Gmail? No! Hotmail? Neh! Yahoomail? Yahoo! Coolio!!

Tweet

This episode dates long, long back it time. The era where not having an email account was as bad as not knowing what 'twerking' is today! And if you don't know what twerking means, please don't Google! No please don't! I don't want you to end up gawking like the Will Smiths' did at the MTV VMA 2013!

Anyway! I think I should cut the but and jiggle straight to the point! So this was at a time when my best friend moved to the States and I had no way to get in touch with her except via emails. A technically challenged unfortunate techie like me, didn't know what emails and emailing meant! I used to send love letters to a friend in the UK via the snail mail telling her how I missed her (in ink, and not in blood, in case there are some weirdos reading this) So creating an email account was a sort of coming of age milestone for me. I walked into the cyber cafe for the first time ever with an experienced, you know - the been there done that friend!

So once we were in the cyber cafe, the first thing she asked me was - which email service provider do you wish to create an account with? The "?" look on my face explained her clearly how well versed I was with technology! To save me the shame, she went on list the names starting with Hotmail. I was like, "What? Hotmail? You mean Hot MALE? Eeeyou! That sounds so horny! Imagine! Jincy's got a hotmail! It was way too bold me for! No!" I said. She then asked, Gmail? I was like (?) Eh? What mail? Geemail? Is that the modern way to refer to the third gender? The frown on my face signaled my friend that Gmail wasn't gonna work with me. She then mouthed 'Yahoo....' And before she could complete it, my heart and mind and body and soul went "YAHOOOO!?!? YAHOOOO!!" a la Raj Kapoor in that song! Phew! And finally, I managed to pick the one!

Then came the task of creating a username. The late bloomer that I was, something as simple jincy@yahoo.com was definitely not in store for me! Thousands of other Jincys had already beaten me in the username race! writetojincy, mailjincy, talktojincy etc seemed like as bad as the cheesy pickup lines like I'm new in town. Could you give me directions to your apartment? Usernames like cool_dudette, class_topper, university_ranker, beauty_queen (not that I am any of these) etc were too, too overly narcissist for a modest humble bumblebee like me! Pondering hours over a decent username, I finally managed to settle on jincy_cu@yahoo.co.in It wasn't as creative as I wanted it to be, but it sounded short, sweet, decent and whatever else I felt a username should sound like! My friend heaved a huge sigh of relief! Little did she know that her troubles were far from over! Poor thing!

Now chose a Password! She said. I didn't have to say anything. The lost gaze on my face said it all. Did I tell you I suck at technology? Well, now you know! She went on to explain what a password meant and what it was supposed to do and what it should be like and blah blah! I smiled ear-to-ear! I understood every word of what she was trying to convey to me! A devout religious that I think I am, I would be a sinner if I didn't thank Almighty for showering His abundant graces on me for I finally will be getting an email ID! I thought I should acknowledge Him in the best possible way that I can! What better way than dedicate a password to Him Almighty, na? I decided that my password would be my favorite Bible verse. Sounds intelligently holy! Right? Yeah! But try typing Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Try typing that in a password field where all you can see is dots and try re-entering it again to confirm the password! I suck! I know! Kidding you not, but that was the password I chose for myself! Thankfully I couldn't re-confirm the password 'coz I didn't have a clue as to what key I punched in and so by some grace, that password obviously didn't work! From Rom 8:28, I moved to another favorite - Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Did that work? NO! Finally I had to settle for something more short and sweet and easy to remember and most importantly easy to re-type and boom! It worked! I had an email ID! Finally!

I felt I had scaled the Mount Everest of Technology by owning an Email ID! Though I started with Yahoomail, I finally learnt to shed my inhibitions and slowly moved to Hotmail and then the Gmail, but Yahoomail still remains closest to my heart. I don't know why though!

So that is how I got my first email ID created! Was getting yours as bizarre as mine? I don't think so! :)

This post is not a part of any contest or any promotional or any other blah blah! This post is here 'coz I love write more than any other thing! And trust me, every bit of this story is true! This is what happens to you when you happen to have OCD!