I have been online for about four years now and find that the 'Net is a fascinating place, a mirage. It is what you want to make of it: a beautiful place with wonderful people or a den of iniquity with all the corruption (and more) of real life.

Both faces of the 'Net are equally true, for how you use it is how it will be for you - as in everything else the choice is yours. Online romances flourish, whether in the East or West, men and women, boys and girls meet and sometimes there is a special magic that flourishes, sometimes the magic is actually stardust and one is blinded to reality. Anonymity gives the imagination full rein and so it is not 'reality' that changes, but it is our perception of it. We believe what we want to be true.

A friend of a friend found the 'Net to be the answer to her dreams. She was an Indian nun and the 'Net was a relief from her chores. Most of her spare time was spent chatting and mailing people from all over the world. Then she met Alphonse. In the beginning it was merely a joy to talk to someone who shared her interests, to peep at the world beyond the high convent walls. That was in the beginning.

She can't tell when they fell in love, except that her impatience to get to the computer increased as time passed. The length and depth of the emails became longer and deeper. They spoke of things they never talked about to another living soul, and they understood each other as though the space between them did not exist.

When she could deny the truth no more, she took a web based email address to ensure her privacy. What she was doing was sinful by the standards of the convent; but she couldn't stop herself now, she was too deeply in love with Alphonse.

The day he proposed to her the only person she could tell was her online friend in America who warned her of deceit on the 'Net. She laughed off his warnings. When she wouldn't listen to her he worried about the simple nun from India who would be lost in the big, bad world outside the convent walls. This is another face of the 'Net. The deep and caring friendships that form between people who have never met. Perturbed about her safety and happiness he asked my advice about how to stop her from such reckless behaviour. Much to his horror I was on the side of the lovebirds and wished them well telling him not to worry as any life would be better than what she was used to!

Being a nun she had no money to buy the ticket, to make her passport and get a visa to Belgium. Alphonse sent her the money and she began to make her secret preparations to leave for Belgium. Finally she was all set. One day on a visit to the bazaar she slipped away from her companion and changing her habit in the airport rest-room, she caught the flight to Belgium. Within three weeks of her arrival in Belgium they were married.

But, there is another side to romance on the net. One girl (from an eastern country) told me how she had fallen in love and planned to meet the boy of her dreams. After long phone chats he asked her to meet him. I warned her not to meet him alone and in private, at least for the first few meetings. Happily she took my advice as the boy turned out to be nothing like the photograph he had sent her. Besotted, she ignored her disappointment and continued chatting with him online. Soon he began to beg her to meet him in private, promising to send his parents with a proposal. She didn't tell me what happened in the private meeting, but said his parents never came with the proposal of marriage. She began to badger him for a date when they would be coming and he began to avoid her. Finally he changed his nick and was lost in the sea of strange online names.

Then there is the story of XYZ (he asked to be anonymous). I was telling him I was writing about 'net romances' and he confided a little shyly that he was in love with a girl he met on a chat channel. He said the day they met on IRC they chatted for hours, day after day. Then that was not enough and they had to hear each other's voice and they started talking on the phone. Keen to see what she looked like he asked for a photo. At first she refused to meet him or send him a photograph, giving him an uncomplimentary description of herself. He assured her that it was her inner self that had captured his imagination he didn't mind what she looked like, for he loved her dearly by now.

He was desperate to meet her and when she finally agreed he was in a panic. He told me he wanted to make a good impression and so he took her to one of the most expensive restaurants in Karachi. Their face-to-face meeting was just as magical as the chats and phone calls. She was the most gorgeous girl he had ever met. Dinner passed in a haze; they talked of everything under the sun, not able to take their eyes off of eachother. He introduced me to her on ICQ and we chatted about their future plans. They plan to marry next year and I hope their dreams come true.

Yes, both faces of the 'Net are true; it is a fascinating place, a mirage. A beautiful place with wonderful people and a den of iniquity with all the corruption (and more) of real life.