Arshita (name changed) is a 19-year-old student from Jammu.
I barely use the internet, just once a month. I am pursuing an accounting course from Delhi. I began using internet only after coming to Delhi six months ago. We certainly learned how to use computers in school but internet was a different story. Especially in a government aided school.
First time on the web
Internet wasn’t much of a craze back then. However, our teachers pushed us to go to cyber cafés to learn browsing. They would say, “Kaat thodi jaayega. Koshish karo, sab aa jaayega. Phir, aaj kal har jagah har koi Facebook/Google karta rehta hai toh tum log bhi kuch kar lo.” (Stop being scared of the internet. Try and you will learn everything. Nowadays everyone keeps using Facebook/Google everywhere. You guys should also learn.)
Constant nagging from teachers pushed me to visit cyber cafes. On my first visit, I took my cousin with me to a nearby cafe and he gave me a few tips. It was then that I created a Facebook profile. It felt nice to see what my cousins and other girls from my school were up to.
First shock
Few months later, on a sunny afternoon, a friend sent me a message, “Arshita, what have you done to your Facebook profile?” I honestly didn’t think much about it but after lunch I received another message. This one was from an old school friend. She asked, “What is Delhi doing to you? Tumhare chaal dhal kuch theek nahi lag rahe. Arshita, tumhein kya ho gaya hai?” (Your behaviour does not appear to be alright! Arshita, what has happened to you?)
I just didn’t understand them. I was constantly thinking what had happened? But my nightmare had just begun. A school teacher who knew my family very well called me. She started scolding me without any prior explanation.
Read more about sexual harassment here!
Distorted state
She knew that my mother had to go through a lot of hardships to educate me. All I remember now are her words, “Kya issi ke liye tumhari mummy ne itni mehnet ki hai?” (Is this why your mother has worked so hard?)
I couldn’t hold my tears. While sobbing over the phone, I uttered that I had done nothing and had no idea about anything. She calmed down and asked me to check my Facebook account.
I rushed to a cyber café in my distorted state and tried logging into my Facebook profile. I tried entering my password but I just couldn’t access it. I even begged the shop owner to help me. Even he couldn’t log in with that password. I called up my cousin who helped me create my profile. He also failed at it.
Hacked and disgusted!
He asked me not to worry because he could reset the password. I was frantic by now. I was sure that someone had misused my account. I was also worried about my teacher informing my mother about what had happened. I could do nothing but wait.
On logging in we found out that my profile had naked images of girls, people having sex and other pornographic clips. One of the naked pictures had been morphed with my head taken out from an old picture. I was disgusted.
My brother suspended that account. We never found out how the account was hacked. My gut feeling says that I had forgotten to log out from a café computer previously and someone just had lots of fun at my expense. My cousin recommended me to change my passwords frequently and not share them with anyone!
To protect the identity, the person in the picture is a model and names have been changed.
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