What's up WhatsApp?

In November 2009 WhatsApp was launched on the iOS platform as a iPhone app. It was converted from a free app to a paid app to cover the costs of verification which WhatsApp does. By January 2010 it was made available on Blackberry too. From there on there was no looking back for this app. It reached the 200 million user mark by February 2013 and rocketed to 400 million users by December 2013. When Facebook took over the company formed by Koum and Acton by paying 19.5 billion USD it had touched 500 million users.

What is significant is, in India the growth has been phenomenal and has not just kept pace with the overall growth of WhatsApp but probably set a trend by itself. We love to chat and if it is free then we can do it for hours together. It is estimated that 9-10% of the overall WhatsApp users are from India and if we include the PIO's probably we would be about 12% of the overall user base. Indeed we will have to wait to see what will happen when WhatsApp goes subscription model, which it hasn't on Android platform

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Today we have become slaves for WhatsApp. There was a time when we sent a mail we used to sit and eagerly wait for the reply. Today thanks to the smart phone revolution we are totally been enslaved by WhatsApp. We send a message look for the second tick to appear and then the waiting is for the 'Double Tick' to change its colour to Blue to indicate to us that the message is read.

The Blue ticks have made many a person's life miserable because they would be questioned as to why they didn’t respond even after seeing the message. Other problem is the message 'Last seen' that appears just below the name or number of the person. This instantly tells us that when our contact was online in WhatsApp. In spite of these small irritants the usage of WhatsApp has been very extensive in India and uses have been innumerable.

WhatsApp has got features which make us use it extensively, on top of all this no cost for sending messages or chatting. Cool thing about this is to add variety of Emojis for flavour. Latest release also helps you choose the skin colour which you might feel comfortable with. Have you checked it or not? They have about 5 shades to choose from depending on which part of the world you are from, i.e. in case you wish to choose.

Let's deal with some of the features one by one.

Chatting: today a lot is said by using the right emoji of WhatsApp than typing, Imagine quizzes n puzzles are being designed using the emoji's and it is a big pass time for the users, un-raveling the mystery of the emoji based questions.

Photos: There is a whole lot of pictures (700 Million at the last count) being shared everyday on WhatsApp. Range of pictures is left to one's imagination, it could be a cute new born to a cartoon to a Good morning picture with a bunch flowers in the back ground. We Indians love to share the God's images in plenty. Erotic pictures too get shared in the process like other pictures.

Videos: Today if there is one place where you need not worry about copyright violation and share a video it is only on WhatsApp, however there are or some constraints on the file size, however that might be changed in the near future. Talent shows, News stories, Sexual videos to speeches and discourses of Guru's are all shared on this platform. Biggest worry is the lack of monitoring on the content unlike in the case of a computer (Parental Control) makes the viewing of sexual videos on WhatsApp easy and this is a threatening feature.

Voice Chat: This is one feature which helped 'Wechat' app to establish it's presence, however once

this was introduced in WhatsApp, it took the steam away from their campaign. This actually helps when you want your kid to respond to some wishes or a grand parent Who cant type on a smart phone.

Groups: Unlike in Facebook, WhatsApp groups help people to connect more instantly since smart phones have become part and parcel of our lives. There are any number of innumerable variety of groups. I myself have set up multiple family groups, simply choosing how wide you want the audience to be. Family, Friends, Alumni of College/ School, Job, Association you name it, people have groups being formed and enjoying the fellowship. It has actually helped connecting the disconnected lot.

We do see some amount of misuse of this group feature by people, who want to carry out marketing activities. One way is blocking such people and reporting them so that WhatsApp can take care of them at their end. Today group membership is restricted to a maximum of 100.

Voice Calling: This is the most disliked feature of this app by the telecom companies. The moment WhatsApp announced this feature, telecom companies increased their voice, which they didn’t when the same feature was available on Viber, Hangouts 

etc, simply because it was not threatening their income. WhatsApp calling after the initial glitches has picked up clarity and is being extensively used. WhatsApp has even come up with, low bandwidth enabling so that you can talk even on 2G bandwidth and not just Wi-Fi broadband.

Broadcast: This is a feature meant to make announcements, send out wedding/event invites to many (256 people) at one go from your contact list. Only requirement is the recipient should have you in their contact list, otherwise, this message will not get delivered. This is in a way good red-herring, so that people don’t misuse this feature for marketing activities. Any message sent through 'Broadcast' will be delivered like a regular message, with , ,  markings to tell you whether the message you sent has been seen, read etc.

Web.whatsapp.com: This is a feature to integrate PC/Laptop with your phone so that you don’t miss out on WhatsApp activity. This is particularly convenient when you want to send some attachments from your computer, which you do not wish to have on your phone. Integration is a simple procedure, however for this feature to work effectively phone has to be connected by Wi-Fi with your PC.

With WhatsApp, even senior citizens are getting into the play. My 74 year old mother, shops sarees for her business when the supplier sends the images by WhatsApp, similarly she sends the images for those who seek to buy from her. Marriage proposals have been made, by sharing pictures & profiles on WhatsApp. Medical reports including X ray images are shared on WhatsApp. Uses are left to your imagination these are just but few examples. You would be commonly hearing people telling take a picture and send it on WhatsApp.

Thanks to WhatsApp voyeurism has increased with sexual videos, pictures being shared rampantly, the convenience of viewing in privacy, sharing without any worry etc make this app a handy one for the youth and those who are young in mind. This indeed is a worrying factor.

WhatsApp is seriously concerned about the user, their recent version includes a 'Mute' option for silencing notifications, in case you find a person or a group sending you too many messages and you don’t want to get disturbed at your work. This problem is faced in a different way when you have members of your group living in USA, your constant messaging disturbs their sleep due to time difference.

Similarly, it doesn’t encourage spamming, if you try to send messages to too many numbers from your phone, where you are not listed in their contact list, automatically you will be barred from using WhatsApp for a period of 4 hours and if you continue to do it, then your number could be deactivated for WhatsApp activity.

This is an effort to share info which might be useful for many who use WhatsApp but don’t know about many of the features in it. We will talk about WhatsApp emojis in my next blog.

Divorce – Parental role

“Kaki pilla Kakiki muddu”, is an old adage in Telugu which means ‘even if the child is ugly it is adorable to it’s parent’. Proving that right are the present generation of parents about any dispute in a marital relationship. It is necessary to support our children when they are facing a disagreement of minds after leading a married life with their spouse. Can this support be blind or can we be blinded to the reality by covering up our child’s own short comings.

First thing parents do now a day’s, is to come and take a protective stance, it may be necessary, however, will have to be revised on a rational basis. Many a case of divorce instead of reconciliation is due to the tough stand taken by the parents than the couple themselves.

Having developed a liking to each other and due to some random or regular disputes people face the discontent in a marriage. During this period ‘liking’ takes a back seat and most of the time parental pressure doesn’t allow the couple to think and act rationally. In the olden days where joint families were the order of the day, these kind of situations were talked out and people were made to see reason etc.

But today’s nuclear family situation makes things more difficult. With the increased acceptance of the word ‘Divorce’ there is very little tolerance to each others shortcomings. No doubt two people come together with very little understanding of each other, then start accommodating each other. If there is a level of less tolerance on any one side the bickering starts in a marriage. Sometimes it is money (too much or very little of it), Attitudes, personalities, Behaviour etc. what ever may be the cause the result today is break-up.

I recently read a quote “Successful marriage is a union of two forgivers”, how correct it is. If we don’t forgive our own partner then what else is expected. Most of the times understanding between the couple is very insufficient, while in some other cases the momentary bursts which cause disharmony. I heard of a case where one divorcee was looking for a new job for it’s ex partner, now is it not strange when you consider they had a very bitter marriage, when it lasted, always fighting. Could this marriage been saved, only the erstwhile couple or it’s parents can comment.

A divorce becomes more painful when it involves minor children. For their sake if the divorce is inevitable it should be a mutual rather than a bitterly fought out one. Grand parents of the children will have to be very careful with their comments, while supporting their respective wards. Children, who are very sensitive, can quickly develop hatred when they hear wrong remarks about their parents by the grand parents in particular.

Bad mouthing the son/daughter-in-law is the given thing for the parents. Some times it might actually make their own ward feel distant towards them, as the ward believes their comments are in-appropriate. Some times there is lot of pressure on the ward to go through with the divorce, so that they can bring in a more amenable spouse for their ward, can some one guarantee this, no way.

First step of intervention is when parents notice certain amount discontent towards each other. Make the move, have a honest chat with the couple separately. Do not get blinded by love towards your own ward. If you see some merit in the spouse’s side of the version then be prepared to talk it out with your own ward. Make genuine effort to reconcile and make the couple see reason. Talk it out with the sambandhi’s and involve them too. However do not make the adage ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ come true.

If divorce is inevitable try and make it mutual one rather than a contested one, lawyer’s make you say things (only to make the case stronger) which you might have never even considered saying. In case there are children involved make sure their future is well thought out, one would not like to see their own grand child hitting the streets.

Very few marriages have the chance to succeed if not for the understanding and forgiveness of the couple towards each other. While love is always there once they come together, it gets forgotten in the fit of anger. Push the love to the front and lead a happy married life, as I said earlier there is no guarantee of light at the end of the tunnel.