Has this ever happened to you?

Number of blogs in the blogosphere : 60 million (and growing each day)
Number of blogs being created everyday :80,000
Number of blogs in India : Over one million
Average number of people visiting MY blog in a day : 58
Out of these 58, the number located in India: 7

Do you see what I’m getting at ? No?

Well—a strange—really strange thing happened yesterday. I had seen an advertisement in the newspaper, an attractively worded advertisement that called for people with a flair for creative writing ,to work as instructional designers ,for a e-learning company. The ‘creative’ part of me was hooked and I decided to apply.

Leaving my kids home with a baby-sitter , I ventured forth bravely at 8:30 am, to the other end of the city. The office of my prospective employer looked plush and comfortable. There were six of us—the aspiring ‘creative’ Instructional designers. There was a gruelling test of intelligence and aptitude, and also a test to examine your creativity and writing style. It took so much longer than expected but I enjoyed the whole exercise thoroughly.(I love challenges and thrive on them—the test they set was not easy by any standards—but I loved it all the same) By the time they (and us—the 'aspirants'!) were done with the tests, it was 2:00pm. My mommy instincts had now set in—and I had also promised the baby-sitter that I’d be back home by 2 pm—and I was already running late. So even though there was another HR interview scheduled, I told them I had to leave. They said they would make an exception in my case and interview me telephonically—and all of us could take a break for lunch.

Just as I was leaving, I heard someone call my name.
I turned around and she said “Do you know me?”
Now, I have lived in 5 different places in the last 10 years. I had no clue who she was. That happens rarely. Usually, I associate faces with a name quickly. For a moment I panicked. She knew my name. "Oh my god—who is she? Was I losing my memory? Was I growing old? "
She was smiling at me now.
I decided to be honest “I am so sorry—I have no idea. Er.. Have we met?”
Then she says “I visited your blog—and left a comment two days back—remember? I’m Ritu.”

Realisation slowly dawned on me. There was indeed a Ritu who had written some nice things in my comment box a few days back. I had visited her blog in turn, and left comments too. So here she was.In flesh and blood. Someone from the virtual world had actually materialized in front of me—and she had recognized me from my picture!! What is more—she had discovered my blog just a few days back.

I was amazed. I had no idea that she was in India, let alone the same city I lived in—and the height of coincidence—both of us turning up at the same place, at the same time.

She is a bubbly ,enthusiastic and jovial person—and we got along so well.And were chatting like old friends. It was almost like we knew each other. We exchanged numbers and promised to meet with our families.

Well—maybe we did! Our blogs reveal so much. We make so many ‘online’ friends.

And sometimes, just sometimes, you meet them in the flesh.