There was an era when young love meant furtive glances, stolen moments and secret meetings.  There was a time when die-hard romantics professed their undying love through poetry and love letters to their lovers, who would invariably blush. When the sound of the girl’s sweet tinkling laughter filled the boy’s heart with joy, and they would gaze deep into each other’s eyes, while proclaiming their devotion to one another. When love meant fighting against all odds, and promising to be together till death, and an afterlife if there was one.

And then arrived the Internet.

The furtive glances were replaced by wink smileys. The love letters condensed to this - <3. Where was the tinkling laughter? (Oh, did you just LOL?) The promises to be together till death were forgotten - dude, I just changed my relationship status on Facebook. Duh!

Are chances of finding true everlasting love in today's times as rare as finding foie gras in an Udipi restaurant menu?

Nowadays, people prefer to find 'love' in chatrooms and social networking sites such as Facebook rather than go out and actually meet people and interact with them personally. Even people who study in the same class or work in the same office would rather interact on such sites or text on the phone than go and actually talk to each other. This leads to extremely awkward encounters when they decide to meet face to face.

Which is not to say that such relationships don't work. I know people who met their to-be partners on Facebook. Many late night chats, phone calls, and Skype interactions resulted in them eventually getting married after years of dating.  One of my classmates was hesitant to approach my friend in school and ask her out. He resorted to  Facebook, and after several chats and SMSes, they decided to meet. And the rest, as they say, is history. They have been in a relationship for two years now.

Which brings us to another question. Is the very concept of courtship fast becoming extinct? Where is the wooing, the chivalry, the love letters? Is it just limited to posting puke-worthy mush on each other's walls and 'liking' each and every cheesy status update like, 'loooooved the flowers you sent me darlin! Muaaahhzzz <3' and uploading  'we-are-such-a-cute-couple-no?' pictures every hour?

Imagine this scenario twenty years down the line. A kid asks his father, 'Dad, how did you meet mom?' and the dad says, 'Well, son, it all started with a friend request on Facebook...'

Do we have to see this day? Dear lord, please, no.