Where do the children play?

Stranded in a country that so advocates individuality and personal achievements, it is hard to find places where you congregate with your like-minded. It isn't any easier to find these venues in cultures that we come from, what with its many stratification intact. But more and more with the realization of realities of "man is an island" dawning upon me, I have felt the need for such a platform, if not to invigorate then at least to reinforce your beliefs and perhaps even your existence.

With the infiltration of the internet, people claim it has become easier to find those who you can call your worthy peers. With sites that are specialized to interests such as politics, photography and even music, it is much easier now to "meet" someone who is enticed by the same bits of worldliness as you are. But this "meeting" of minds arising from an intersection of interests, is it really a meeting? It is true that appearances are left out of the equation, except of course the false facade of opinions that people put up to be likable even in these settings. To take conversations out of the context in which these meetings occur, isn't that deceit or desperation? But confinement is not an option for the intellect.

I have always and truly been fascinated by connections. People are blinking dots across the globe and we find lines joining them time and again. Over the years, it is in such a discovery of lines that my passion has laid. But coming to realize the smallness of the world can take its toll on you. It becomes easier to crave the unknown, unconnected. Someone or something that does not fall in this venn-diagram or the other, but wholly outside. The pleasures of such discovery, I must warn you, has its own risks attached.

Strangers carry the heady excitement that precedes the collision of any two bodies in the universe. The possibilities are limitless: whether the bodies collide and move on together, screech to an eerie halt or go their ways, each none too better despite the hoopla of the meeting. First dates can be perfect examples of this and the phenomenon has become all too common thanks to the online dating and chatting sites. But appearances infiltrate this realm so wholly that trust is always a shaky issue. I have now been forced to ask myself whether the familiar can be equated with trust anymore. It sure is scary that the intersection of your roots and history does not guarantee your safety or sanity.

Harsh as it may sound, my own experiences have forced me to conclude that the kind of individuals you meet on chat sites usually fall into defined categories. They are either socially incapacitated, in denial of a part of themselves that they simply cannot accept, duly depressed or loathing the boredom of everyday life. Not that I was not warned before, of even becoming one of the "creepy" clan, but like always, I had to confirm it for myself. The range was spectacular but I could not find one that was there for the same reason as I. I almost felt like something had to go wrong with your life in order for you to qualify to enter this portal. My gratification was not only delayed, but wholly denied. And it even required that I make an exit to never return.

I am no intellectual; I only aspire to be one. But after looking around for many years to find some place where other intellectuals huddle and share priceless secrets and make educated guesses about the world, I have met only with failure. Either there is only such a meeting inside classrooms (and not all classes, mind you) or in close-kept circles of friends up east or much further west. In my opinion, the ones found on the internet are too scattered and somewhat unreliable. The difficulty comes from a deeper-rooted cause - the more one matures and has a firm set of values and ideas, it becomes much harder to find someone to complement you.

Belittling as it may be to my present context, I simply have no choice but to abandon this quest and to concentrate on migration of the physical self, and not just my mind.

"O like-mindedness, don't abandon me thee!"