Once upon a time, in a video calling world, Skype was ‘cool’, numero uno and a ‘happening’ technology. Though it is still thriving well, it currently resonates to a professional world (the intention with which it was built), for, the newer and younger video apps are more favoured on the personal front . But, right now I want to recall a time when Skype was a family/friend thing.
My introduction to the concept of video calls was through Skype. The video calls were sometimes distorted and pixelated at most times; and the audio had a lag, yet we were super pumped to see and talk to the person miles away from us. It was a first time concept for us and it was kind of cool to get a virtual insight of the other end. A technology so brilliant and new! Skype was invented in 2003 and I believe Skype held a high sentimental value for Indians (during the beginning of 21st century) whose family or friend shifted abroad. The loved ones would have relocated either for higher studies, job or perhaps post a holy matrimony with a working visa Indian who were believed to be the ‘cream of the society’ (Oh boy!).
The first time I used Skype was when my brother was pursuing his higher studies abroad. At that time, there were no ‘apps’ of any sort to keep in constant touch. If you wanted to reach out, you would either mail them, use yahoo messenger (gmail was slowly gaining momentum) or wait for them to use their ISD call card. The latter was usually reserved for those few seconds of daily call to let the family back home know that they were safe and sound. Mindless interactions couldn’t happen on that call. Hence, there was Skype!
Our Skype video calls were a weekend affair. A dedicated time was decided based on both our time zones. The time would have been decided the previous day (over those daily few seconds of ISD call). Before the said call, few setups were required to be done. Separate webcams (which were neatly packed in a box with cables and headphones) were to be plugged onto the laptop as we did not have in-built camera screens. After plugging, testing and trouble-shooting, the camera was functional. Then, the flimsy headphones (with those call center mics) were connected and after a few rounds of sound and record testing,the setup was completed. (Phew, all this sounds like real work!). The last step was to wait for the other party to come online to make the call. When the call happens, the first few minutes were obviously spent on fixing the brightness and posture after which you catch up on every topic possible oblivious to the fact that you are in two distant places. It was happy, emotional and the elders would get weepy. (I was young and stupid to embrace emotionality). Apart from seeing the person on the other end, my favourite part was when i got to see interesting food snacks that they had. Today that sounds silly because of globalization : the fact that we almost get everything here, but, back then, it was quite exclusive and wonderful to awe at the fancy stuff that was only available there!
I know the steps may not sound tedious today, but it was quite a process then. They were even people, particularly old parents with minimal tech knowledge, who wrote down step-by-step procedures to access Skype in order to see their kids and grandchildren in countries far away. .
Connecting with anyone anywhere is a piece of cake now. If you have a phone with internet connection, you are good to go. When you think of all the easy video access that we have today, those old Skype memories were something… The connection that it brought to the world, at a time when technology advancements were at a nascent stage, was really something..
So my dear Skype, you may be old but not forgotten…
