Think.com : A Friendly Revelation!!!

It was a rather innovative idea of Oracle – creating an online platform where students and teachers from different schools in different places could interact and share ideas. I wasn’t very internet-friendly at that time. Rather I was never fascinated by the ‘set-of- boxes’ called computer. Yet I became one of the most active members of think.com!

“Someone from Bio!? That’s Fine, But Why Me???”
I was introduced, or rather forced into joining, think.com during class XI. Every student had an account in it. And it was left to our discretion whether to use it or not. Though many were excited, I wasn’t. I was a biology student and had no interest in computers (This speaks of how much I’ve changed since now I’m in CSE). But our biology teacher, Mrs. Latha was quite an active member of the internet-faction in our school. So she wanted some of her own students to become active members (she couldn’t ask XII students as they were supposedly struggling with their studies). And I, being the topper became the natural choice. So it all started, and we started “thinking”.

But I realized she did the right thing – as think.com changed from a seminar hall to a cafeteria!

What it was Intended For! And what it Became!
Think.com was supposed to be concerned with serious stuff – a step towards revolutionizing the methodology concerned with studies. Teachers giving assignments to be done on the computer. Students uploading it on think.com. Online doubt-clearing. Online tests. Online evaluation. To be frank, all this seemed far-fetched to me. And very few of these actually materialized.

Rather think.com became a place for meeting new people, knowing about them and making new friends. It became a cultural forum, instead of an educational one. I think it resembled a mini-orkut. It still might, but I’ve no means of finding out. The account remains active only till the student remains in school. So I lost mine when I graduated. Think.com might not be a part of my life anymore but it did bring about new friends into my life!

Some Never Forget!!!
I made loads of friends. And I climbed to the top of the ‘Hot Hits’ list of my school thanks to them. But once I passed out of school, most of the threads connecting us snapped. But few didn’t - Aashal, Arundhati, Suman and Varsha to name a few. Now don’t ask me why all of them are girls – its fate!

Gradually it changed from thinking to orkutting. But the passing years have done nothing but strengthen the bonds. Two people – with different backgrounds, knowing nothing about each other, never even seen the face of the other – can end up being great friends, after all! Hope there’s still more to come!

“Was it Such a Good Report!?”
We also ended up doing some sort of educational work too. We were the chosen twos - Nishant and I. We had to create a presentation on Genetically Modified Foods. We were in XII then and the time limit was around a week. So what to do – copy and paste. That was all we did. Copy articles, copy pictures and paste them, adding a bibliography at the end. Nothing great, but we organized it in a way, which gave the illusion as though we had done a diligent job. Our biology teacher was pretty happy with our efforts, and I remember her giving us kangaroo-shaped badges – a memento to keep!

So last year after finishing second year at college, I went to school, as I usually do. Then I met Latha mam there. And she had something to say about that report – about which I had momentarily forgotten, but she ruffled it up. She said she had been to a regional convention about think.com and there the spoke about that report – how well-organised it was and how it can provide the basic layout for a good report. I couldn’t help but smile. The scribbling of two kids seems to have been taken like calligraphy.


If you plant a seed, the fruits will come no matter how long it takes! But be there to relish them!!!