway....(the growing old thing is a subject of much hysteria, I'll save that for later)..things that my oldest inbox made me realise...

1) I, can you believe it, I, me, used to use short forms.
*GASP.*
It's true.
The one thing I truly hate and have detested (for a very long time) are cheesy short forms...I never really went overboard with it but I actually have used "ya". "gal", "u", "c", and a whole lot more at some point.
My take one short forms (and most of you will disagree with me)- things like btw, brb are fine...but "da", "kewl" and the incomprehensible line of things like "xcln" for excellent, "2rw" for tomorrow and "frstrd" for frustrated do two things- one, they piss off the person (a.k.a, me) trying to get what you're trying to say, and two- they actually make the msg look creepy. Its true. Um, hmm.
I'm glad I was never that weird, though.

2) I was way more adorable.
I took effort and time in typing all these super nice mails to everyone, kept in touch, sent mails to my closest friends telling them EVERY Little thing..about my bad hair cut, about my good days, about growing up pains. I'm just in awe of the person I used to be. Don't get me wrong, I still think I'm pretty awesome but back then- I was that and more. We all sent each other mails even giving advice..long long mails...SO Much fun to read now..partially because its funny to check out how smart you thought you were back then.

It's true. Judging by my inbox(and many people will agree)- as you grow older, it is only a matter of time before you are doomed to the laziness that prevents you from bothering. And of course, we have facebook. I know for a fact that I won't be reading facebook wall messages or superpokes 5 years from now with half as much interest. Facebook inbox messages, maybe.

3)I was also really lame.
This, (based on subject matter in my mails) doesn't really require more explanation.Cough, cough.

4)I didn't know how funny I was.
Okay, so its a “what were you thinking, you little oaf??” kinda funny, but hey, who's really reading?

5)I've changed a LOT.
Boy, this is cool. You've just got to try it. It is sort of like reading a diary.
A conversational one. If you've got saved up conversations on online messengers, those will do pretty well too.

I know, i know. Not quite the steamer trunk, eh? But mails keep you going “what the...” for quite a bit, guaranteed. I can't even remember the reasons why most of them were even sent. The worst are those questionaires where you fill up stuff about yourself like, “what colour are you wearing” and “chocolate or vanilla, summer or winter”..and everyone used to come up with what we thought were such smart alec answers to those things. Ha! Kids, I tell you.

They never get old:)