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Social media has stepped in to fill the chasms created by isolation when singletons shift to alien lands

- Paula Ray

Moving to a new country has never been easy, especially when you make that move on your own. It can be a little overwhelming, settling into an unfamiliar culture, the demands of a new job or an academic course, the stress of fending for yourself, and the acute sense of isolation from all things loved and familiar.

There was a time when singletons in a new country would join the nearest dance school to meet up with other single people. Some joined the local library, or perhaps a music club. Dancing, reading books, or playing an instrument were often just excuses to get to know more people and build a circle of friends. And then there is now, when you don’t need to step out of your room to build this network of friends. All you need is an internet connection and a smartphone. Enter social media.

When 28-year-old Bridgette Colaco from Kolkata had landed at the St Louis airport in Missouri, she felt like she was looking on to the set of a Hollywood film. “I remember being the only person around with my skin colour. That was the first sense of ‘feeling alien’ that I recognised,” says Colaco, who had moved to the US after enrolling for a PhD programme, and who knew only one other person in the entire country.

That was 2001—a world without Facebook, WhatsApp, Orkut, and definitely without smartphones. “Email and Yahoo Messenger were what we had,” recalls Colaco. “We would be on email listservs to get information on what was happening on campus.” People met up via emails and phone calls. Of course, the student town had plenty of bars and nightclubs. “Plus, the university had a student recreation centre with various game centres that were free or had a nominal charge. There were dollar-movie nights, foreign film screenings, different tournaments and fundraisers,” she says.