Put three Keralites together, and you have at least two political parties. Put them in the virtual world , as in Facebook, and their organizational skills will still be to the fore.Roughly 200 Keralites who are close pals on Facebook, but have yet to meet in person, will converge at a hotel in Kochi a fortnight from now, to meet up, discuss issues of common interest and raise funds for friends on Facebook who are financially challenged.
“We’ve been in constant touch for nearly three years on Facebook from different parts of the world, and this idea came up about meeting face-to-face. We expect friends from the US, the UK, a number of Gulf nations, and of course from different parts of India to converge in Kochi for the meeting”, says Biju Kottarakara, a Thiruvananthapuram-based accountant who is one of the key organizers of the event.
The group has also got into some charity work along the way, and has already contributed in cash and kind to Facebook pals who are in financial need. “Some of us traveled to Kannur to meet up and console a person afflicted with a rare genetic disease, and we’ve donated a computer and put in Rs 1 lakh into the account of a bed-ridden girl in south Kerala who is a regular on Facebook”, says Kottarakara.
Ronald Denison, a Kochi-based stock broking professional and a key organizer of the event, says social media group members are particularly enthused about donating to charity because they can see the end result of their donations.
“When donations are made to charity organizations, the donor often has no way to track how the money has been utilized. In a social media grouping, one can savour the end result of donations made and take heart that the money has actually been utilized for the purpose it was meant for”, says Denison.
Of the 200-odd participants expected to meet up on January 2, over 150 will be from abroad. “That’s quite natural, considering that Kerala has such a large number of NRIs”, says Denison, pointing out that the date was decided six months ago so that participants could plan their homecoming to coincide with the Facebook meet.
Complementing the NRI crowd will be the home members, including a number of well-known personalities from the literary and cultural domains, all of who are expected to discuss anything and everything. That makes up an ideal setting for triggering some controversial debate, though it is not top-of-the-mind for the organizers.
What they will also do is share the hotel bill. “We don’t want the programme to be sponsored by any individual. That will defeat the feel of camaraderie so essential to such a gathering”, say the organizers. Whether a new political party will emerge out of the meeting is a different question.
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