New York: Those were the days when we used to eagerly await the morning newspaper. The days there used to big fights at home; somebody fighting for the main page, another for the sports page yet another for the entertainment page etc etc. Honestly, deep inside, I do miss those days very much. Had it not been for the Internet, life, perhaps, would have been miserable especially for Indians, like me, who are far away from Home.

I have seen people running early in the morning, not for the bathroom but towards their computers to check the mail. There are millions of them today who have glued themselves to the Net inescapably. One can safely term this attitude as 'Internet addiction'.

We, probably, can't find a better example than this one; a friend of mine seeks Internet help even to put his child to sleep when it cries in the dead of the night. If it were our old village, the man would have taken the refuge of old nanny Somajji or the local whiz Gangajji.

Going by the present trends, the number of people who seek expert advise of Somajji-Gangajji types would reduce to nil. Gone are the days when guys were hesitant to give love letter to girls. Like those school days when boys used to anxiously wait for the recess to slip in a letter to the girls bag or her compass box; it is rare to find boys doing this these days. Nowadays it is all e-mail, e-greeting, e-gift, e-ticket, e-friends, e-dating, e-romance... the 'e' bug has taken over everything. By the by, what I am going to tell now is also about this 'e' bug doing an 'e' happening.

When the whole world is going e-way, how can I be different? Even I am active in the e-world (e-mail, e-greetings, e-gift, e-ticket etc) though in a limited way!! Very recently, there was an addition to this e-list.

In March 2004, my parents and her parents concluded the customary talks that happens before our marriage and gave a go-ahead for our marriage. But then, our priests could only find a date in August for the wedding. Hence, the elders decided to perform an 'engagement' for the time being - maybe a kind of commitment. However, our folks were unhappy since both of us (me and her) stay in the US of A and both of us securing leave for engagement and wedding was almost impossible.

That is when I thought of e-engagement.

Immediately I discussed this idea with my sister and some friends out there in Bangalore. Instantly they agreed to make all the necessary arrangements and suggested me to stay a bay from all the worries. These people from the silicon city didn't need much to be told anyhow. So finally it was decide to keep the entire event a secret till the D-day. The doubt lingering in our minds about its success was the reason behind this.

On the day of the engagement - May 2, 2004, 12:30 pm (IST), that is about 3 am on May 2, 2004 for us in New York, it was not a difficult task for us to stay awake till the wee hours of the morning as we had a bunch of ten friends who were eagerly waiting to witness this 'e-engagement'. When we were engrossed in our chitchat, her brother who called at about 3 am said, "Get ready fast, everyone is waiting for you over here." That's when for a moment I felt as if I was in Bangalore. As everything was discussed earlier, my sister and friends had arranged a computer with Internet connection at the engagement hall and all of them were anxiously waiting for us on the net.

Immediately we too connected our computer to the net and connected ourselves to Bangalore through 'Yahoo' and 'MSN' messengers. As we switched on our camera, over 200 eagerly waiting relatives and friends saw us on the computer and welcomed us by a loud round of applause and roar which still echoes in my ears even today. The priest chanting hymns from Bangalore was heard aloud.

Till then I had not seen her relatives nor she had seen my relatives. Then started a long session of 'e-introduction'. We were tired by the time we tried to figure out the equation of the relations of our relatives. Our friends here we surprised by the uninterrupted live telecast we were viewing. It would not be an exaggeration if I say that these were the moments that gave us new experience and excitement.

After the intro, as per the guidance of our man priest we started our customary rituals, followed by exchanging of Rings and sweets. We bowed in front of the camera and sought blessings from the elders and wishes from the youngsters. For every move there was a big round of applause from the other side.

The whole event was such a great success that our relativ3es later confided that even if we happened to be present in person in Bangalore then engagement wouldn't have been this fun-filled.

So, are you away from home like me? Is it your son's birthday? Is there any occasion for celebration in your house? Do you yearn for your relatives to be with you in the celebrations? Then e-task is one of the options at your disposal. e-mail me your e-opinions, e-celebration and e-regards. ( sannams@hotmail.)