Broadband and personal computers are becoming fairly affordable and available to a large number of middle-class Indians. Therefore, it is no surprise that Indians are beginning to use the Internet for an activity that is quintessential to being Indian: Participating in adda.
The Bengali word “adda” originates in the Eastern megalopolis of Calcutta and does not have an exact translation in English other than to say, “to sit around and chat.” Every one of the 26 official languages in India has a word like “adda.” The process of idle banter has been a mainstay of the Indian tradition, which, like other collectivist societal systems, puts a premium on community and remaining obsessively connected with others in the community.
To be Indian anywhere in the world is to be a person who enjoys a nice adda, often with coffee, tea, or whisky. The popularity of the social networking sites, one of which is actually called Bigadda.com, is an extension of this desire to be gregarious.
The most popular site so far has been the Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) offering called Orkut.com, which has been largely populated by people of Indian origin. This site has actually opened up a new world of connectivity for young Indians. Their scrapbook postings on Orkut are not necessarily long or detailed, but they offer the essence of the kind of conversation where people would catch up on the electronic stoop of Orkut. The discussions are pointless, the jokes are poor, and the postings have the quality of unconnected streams of consciousness -- everything that is fundamental to the adda.
Thanks to Websites like Orkut, social networking, or adda, which happened on park benches and college coffee houses, has migrated to a place where “being physically there” is no longer essential to participate in adda. This is especially important now, since the new professional Indian is a mobile person who could easily be jetting across the continents or taking a sojourn in a different country.
The economic liberalization of the 1980s offered India an opportunity to be a force in the global economy. But it also implanted the characteristics of an individualistic society that is almost a requirement for a free-market economic system that Indians embraced. One of the outcomes of India's economic boom was erosion of the sense of community as extended families broke apart and the professional Indian became mobile.
This is where the Orkuts and Bigaddas come in. These social networking sites fill in a gap where Indians can re-discover the pleasure of the adda independent of the fact that the participants are distributed worldwide. In that reinvigoration of the virtual adda lies the recasting of the Indian identity that can be maintained and nurtured online even if the offline existence is increasingly isolated and lonesome.
There is little doubt in my mind that as long as Indians retain their love of the adda, social networking technology will boom in India. At the touch of a button, an Indian in Calgary can be in adda with an Indian in Calcutta, talking about the things that their friends might have discussed at the Blue Fox Bar on Park Street in Calcutta. And as soon as the postings appear on Orkut, another friend in Singapore could immediately add in the little inconsequential detail that nevertheless adds the “color” that is so essential to adda. As long as social networking technology allows this, Indians across the globe can hope to hang on to a significant aspect of being Indian.
— Ananda Mitra, PhD, Professor of Communication at Wake Forest University
I'm interested in why certain social networking sites are becoming popular in certain cultures. In the U.S. it's MySpace and Facebook, in other countries it's Orkut. Is there something about Orkut specifically that makes it conducive to adda?
Facebook, for instance, has become popular among some Muslims. I read an interesting article about how some unmarried Muslim girls have accepted Facebook friend requests from boys and there's some debate as to whether or not this is appropriate. In fact, in an extreme incident, a Saudi father reportedly killed his daughter after discovering her Facebook account:
It's a very interesting post with deep insight. It really makes me think of the frivolous banter in social sites and mail-list as a necessary element in keeping the social bond. And i also ask myself, what is the fate of adda in the future? Will there be an exclusively cyber adda? When people feel emotionally fulfilled just by connecting through the internet, without having the need to really meet each other? Any thought?
Hope your culture manages to adapt 'adda' to the cyber age.
I remember my parents doing something similar after getting off work - gathering with their friends, women in one room, men in the other, and just ....talking. Didn't have to be about anything in particular, could be essential or non-essential.
In my generation, we 'hung out' with each other until we got into our teenage years, where it grqdually got to be seen as conuterproductive and somehow dangerous. It was thought we'd get into more mischief in groups........
Nowdays, most people fear gangs or malicious mischief in teenage groups. We're pretty well broke of this socializing habit by the time we're adults, except in supervised, chaperoned groups (Girl Scouts, Little League, etc)
It's a shame. Groups can be fun, and who says all time has to be 'productive'? Adda-like groups are certainly more useful than sitting in front of the TV.
There was a time in America when it was more common to
see a sense of community.
Perhaps, the social networks here can rejuvenate the
community spirit and maybe in other areas of the world where the sense of
community has withered away.
In traditional Adda, one would presumably be available for a good drubbing should the dialog get out of line.
Two things I am curious about with respect to your post on the emerging practice of 'cyber-Adda':
First, has the ability to be relatively anonymous in the online version of Adda made the tone of the dialog more risque or edgy?
Second, has the willingness of entities such as Google to aid the authorities in tracking people who's posts run counter to the laws and mores had any effect on the substance of the dialog.... such as attenuating political commentary, etc?
Thank you for a very interesting post.I have a question. Could it be said that the only difference between adda and any other chats the same ethnicity of adda's participants?or is there something else in way of communication?
"Chewing the fat", or more informally, "shooting the s**t". A popular pastime here too, generally considered a side activity or even a distraction, rather than an activity central to community building, although it really is - simple interactions, even "meaningless" ones like "how about this weather?" help build social relationships and bonding through repetition. I sometimes feel I should communicate more through email or social networks, but I hate to feel that I am wasting other's time by not having a specific purpose in messaging them. It's interesting to see that this kind of interaction is treated as normal, even expected, in Indian culture.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
Recently, the Obama administration has been of two minds where privacy rights are concerned. On one hand, you have an administration that vowed to veto CISPA and mandated open data for government websites. On the other hand, you have an increasingly out-of-control Department of Justice on a fishing expedition at AP and demanding legislation to let the FBI wiretap private, encrypted communications and levy fines if a company fails to comply.
The apartment and house sharing service, Airbnb, now requires members to verify their identities by demonstrating a presence on the web, and by either scanning a government ID or entering detailed personal details. Other enterprises should take a close look at Airbnb's verification policies.
Facebook advertising is a lightning rod. It seems neither brands nor consumers are 100 percent happy about the social media site's policies, placement, or procedures. But the real controversy about Facebook ads and promotions is over whether they work.
By now, you've most likely heard about the 3D-printed gun that Texas-based Defense Distributed demonstrated last week. But we haven't heard the last about the censorship war that began soon afterward.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The automotive website uses propensity modeling to target ads and customer registration forms, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
Subsidized handsets, rather than locked handsets, should be the focus of regulators. We're not getting good deals, not fostering innovation, and weakening our power as buyers.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
Email This
