I am madly in love with a girl I met online. She says she is in love with me too. However, she is doing really well in her exams while I am completely distracted and doing badly. Do you think she is not as into me as I had been thinking?

Name and address withheld

She’s smart. As all women are. She’s only online into you whereas you’re both online and offline into her. When your Internet connection snaps, I suggest you snap back into reality and start studying or else you’ll become a cyber café attendant when you grow up son.

I am 14. I am completely addicted to the Internet. I sit at my computer for hours at a stretch and surf aimlessly. When I’m not online I keep thinking about things I could have been doing on the Net. This is harming my studies and grades. Please help.

Name and address withheld

Just think of Bill Gates, Narayanmurthy, Azim Premji and that Facebook fellow who has an unspellable surname. If those guys made it in cyber world even you may. Or else you can join the bloke above and also work as a cyber café attendant.

I am 15 years old. I don’t have a girlfriend. My friends go out with their girlfriends all the time. During these times they ignore me and leave me out. I feel really lonely and unwanted. I want a girlfriend too. Maybe that will help because right now I hate this boring life.

Name and address withheld

Boring life? So what do you do son? Sit at Victoria Memorial and stare at Victoria’s statue hoping one day, she will stop being a statue and come and take you in her arms? You have to work on these things. Getting a girlfriend is no easy task. Ask some of the married men. They spend a lifetime getting one. So my suggestion is try working on this task with greater focus or when you grow up, you will also have to look after your friends’ children and that will make your life even more miserable than it already is.

HELP AT HAND

Alcoholics anonymous

10A, Nandan Road, Near Ganja Park, Calcutta - 25
Ph: 2419 1174
For free help on alcoholism
E-mail: aakolkata_ig03@rediffmail.com
(2p.m. to 6p.m. Mondays through Saturdays)

Al-Anon (for families and friends of alcoholics)

Ph : 98309 93132
(2p.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays)
www.india.al-anon.alateen.org

Narcotics anonymous (Kolkata area helpline)

Ph: 9836223071; www.nakolkata.org
Email: info@nakolkata.org
Self-help group of recovering addicts

HelpAge India

1800-345-1253
Free helpline for the elderly for social, legal, economical, financial counselling and also access to government schemes and policies

Lifeline Foundation

Ph: 2463 7401/ 2463 7432
Free helpline for the depressed or suicidal
(10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturdays)

Sparsha

AE-36, Rabindra Pally, PO: Prafulla Kanan, Calcutta - 01
Ph: 2591 0334, 2591 3852, 6529, 9856
Free tele-counselling and one-on-one counselling on personal relationships and HIV/ AIDS
(10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays)

Pronam

38/1, Beltala Road,Calcutta - 19
Senior Citizen’s Emergency
Co-ordination Control Room
Ph: 2419 0740