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A long, long time back, before the internet, people around the globe wrote letters to their not-so-near and dear ones and waited patiently for weeks for that letter to get delivered to the "right" person and then again started anticipating a reply equally fast. Some got delivered at the right address and some wandered off some other place. This was when internet had not been invented and the magic of email was not there. But today we live in a world of a changed picture. We experience different technologies everyday. Mobile phones have already changed some thing like telegraph by *short message service* or popularly known as the SMS. The same has happened to the letters of long gone days. We now have the email. What is even better with this is that it is not only much faster but also the efficiency with which it delivers messages is immense. Now there are no more waits of the postman. You just have to wait for the voice saying *You*ve got mail*.

A large number of people around the globe maintain their friendships by online-messaging. Some of them are written to actually communicate and some to just pass time while doing other chores. If you don't know what I'm talking about you are in the rapidly shrinking minority who haven't heard of instant messaging. A slightly larger minority was heard of portals like Yahoo!, MSN but they don't know how to do it. But leaving the "how" to cyber-geeks, I'll try to address the "what" and, most important, the "why" instant messaging is a condensed and personalised version of online chatting or a faster and on the move version of emails. There are many mighty, theory-of-culture imbued, geeky definitions of instant messaging. I define instant messaging as a fast as well as current way to keep your not near but dear friends posted about yourselves on a more in-person level. Unlike e-mails, which are like dated narratives of the events that have happened in your life or probably the same question-answer way of trying to update ourselves on the other? Also better than the regular chatting as this is more personal and you can reach out to maximum people that too, without bothering about uninvited intruders.

In an era, when we like everything instant be it coffee, tea or noodles, instant messaging comes as the ultimate way of communication. Thanks to the likes of yahoo!, MSN and rediffbol, we are able to stay connected with friends and co. Saws towering phone bills and the annual, rare get together can be left for the Carpe-diem attitude of the next generation rather than then, 'catching-up' with each others annual reports.

And, the added bonus of switching to such an instant mode of life is that we can continue to do our work on the PC or minor work around the PC while messaging. All this at one go, just requiring a manageable typing speed.

The technophobes who call us weirdoes or geeks stuck to the "smaller idiot box" can go and take a hiding. With facilities such as shopping, calling, blogging banking and much more available on the net, why should messaging be left to mundane letters or mobile phones which leave us a lot of negative impressions including grunting parents? Email is the fast, easy and economical way to stay in touch with friends, and people you love without much hassles. In today's times even business relations are maintained through emails and this has brought a new dawn in the era of globalisation. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead get an email id today and experience the world of difference that too along with staying in touch with important people.