It opened its doors when most Indians had no idea that you could use the internet for things other than porn and email.
It started way back in 1997 but I discovered it only in 1998. (I was discovering email and porn for a year, see)
Like breakfast and biryani, it became a part of my life.
Through it I discovered many wonderful things like Private Messages, Private rooms and words like Feck, BRB and ROTFLSHTCCOMNEWIWDA*.
Through it I made many wonderful friends. I looked at making female friends but some of them turned out to be male heh heh …. that besides, I made friends all over the world. In the US, the UK, Oz and The United States of Hyderabad! While most of my ‘offline’ pals went ahead and moved out of town and out of touch, most of my online pals still remain and I guess will continue to do so. And we have only one thing to thank for that.
Rediff chat finally comes to an end.
After 9 years of making us laugh, cry, tear our hair out and showing us how to make rooms like ‘Unhook my tight bra’ we are told that we must move on. There are some who still know how to get in and still do. Me included. I know in the last couple of years I haven’t been on Rediff in the manner I used to but knowing now that its going, I know I shall miss it like anyone would miss their favourite pub or hangout when it goes away.
I go now, thinking about people. In no particular order. By their handles or Yahoo IDs or their given names. Hippogriff, Hosannah, AcuteRapier, SantaNudeAss, Ghost Rider (heavens, so close together heh heh), Bleu, Pitbull, LilMermaid, Champagne, CrazyCoco, Charu, TheIdiot, SinSmittenCyberKitten, NecroAsh, HestaDaMolesta, Danielle, Kaybabe, Suparn, Kanurite, Hexa, Nehausa, Zoonyspaz, Martian, The Sorceress, GhostWhoSpoke, Ego, Dapps, Smilin Angel, Mesmeriser, UglyDuckly, Anjelica, Chikks, Cereal Killa, Moonie, Tianna, TiaKitty, CountryGurl, ADitty, CapnNemo, Hydeous, Poiuy, Rebelle, InsaneJane, Fang, Cactus, TheDiva@Num, Cube3, Weedie, Sapphire Lady, J Guv, LambChops, NS, Nescafe, HRH, Tia Maria, Blondesca, Dinkoo, Fax, CatWoman, VampireSlayer, Natalie, Eyros, WHY, GirlInBlue, SirCaustic, Azzman, Kunal, Oriflame, Pesty, Suave, SimplyBlack, Belledonna, Alfie, Kaluha, Shaz, WudHut, Swanky, Moksha, Hacking, Promises & Lies, Bella, Percival, Cherie, MannatG, Mocha Chocolatta 
, Gorgish, Indian, Knobby, Cleo, Ex Ex, Le Quack, NorthernLights, PChica, Phaedrus, Sadhs, PravinVermin, RKR, Ace, Ahnooie, AlPac, Ballz, Heath, Zomb, Reindrop, Rico, NangaSadhu, SheFlu….. etc… etc… and if you’re name isn’t here you can be sure it’s because old age has caught up with me.
Thank you all for the laughs and all the memories.
Riggy … Rigger Mortisse…. The Nizam /-
* - Rolling on the floor laughing so hard that Coke came out of my nose even when I wasn’t drinking any
PS - you can still get on @ http://www.rediff.com/chat/chathom.htm
am too heartbroken ….
sigh….
May 27th, 2007 | #
I am sure there is a damn good reason why am I on the top of the list even though you claim it doesn’t follow any particular order. It must be that I am the youngest
May 27th, 2007 | #
..and thank you too Riggy, for all the mammaries.
May 27th, 2007 | #
But that makes no sense because Ghost Rider has to be at the bottom, his knees feeling okay?
May 27th, 2007 | #
ROTFL - He is gonna nuke Ameer Pet and give you an Anthrax attack as well, you Turd World Trash.
May 27th, 2007 | #
Rigged, you are behaving out of your skin writing these tear jerkers, pal. I feel honored to be a part of your list considering all I have ever managed was ROTFLSHTT500BCTYDDCOOYN
May 27th, 2007 | #
Has ROTFLSHTT500BCTYDDCOOYN got anything to do with Ghost Rider considering it says 500 BC?
May 27th, 2007 | #
Heh - i think it has to do with Dilli Hawai Adda.
May 27th, 2007 | #
hai asl please? //haha //rose
May 27th, 2007 | #
No honorable mention of sharon?????wtf !!!!
May 27th, 2007 | #
Sigh.. Why do all good things come to an end ? *music*
May 27th, 2007 | #
*grabs the mike* .. thank you so much … gnite folks ….love you all
May 27th, 2007 | #
gunna miss da wanna b franship
(
May 27th, 2007 | #
oh dear, not again.
May 27th, 2007 | #
I always thought you preferred ipawed over knobby *pfft*
Will never forget most of the peeps you mentioned in your memoir, but this is ur blog so thank you thank you thank you for tp..I will come to USH just to give you a mighty big thank you hug.
May 27th, 2007 | #
Ooh chuffed to have received an honourable mention there, stunned to hear the site won’t be hosting the chat rooms anymore though! I aint been a regular there for some 3 or 4 years now but it was always good to know I could log in and have a live chat with old pals! Meowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! x
May 27th, 2007 | #
Retiring? Ab tum baap ban gaye ho? (Buy UNIT TRUST)
for hezaa jolly guf fellow!
Tut Tah Cheerio
Cum up n lookee us sometimes!
May 27th, 2007 | #
Thanks Rigs. I haven’t been to rediff in almost two years now, but my life was kinda defined by it for 2 yrs- from 2004-2006 spring…sigh!
May 27th, 2007 | #
well….it was spring of 2005 actually..when someone on rediff hacked my emails!!
(
the id was gabrielbatista
May 27th, 2007 | #
oooh.. mah name is there ! phew! am so relieved !
but i am sad.. deeply terribly sad that rediff is closing. its been [still is] a part of mah daily routine.. get up, get coffee and log in ! where do i go now?
May 27th, 2007 | #
Rediff had some gr8 ppl, me 2 have my favs… Nizam, Mrs Nizam, Raybna, Rastafarian, Ghostie, Tyr, RajeevP, Tanfastic,J, Mayeuri…. and so many more…. some loved, others misunderstood, a few never understood !!
May 27th, 2007 | #
//crybaby //crybaby //crybaby
(
I don’t log on to rediff that regularly anymore.. but knowing it won’t be there, I miss it already
May 28th, 2007 | #
Rigged, it gives Ugly and me much pleasure to inform you that that this is the first time more than two patrons have read what you have written.
May 28th, 2007 | #
Hippo me older than GR. Rigga is the only person i ever sent a gift to, does that make me gay? Prain vermin was the only one I know who found his wife here on rediff or was it chaitime? I wonder tho if there be any vermin running around mumbai. Champagne was in my town and we spoke on da fone but never met. i always wonder if that wasa good or bad ting.
Kaybabe and lil mermaid i aint seen in eons i wonder where they be.
Sighhh i need the franships
May 28th, 2007 | #
OHHH Hippster, its beauty before brains I think…. that’s why I am towards the end you at the beginning. Or Riggster Luvs you lMAO… see I learnt that from rediff if not aynthing else. I made two acest friends on rediff and met them for real heheheh we won’t go into details but riggster remembers it well LMAO LMAO heheh see I learned well.
TAKE CARE ALL, BE SAFE BE HAPPY. Thanks for my fwiends rediff.
May 28th, 2007 | #
was meant to say *anything* not aynthing slightly alcohol induced sorry.
May 28th, 2007 | #
And i hear there will be a little Vermin due in Oct / Nov
May 28th, 2007 | #
what do i say? i stay away for a few days…and this happens!!?? lemme absorb this…sigh. am sure am sure…it wl be back…
May 28th, 2007 | #
I had promised Riggs to write a glowing tribute to this dying legacy. Am not short of words but trouble is with writers block! I must be honest that my first thoughts upon hearing the news had gone to the unsung and unknown family members of the chatters here, at one hand I am happy that there will be dinner on table on time, missing shirt buttons shall be attended on priority, long due family vacations will be planned and ‘executed’. However am also worried that initially they will have to bear the burnt of withdrawal symptoms. In times of crisis my thoughts are with hassled wives, beleaguered kids and exasperated hubbies. On a happy note this might also mean a very very miniscule fractional increase in national productivity, surly though the present chowkidars employed on rediff chat as 24/7 shall find new ways of employment and time management.
For last over 3 years I have not been using my time as effectively like I use to some 8-9 years back. But I continue to cherish the short-sightedness and brusque departure of those who left us long back and never looked back again. I remember those people as a flash in dark that came, had good times, spread a sense of bonhomie and left when it was time. Comparatively to what we have been seeing off late here, what they did was so dour and debased that if they ever happen to come in chatroom today no one would give them a second glance for all their intellect, books, discussions on Renet and Renoir and occasional rendering of Pablo Neruda. The fact that those days internet connection was almost Rs 180 per hour might have something to do with present turn around of kindergarten escapees that we see normally. Now any Joker (or Jokerni for that matter] can pay as little as Rs 10 per hour and screw your time and mental happiness online. Not to mention endless Mataji’s discussing 101 ways to cook Maggie Noodles in mains and running a parallel gossip mill in reds.
I often muse about the genesis and impact of social networking sites and their impact on any society but rediff have never qualified in the scope, given such a larger then life canvas and my limited ability to see, hear and absorb. But if it comes to understanding even a small part, I can safely say rediff has been like a religion to many of us and chatting was spiritual fallout, following such religion. Stand alone religion is nothing and spiritually is only incremental. I am ever thankful to rediff for increasing my spiritual experience by providing endless array of harlequins, ventriloquists, few saints, asl mercenaries, old goats, fogies, endless Rahuls from Delhi, agony aunts, agony aunt victims and their counsellor, many cats and cat fight managers, dogs [they don’t keep managers and fight on their own], party hosts who run away without settling the bill, visionaries who wanted to grow apples in south India and a saffron field at Mansarovar. Single chatter with multi talents and multi window login where they will conversations, apparently with themselves if there is a woman onboard as well the better and ‘interesting’ it was. All Delhi woman chatters and refuse to live anywhere else except south Delhi and Hyd girls who live only on Banjara Hills. Underage jailbaits and overage withered hens masquerading as underage baits. New age metrosexual males, project jeopardizing chatters on sly, matajis, behnjis and all those others who have been too ordinary to find mention in any list whatsoever.
I am going to miss the special breed of people who outrivaled nothing in particular but their sense of brevity and still able to convey the message was something to die for, consider a typical session here
Chatter 1: hieeeeeeeeee //lips
Chatter 2: hugzzzzzzz, muahh muahhh //wink
Chatter 1: howz u doin //haha
Chatter 2: ummahhh //lips yaa am gud //rose
Chatter 3: where is sexygown lalita powar today yaar?
Chatter 2: she is on way, just wait 2 mins, kids you kno
Chatter 4: ya she comes early, must be stuck
Chatter 3: chalo aaj uske bina we will hv fun //wink
Chatter 1: //haha
I kept coming for nothing actually and there weren’t any dire need to stop doing that either. But I am happy that never again I will be subjected to inane haha and beer icons, I am happy not to see beer and cigar dispensing jerks and not string even a simple sentence together online. I am happy that I shall never be able to see rediff again, as I knew it once. From the ashes of past rise the future and new way for growth and sustained change. The picture in here has not been as bleak and dismal as appear above. But then all the good people and their goodness that I became privy to has been a private experience and I wish to bid my goodbyes on that mellow note only. I know such people will continue to be what they are and rediff today or gone tomorrow will never act a damper to them. It is to those people I bow down and extend my heartfelt good wishes, May your tribe ever prosper and flourish.
May 28th, 2007 | #
I am inspired to write a longish piece myself. Will be back soon. A thought just struck me btw. This could be own very own rediff chat albeit the delayed relay.
May 29th, 2007 | #
Oh noooo
Rediff got me through some of my darkest days thanks to the crazy friends I made online, some of whom I even managed to meet offline.
Thanks Rigger for the honourable mention and the laughs, I’m chuffed
I shall cherish the line “hi, asl pls” forever……
May 29th, 2007 | #
I was wondering how i got put between ballz and zom :l lol
Laughs and memories indeed…met some nice people there and some not so nice..lol
What ya said Rigs was nice…the little bit i got to know you it was a pleasure..will catch up now on yahoo
May 30th, 2007 | #
:(
May 30th, 2007 | #
Thanx Rediff … for all the beautiful moments ….. Rigger … sum of the gurls been cheating on us
May 31st, 2007 | #
Well, well, its like being in the 40’s room or the footsie all over again. I am certain that Rediff stands as short for Redefine. It surely did redefine many of our lives who were there for however, long or short time. I will call anyone who refutes that as a liar. It changed us all in a small or big way, or whatever. I got some very wonderful friends and I do not think the presence or absence of an online web address will change that fact.
Its still as easy to log onto the chat as it was earlier. Though I doubt one can create new ids anymore (what a bore). So, anyone looking for new disguise can contact me (I still have plenty of unused ones remaining and gawd knows, i think they still work). No, before anyone reading this begins wondering if I am still frequenting rediff without telling her/him, let me categorically deny that.
Its difficult to believe that at one time 20 hours of my everyday life were spent in rediff. Good ole free days of no work and all play.
Bah. Enuf typing, my arthritic fingers can take it no more.
Goodbye, Farewell. to you and you and you. something something that song goes. //music
BD
June 2nd, 2007 | #
..Naivity..thy name was rediff
June 2nd, 2007 | #
haven’t dropped by here in a while… love the new embellishments!!
June 2nd, 2007 | #
helloooooooooooooooooooooooo How did you forget my name or id? I was talking to some1 and he said Riggy would have been confused with your million ids … So yeas its better you leave me out rather than type something like Divine_Ant_Trots. How have you been? Been good and keep blogging
June 3rd, 2007 | #
This is Indian - I am a little surprised that it took so long for Rediff to come to the realisation that the chat rooms aren’t really serving much purpose. I stopped going there after I saw the BOTs that used to onvade every room, including private rooms, spweing nonsense and making chat impossible.
I missed Saisuresh and his political chats, Suparn and his hyper chatting experiences and Sharmila Taliculam’s Movie chats. Anyone remember those?
Thanks a ton Rigger, for bringing back those memories
Indian©
June 11th, 2007 | #
I think its finally over. Goodbye rediff…
August 19th, 2007 | #
apparently, not yet. oh well..
August 19th, 2007 | #
Rediff is finally DEAD!! LONG LIVE REDIFF!!
October 26th, 2007 | #
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
December 10th, 2007 | #
FINALLY FNALLY MAUAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
December 10th, 2007 | #
Alas! I shalt not flood anymore!
January 6th, 2008 | #
Heh, Happy New Year to you all!
and chill
January 6th, 2008 | #