Facebook and WhatsApp have eaten into the traditional social bonding with e-greetings ruling the roost. Right from sighting of the moon to Id celebrations, online greetings have taken over traditional greetings and the city’s old timers rue that the practice of people meeting in person for a traditional Id embrace is gradually and, unfortunately, on the wane.
At the same time, though youngsters complain that because of Id greetings over Facebook and WhatsApp, their “Idi” income (cash given as gifts by elders on Id while meeting in person) has fallen, they are ready to forgo the Idi, but they do not want to give up on WhatsApp and FB.
Farheen Fathima, a second year engineering student, said she has 800 friends on FB and more than 50 on WhatsApp. “I want to send blessings and hadees (sayings of the Prophet), religious photos and videos and Id Mubarak greetings to my family members. I send messages over WhatsApp to my parents and my brother despite us all staying in the same house. Obviously, we can’t meet everyone in person,” she said.
For Faraaz Siddiqui, an IT student from Muffakham Jah Engineering College, it’s an addiction. “I think the same is the case with everyone,” he says. His entire group, comprising about eight girls and an equal number of boys, agrees with him. “We greet the rest over WhatsApp. It is cheaper and faster. I greet my friends, relatives and family members in groups,” says Faraaz.
For Kushal Vijay and K. Syamani, both engineering students, spending three to four hours every day on WhatsApp and FB is a must. Id is a special occasion and they bombard their friends with greetings. “They can’t come to us on Id nor can we meet all our Muslim friends. What better option than chat,” they ask. In fact, Syamani says she has sent 1.80 lakh messages in the last two months over WhatsApp.
Parents of Nabila Fathima, meanwhile, complain that she spends more time on her mobile phone. “These days our parents just take our phones away. Technology has given us the facility of sharing every moment of our lives with people we like. And Id is a special occasion,” she says.
Ejaz Wasim, a mechanical engineering student from Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology, says he and his friends, send messages over WhatsApp even when seated side-by-side in the classroom.
“Obviously, we cannot talk while lecturers when professors are taking classes, so we text each other. I receive at least 2,000 messages on Id. They will keep coming for the next two days,” he says.
Academician and chairman of Federation of Minority educational Institutions, Zafar Javeed, adds: “As a youngster, I remember that our Id started by seeking the blessings of elders in the family and also close family friends. Technology may be handy and make most matters convenient, but in the process it has greatly dented and damaged age-old traditions and culture.”
