Horn. OK. Please! A desire to contribute to society is now a rage on the Internet. It is the HOP or the HOPper page. Youngsters from India and other countries are members of this online community. In fact, they are such die hard followers, that they have made ‘HOPper’ their middle name!
So what do these HOPpers do? They connect with each other in the virtual world to bring about change in the real world. They form communities that help poor kids and also help those who are in dire need of emotional support. HOPpers are on a mission to spread smiles.
For Kartik HOPper Iyengar, author of the book HORN OK PLEASE, HOPping to Conclusions, it has been a roller coaster ride. From writing blogs, going on a road trip from Kanyakumari to Ladakh in a record time of 69 days, meeting Rahul Gandhi, Dalai Lama to finally selling over 24,000 copies in four months, Iyengar’s book is a nutshell of the life of an Indian youth.
The book has turned into a cult phenomena. Over 20,000 young people subscribe to HOP on popular social networking sites. Students, gamers, professionals, techies, homemakers, artists; anyone who has the zest to live is a HOPper! “Before I became a HOPper, I was a desperate housewife. But since I joined the community, I look forward to something new in life everyday,” says Deepa Hopper Venkatesh. Not just her, there are many other youngsters who also identify with Iyengar’s approach to life.
Inspired by the film, Pay It Forward, it is the author’s philosophy of HOPping forward and spreading smiles that is engaging the youngsters. “It is the spirit of mutual respect that clicked. Now my second blook (Iyengar deliberately calls it blook and not book) is going to be like a co-authored work, with five percent of the content being messages from the HOPpers community.”