Just a few years ago it was impossible to regularly keep in touch with friends residing abroad. Today, Internet chat has made this fun and easy. Simply enter a chat room on the Internet and you are ready to look up old friends or make new ones!

What is a chat room?
The chat 'room' is not really a room. It is a page on the Internet. When you go to this page you will find an area where you can type what you want to say. Whatever you type here will appear on this page. Now everyone who is viewing the page at that point of time will be able to see what you have typed.

Anyone can respond to what you have said by writing on this page and the rest of the people viewing the page can also read this response.

This system mimics a room full of people who might be sitting around in a circle and talking. Hence our magical page is called a chat room.

Chatting is extremely easy and very addictive. To begin right away, enter one of the several rooms that Rediff Chat offers.

How to 'enter' a chat room? To enter a room in Rediff Chat you will first have to register by filling out an online form. Simply follow the instructions on the form and by the end of it you will have an 'nickname' and a 'password'. You can now begin chatting immediately.

Enter your nickname or 'username' and password on the Rediff Chat home page. Then select one of the several rooms that you want to enter and there you are. As simple as that.

Start chatting
The name of the room will usually give you an idea about what kind of discussions you will find going on inside. In the Metropolis room you can make friends and communicate with people from different parts of the world. In the Smoke Filled Café you can discuss whatever fancies you. In the Foyer you can discuss movies. And in the Quorum you can air your views about politics.

Tips

• Pick up the 'chat slang': Chat slang is a kind of shortened way of talking that will help you say more with less words. This helps a lot when you are talking to several people at once and need to type fast.
  
• Meet by appointment: You can use a chat room as a place to meet friends at a fixed day and time. Just like you would at a club or a street corner in the evenings.
  
• Get comfortable: Make use of the extensive help section of Rediff Chat. New users will find this to be a quick way of getting ahead.