Now e-Xmas on a comfy couch for the lonely

On Christmas, if you’re far from friends and family, apart from all the celebrations, there’s Internet with new ways, which helps you to communicate and celebrate.

Technology has ways to spread the joy of Christmas and bring people together. However, all you need is a comfy couch and the Internet.

A Frenchman stuck in India for Christmas, Laurig Boyer was looking for a local family to share his joy on Christmas when he came across couchsurfing.com, which is a networking site with a difference. It helps you stay with locals for free, provided you return the favour when they come visiting. And when Arjun Talwar and family responded to Laurig’s post, East met West for a perfect Christmas.

“Actually I think it’s a great way to meet people when you are a foreigner in India. I spent Diwali with an Indian family, and I wanted to do the same for Christmas,” says Laurige Boyer.

A cheap holiday is just one of the charms of couchsurfing.com, where the real bonus is sharing life with true blue locals, something guided tours will never be able to achieve. One can filter out people based on common tastes, interests, languages and so on. However, there’s no real way of verifying their character and it works on trust most of the time. With four lakh members around the globe, three hundred from India alone, Couchsurfing.com is one way to spice up holidays.

On virtual reality sites such as Second Life, one could even visit a virtual church, if one wanted, all from the comfort of one’s own home.