THE ASIAN AGE
BOMBAY, WEDNESDAY 6, APRIL, 1994
BOMBAY DIARY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
"All your friends were Strangers before you met them"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
One has heard of people fascinated by films, but to be so cared away as to launch an organization based on one idea is, well, little heard of. But that’s Mr. Strange Stranger has done and the idea is ambitious. In about a fortnights’ time, Roongta’ s organization, ‘Strangers International Advanced Technology Communication Networks Project’’ will be registered as a company. The concept is to create a massive data bank comprising every single individual in the world. It was when he watched the 1974 film Anand, starring Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, that Roongta got the idea. In one scene, Khanna tells Bachchan that every person in the world is a transmitter of vibrations that are picked up by other people and if this could be studied, it would be a Nobel prize winner. Mr. Strange Stranger was struck by this statement, but though he thought about it often, he didn’t really follow it up. Then in 1989, he saw a greeting card that said; ‘All your friends were strangers before you first met them.’’ And that was when he decided to do something about it. It is possible to implement this idea, feels Roongta, because of the fast development of information technology. He has already approached such corporation as AT&T and Motorola to sponsor the project and has received some sort of encouragement from the former in the shape of a request for more details. Putting the idea into effect would a little difficult but not impossible, he says, as he has already experimental by meeting perfect strangers in suburban trains and getting not only names and addresses out of them, but also detailed profiles. About 10 people (the kind he calls active) have responded positively to his question. The rest he calls passive, because they’re interested in knowing about other people, but wouldn’t like to furnish details about themselves in return. We don’t know how soon this project will take off, but It’s certainly necessary. As Mr. Strange Stranger says, he’s missed so many opportunities because he didn’t know whom to contact. Now everyone will know about everyone.