If you ask me, this WhatsApp (WA) texting is getting quite out of hand. I'm no social spark, my social skills being on par with a grizzly just emerging from a four month hibernation, but even I find about 20-25 new messages on my phone when I wake up in the morning. And during the course of the day there will be about another 30 or so. Of this, only about five will convey anything meaningful, the rest will be rubbish—generic religious greetings, homilies on how to live well, quotations from unheard sages, all kinds of fake news, RIP messages. Some of these I find intriguing. Let me explain.

Take the RIPs. What's the point of sending an RIP on a group chat if a member or relative/friend of one has passed on? How does that console the effected family? Would it not make more sense if the message was sent directly to the family of the deceased? Is the intention of the messaging to make a public display of your concern or to show genuine sympathy or grief? If the former, wouldn't it be better to take out a two column insert in the Tribune or Times of India?

Then come the proforma greetings—Happy Republic Day! Happy New Year! Happy Women's Day! Happy Ganesh Chaturthi! Now, apart from the fact that there........

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