Wasted - Part II

(read part I first)

I entered college. I joined Computer science and Engineering (CSE) because I thought I was good at it and you may ask what made me select CSE as my field of study? It was a misconception that if i could get a 90% in my 12th board exams then there must be something good with me and computers. By then I was also interested in computer graphics and animation. So one of my friend said that you will be learning those stuff in engineering too. I took up his word and joined engineering and what did I get... HELL!! As one would say engineering is like prison life. I too was acting like a prisoner being regular to college, finishing off assignments early, studying for internals etc. But once I got my first semester results, it made me feel "What The F@#$ ??" I flunked in mathematics. There was this guy called prashanth. He was kind of the guy who enjoys and also at the same studies. Though we were from different departments we used to hang out together. Slowly we started gaining interest in ROCK music. We even thought of starting a band. We planned to name the band as "Effervesence" (similar to evanescence) or "Pile of Junk" (similar to puddle of mudd). We attended music classes for 2-3 months but dropped out the plan because of some reasons.

As days & years went by my academics started to get even worse. In the end I had 4 arrears and wasn't doing much to work harder either. By then my friends circle changed and started the REAL days of my college life. Bunking classes, goin to friend's room and watching movies, watching a movie in theatres, smoking outside college, boozing after examinations etc. College life was started to look cool and even I was kind of doing well in my studies i.e., I was clearing my exams.

By the time we entered 4th year we ( me and 3 of my friends) slowly started gaining interest in cinema. It was me, karthik, aravind menon and vishnu raj. We seemed so desperate that we started writting scripts, posing for stills and making trailers for our own fantasized movie, we even screened them in our farewell and we got a huge response. We were all thrilled and started trying for the next step but we all went in different directions in life, so we kind had to leave

our dream behind.

Now for the most important part, probably something that has to do with my career. All these years right from my school days to college I was least bothered about what i was going to be in my life?? I am not a very intelligent person but I always was a kind of student who learnt everything for the sake of getting a pass mark in my exam. I was never told (even as a kid) the things I learn in school and college are probably used in the future and I was too late to realise it

either. I didn't have the guts to go and attend any interviews though I attended some when I was in college. I decided to do some course to get some added benefit... I did Embedded Systems with a lot of compulsion from my father because he believed it had a lot of scope. But i never had any interest. Though I got the certificate but never bothered to attend any interviews.

I simultaneously did a small course on Visual Effects too. I took a lot of interest and did stuffs. Probably one of the only time I learnt something so that I can be THAT someone. But all my efforts went in vein because i met with a major accident when I went for a job hunt in chennai. Months passed by and I lost touch and slowly the interest has faded again. I m currently doing Oracle certification, hoping it fetches me a job.

In my 24 years of life experience, my interests kept switching like a sine wave. I know many of you out there are like me who have no idea about their life or purpose of existence. I still haven't figured a way to get a fix on one field/dream. What I want to do is only partially clear. I want to get into a creative line. I dont want to be that person who is a 9 to 6 working IT professional or the night-shift call centre guy. I want to lead a different life. I want to be unique.

Hopefully I get to become what I want.. someday. But I hope it doesn't become too late....

Wish me luck!!

Wasted - Part I

The term "Wasted" does have a lot of meanings...  doesn't it?? 

 But I am not here to talk about the places where I got totally drunk or did some unusual stuff. I am talking about my Life where I went behind the wrong things over and over again. Why 24 years of a man's life is not enough to set things in the right path? How I never bothered about the stuffs I learnt in school? How I chose the wrong choices when I had a chance to take the right one? 

Everyone says each child has a special talent. But even as a child I didn't exploit myself to search my inside. What can I say... I was in to cartoons like most of the kids and was very much fond of art but I only took the first step, before I could climb up, I was brought back to the ground because It started affecting my academics. But still my friends appreciated some of my drawings and asked me to continue and improve on my sketching. But I didn't... Probably one of the starting of things to come!!

As I grew up, I didn't have much friends who would play with me. All I had by my side was my sister and cousins. My sister used to go to music classes and I was made to tag along with her. I started learning keyboard and I was even gifted one by my parents. I just started to learn to play it but by the time I could master it, I lost interest in it and suddenly gained a little interest in painting again. But that too didn't last for more than a year because I started gaining interest in sports especially cricket.

Cricket became my favourite sport. I wanted to start playing but I was never let to play, I was like a mere 12'th man in my class team. Every weekend my friends play a match, but I would again be called only because I had a cricket kit right from a bat to wicket keeper's gloves. I would never be a part of the game. I would be sent to the boundary line and make me watch the game like I am some spectator. And one day I find my kit to be lost when I left my kit to be watched. My heart-broke because I remember how I used to plead my Mom in getting those stuff. Thanks to my friends, I never bothered to play cricket with them for a while after that. Later, I started going to Tennis classes which allowed me to play :) but that was short-lived because of some inter-district tournament defeat. I played tennis for about 6-8 months. Then slowly I started gaining back interest in cricket again.

 One of my friend Tarun Jain apologized when I told about how I was left-out and gave me a chance in the team but using me as a wicket keeper and at times even made me an opening batsman. But slowly I started feeling cricket wasn't my game but still played for the fun of it and actually started getting better as a batsman when I was pushed in to the lower order and also did well as a part-time medium bowler. But that was only till school. By the time school was over, all we could do was play cricket at our very homes but it was fun till it lasted.

(to be continued...)

Music that made my life!!

I am a music addict like many of y'all. I listen to songs when I m bored, when I use my computer, while riding my bike, when I travel, even sometimes when I m about to sleep. Most of us grow up listening to filmi-music. But I started this journey when I was doing my 11th in school.

POP-FEVER

My friend Dinesh and I used to listen to boy bands from Backstreet Boys to Boyzone, from N'Sync to Blue. But BSB were our favourites. I remember he used to pen down the lyrics by listening to their songs and since we were back benchers, we never bothered what was happening in class and we used memerize the wordings of all their songs and sing in chorus. 

"All you people can't you see, can't you see 

How your love's affecting our reality 
Every time we're down 
You can make it right 
And that makes you larger than life"

These words used to echo our ears all day long and we even used to try to imitate like the backstreet boys like they do in the videos. There were many pop classics which made us music addicts right from BSB's Everybody,Quit Playing Games with my heart, Get down, Show me the meaning of being lonely and N'Sync's Tearing up my Heart, POP,etc. Then when we entered 12th we came to know about a band called "Blue" and they totally screwed us apart with their songs. Their famous single "All Rise" totally changed our outlook towards pop music.

"One for the money and the free rides 

It's two for the lie that you denied 
All rise (all rise) 
All rise (all rise, all rise) 
Three for the calls you've been making 
It's four for the times you've been faking 
All rise (I'm gonna tell it to your face) 
All rise (I rest my case)" 

I remember me and dinesh used to listen to 'All Rise' before leaving to our exam centre, and 'All rise' has become a lucky-charm for me. I became so superstitious that even today if i go for any examniation I listen to the song and then leave my home.

But POP-FEVER was just the beginning in my music-craze. Because I was totally absorbed by a thing called "ROCK"  

THE ROCK-ERA

I know and I have heard people saying "ROCK MUSIC" is like a viral disease. Believe me its true. Though I am not big fan of metal, I have listened to Metallica during school days. Their music really brings out the devil in you. Though I barely understood their lyrics, I listened to their songs for the guitar-solos and thumping drum-beats to haunting bass. My personal favourite albums of theirs is "Reload" and "S&M". But that didnt made a rock addict. When I entered college I came to know about a guy called Prashanth. He showed to the doors of Modern Rock by buying a ROCK compilation called "PROGRESSIVE" which had hit songs of artists like Linkin Park, Nickelback, Oasis, Kid Rock, Incubus, Goo Goo Dolls etc.

 Linkin Park was probably one band that made me listen to ROCK and they are my ROCK-GODS. My point could be contradicting but I started liking ROCK genre because of them. For many people ROCK genre is ruled by Iron Maiden, Slayer, Metallica, Pink Floyd etc but they didnt impress like Linkin Park did. 

"The sun goes down 

I feel the night betray me...

The sun goes down 
I feel the night betray me...

It's like I'm paranoid lookin' over my back 
It's like a whirlwind inside of my head 
It's like I can't stop what I'm hearing within 
It's like the face inside is right beneath my skin "

This part from Linkin park's "Papercut" still gives me the goosebumps whenever I listen to it. After Linkin Park I started listening to songs by Limp Bizkit, Paparoach, Seether, Saliva, Kid Rock, Theory of a Deadman, Rasmus, Simple Plan etc. I tried occasionally listening to Metal genre but it wasn't my cup of tea. But I still listen to some really famous & great metal songs.

But there was a dark shade, a new unexplored genre which came out of nowhere taking me to the streets. Any guess??

DA HIP-HOP FLAVA

Hip-hop or Rap call what you want, music from the underground experimented my taste for music and lyrics. Eminem, 50 Cent, Fort Minor, Styles of Beyond, D12, Akon, Snoop Dogg, Dr.Dre etc. Rap is known to be a free-style genre. Artists rap about their life, drag in others and kill them with their words, providing a way for freedom of speech. Whenever I listen to Eminem's "Lose Yourself" I get inspired. Just have a look at the lyrics....

"You better lose yourself in the music 
The moment you own it you better never let it go, oh 
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow 
Cuz opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo 
You better lose yourself in the music 
The moment you own it you better never let it go, oh 
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow 

Cuz opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo " 

Eminem made me so inspired that even I started writting rap songs in back of my class notebooks. 50 Cent was a quite popular artist among my friends circle, even today whenever we go to a place called "Club 9" we can listen to his songs being played over and over again. Apart from Eminem, Fort Minor was a hip-hop whose music really moved me. Though it was a Mike Shinoda's project their song makes me get addicted to hip-hop.

"This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill

Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain

And a hundred percent reason to remember the name"

Yea its true these artists made me who i am today and their music made my life.

July 31st, 2007 - Chapter Four

Chapter Four

LIVING THE PAIN

3:55 P.M.

I was totally living the pain at the Vadapalani 100 feet road. After sometime, another auto driver comes and lifts me with the help of Arun and they take me to the nearest doctor in that area. Mithin was asked to wait and was told to inform the police. These people did not know about my fracture. They didn't listen to my groans and moans, but they were doing the best to help me. When we went to clinic, the doctor examined my wounds and said he will use an injection to avoid any serious infections. I said "Doctor, its not just the wound. I am pretty sure its a fracture. I heard my bone twitch when the auto hit me." Then the doctor said to Arun that it would be better if you admit him in a proper hospital. I had to hop with my right foot to get back to the auto and after sometime we reached the nearest hospital. They lay me down in a strecher and I was made to wait for half an hour.

4:30 P.M.

I was lying on the strecher like a dead body, unattended. Meanwhile, I saw a little kid who was crying because he too had met with an accident and all that screaming made me feel sad for the small kid, and I overheard the story of how the kid met with an accident.But still nobody came to check on me. I saw some doctors flirting away with the nurses and I couldn't take it anymore. I shouted at them, "This is the way you treat a patient. I have been lying on this strecher for more than half an hour and all u people is have time to talk about all these shit, leaving your patient unattended." Finally they took me to an X-Ray room and scanned my body. After that I was shifted back to the strecher, all this shifting and changing made the pain even worse or god knows if it was making my fracture even worse. I was made to wait for another half an hour. I started shouting again at those attendants and demanded the doctor come and check those X-rays.

5:00 P.M.

In the mean time, I was persuading Arun to call my parents and inform about my accident. He was very hesitant and scared. He told "Lets see what the doctors have to say. Then i ll inform them." My friends karthik, his cousin Raja came after sometime. When Arun informed about the accident and asked them to come to the hospital, they thought we were playing some sort of prank. They felt really bad after seeing me. After a few moments, a lady doctor came in and told "Yes its a fracture and quite a big one. Your acetabellum(hip-joint) has broken but we dont have very good facilities to operate so its better you are transferred to another hospital.". I became restless with all the shifting anf changing of hospitals.

5:15 P.M.

Two policemen came and saw me, they gathered the information required to file an F.I.R. Soon Arun informed my parents and they informed my cousin Sridhar who was residing in chennai. Sridhar came at about 5:30 P.M. he was joined by Arjun, my other cousin who was also in chennai during that time. After another half an hour of waiting, an ambulance arrived. It was one of the worst experiences also. The purpose of the ambulance is to take the patient to the hospital asap. He was goin at a fairly high speed refusing to slowdown even near speed breaker and potholes on the road. The bump ride gave real bad jerks to my hip causing more pain. It was almost 30-45 minutes travel which made it look as if I am going to hell.

6:00 P.M. - 6:45 P.M. (not sure of the time)

I reached the hospital. Immediately I was taken to the TRAUMA room and I was stripped down and was taken for X-Ray and CT- Scans. My uncle and aunt who were also residing in chennai came to the hospital to check on me. But couldn't say anything to them because I was being shifted to the ICU.

8:45 P.M. (not sure again)

I saw my mom and dad. I was broken down in tears to see them. My mom grabbed my hand and said "Nothing will happen to you." and for the only time I would have seen my dad in tears. All these made emotionally sad for the troubles caused to others. But the worst part was when the doctor told me that my operation will happen on the next day and I had to live the pain through out that night making JULY 31st 2007 one of the most dreadful day of my life. :'(



THE AFTERMATH

• On August 1st I was operated, the operation time lasted for more than 4 and half hours.
  
• I was in the ICU for 4 days. All those anasthecia left me unconsicous for almost a day.
• I was bedridden for 2 and a half months.
• To my disbelief, my orkut friends (whom i never met) had started a "GET WELL SOON" thread(forum) in some communities. Even a couple of them visited and called me when I was in the hospital.
  
• On september 15th, I reached coimbatore after the docs gave a green signal.
• For 4 months, I underwent intense physiotherapy.
• I have almost consulted every top doctor in coimbatore. :D
  
• I still have a 15% injury on my knee (posterior ligament tear) and also developed a foot drop after the operation.
• But I am managing to get back to my routine life with good support from my family and friends.
• Still the accident/date/place haunts me and guess it will haunt me whenever I see or hear about any accident.
• I m also planning not to step out of the house on that date, this year (lol.. just kidding).

So to all of you out there thanks for reading my first blog in epic proportions (lol), All I wanna say is that please stay safe and be alert all the time.

God Bless you :)

July 31st, 2007 - Chapter Three (RE-EDIT)

CHAPTER THREE

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

3:00 P.M.

So there we were, cruising the streets of Chennai in an auto with guilty-pleasure. We were least bothered about what had happened ever since our entry to Chennai. We were just talking about stuff we would do. I told Arun, " We should make others feel jealous of us. So we should take snaps where ever we go and post it on the web." Arun acknowledged and we start clicking right away inside the auto-rickshaw itself. I said "We are uploading it because there are too many of our friends who are in abroad who show-off by posting pics regularly in the web like 'I am in shopping mall','I am in front of this place', 'I am at that place' etc etc".
This was one of the pics (from Left: Mithin Raj,Arun and Me).

3:20 P.M.

We were nearing vadapalani and we were mocking ourselves about how we would turn out to be in the next 3-4 months. Things seemed all good for us. We were laughing at each other and I was dishing out the quarrels that took place in saravana stores earlier. I told "U guys should stop quarreling for the things especially for things like cricket bat, cloth hanger etc". Arun sarcastically gave a reply in his own style "This dog(mithin) doesnt know what to buy and what not to buy". They went at it all over again, as Mithin started pointing out about the necessity of a cricket bat at that moment and Arun started sayin some of his own. It was quite fun to watch them go at it.

3:30 P.M.

We were nearing our apartment. We were still having fun inside the auto. We never thought what was goin to happen in the next few overs. Suddenly, the auto driver tries to make an entry on the wrong side of the road. I asked "Why did u take the wrong side of the road, instead of goin a little ahead and make a U-turn??". He casually tells," Goin' that way will add another kilometre to your travel... this is a short cut". I said "No. But... isn't that supposed to be wrong(against the traffic rules)". Arun and Mithin refresh my head by saying that in Chennai these things are normal. Some voice in my head was warning me that this is not the way, seriously something was not right. I literally felt some changes in my body like an alert, a warning, an unclear picture. But it was broken by reality. So the auto makes the turn to the wrong side of the road. I didn't care.. We didn't care about the wrong turn. Just when we thought we were about to reach our apartment. Something happened. Something I thought would never happen, something which could not stopped.


3:45 P.M.

I noticed something comin pretty fast in our way.A Share auto was trying to overtake a motorbike from the left, I saw the whole scene but was very late to act or react to it.BANG!! There was a big collision between the two autos (Remember, I was sitting on the edge of the auto and my knee was pointing outwards of the auto). During the collision, the other auto struck my knee while trying to cut past the traffic. The auto would have almost tumbled side ways but it came back to the ground after a sec. Arun yelled "Is everyone okay?", I screamed in pain and tried to get out of the auto. When I got my left foot out of the auto, I heard a snap sound.. I knew something had broken. I lost my balance and fell down.

For the next few minutes. I could see nothing but the mute spectators watching me shouting in pain, few metres away from the scene. I was yelling in pain where as my friends were have a verbal fight between the auto drivers blaming it on them. For 30-45 seconds i was lying on the road, feeling the pain. Nobody bothered to come and help me. After a while, 4 people came and try to lift me by pulling my arms and legs. I heard another bone twitch, I had lost it. I knew my leg was gone, I would never be able to walk. Arun was trying his best to calm me down by saying "Nothing has happened to you. Its just a wound , that's all!!". I screamed in pain and yelled at him "Its a FRACTURE man, I am sure. Please do something. I can't stand this pain. Please do something."

3:50 P.M.

All I was hearing were voices of the verbal war between my friends and the auto drivers from outside and also there was a voice inside me. I hear Arun enquiring people about any hospital nearby. The voices inside me were shouting ...

"It is your fault, you prick. You shouldn't have gone in an auto with all those stuff"

"It is the mistake of the auto drivers"

"It is your friend's fault, they didn't listen to you"

"FUCK YOURSELF!! You shouldn't have come to Chennai"

"You shouldn't have gone to Saravanna stores, when u had your friend telling u that he will get the stuffs for u"

I couldn't take it. Voices were echoing in my head.

I was lying in a corner of the road lying battered, bruised and injured. I didn't know what was I going to do?? I didn't know what I was going to do...

(to be continued..)

July 31st, 2007 - Chapter Two

//Read Chapter One before proceeding to this one//

CHAPTER TWO

A TRIP TO SARAVANA STORES

JULY 31st, 2007

8:30 A.M.
After a good night's sleep, I woke up at around about 8:30. I looked through the window and found to my surprise that it was pouring in Chennai. But still the humidity didnt make much difference to the climate. I go to other room to check on the other guys, they were already up. Arun was trying to listen to his favourite Ilaiyaraja numbers and Mithin was digging his bag to find something. Meanwhile, Nishant was getting ready to go to office. He said he will come back only in the evening. Nishant asked "What are u guys planning to do?". I said "No Ide.." but Mithin interfered before completing my sentence he said "We are going to Saravana stores da... We need to buy some essential things like bucket,mob,mugs,etc" I was shocked. These guys had planned it without my knowing. I asked "Then what about karthik's cousin... he said he will arrange stuff for us and deliver them at our door-steps.. I mean don't u think that would be easy for us...". He looked down and said "No da...It would be good if we go to Saravana stores and picked out stuff on our own besides it would be cheap there...". I was shocked because I got a feeling this guy didn't trust my friend. I had no other option but to adjust with these guys because I have to "get used" to these changes. Somewhere at the back of the mind I had this feeling that none of us were getting along well with each other.

10:30 A.M.

We all got ready. Then we were a hunting a spot to have our breakfast. We found a place and sat down to have Dosas again... I was kind of pissed off and said "I dont know for long we will be eating this dosas for the rest of our lives." I said that because ever since we landed in Chennai we had been eating nothing but dosas. Arun said "We have to get used to these conditions or better start looking for a hotel where we can get good food". I said "May be we can do that in the noon or evening after coming back from Saravana stores". After having quick breakfast. I take out my purse and see I had only some 50 bucks. I said to Arun " We may have to go to ATM before going to Saravana stores". Mithin replied "I have cash da no problem, we will sit down later and calculate the share-of-money accordingly. For once I felt he had spoken sensibly. We then were waiting for the bus to come. I asked "Shall we take an auto instead of waiting here for the bus to come". The Auto-fellas were asking too much, again tried bargaining but all in vein.


11:45 A.M.


After 45 mins, a bus came but it was over crowded. I asked Arun "Should we (take this bus)??". He replied sarcastically "I dont wanna wait for another bus to come". What he meant was probably that he didn't want to wait for another 45 mins. We all boarded the bus and I was literally getting crushed because of the over-crowd. Luckily Mithin got a seat after a couple of stops but Me and Arun were totally getting crushed. It was quite an experience. I said "We should have taken an auto" and Arun replied "Tomorrow if you go to work and you have no other option but to use public transport, you need to get used to the rush". I was hoping we reach our stopping soon. After half an hour, we reached Panagal park.. Arun said "Lets get down and walk from here."

12:15 A.M.

We had to walk about 20 minutes to get to Saravana Stores after we got down from the bus. We got in to the shop and while we were picking out stuffs, there were too many quarrels between Arun and Mithin like "Don't need that.. we will take this.","What is the use in buying that.. You would hardly need it.", "That item doesn't require so many quantities" etc etc. I coudn't take any of it so I went to a corner and sat down to look at these two go at it for silly things. There was a huge argument and guess where it took place.. the sports section. Arun was planning to buy a cricket bat (I don't know why it was important for him to buy it at that moment). Mithin started arguing about stuff like "We have just come to Chennai and already you have cricket in mind". After 2 hours of shopping, we stopped to have our lunch in a nearby place. After having lunch we were walking back to catch a bus,auto or a metro-train. I stopped near a shop and asked Arun to click a snap so that I can upload in Orkut and make my friends envy me. I said sarcastically "We should take photos wherever we can and upload them in orkut." And this was one of them. We were discussing about the mode of travel back to our apartment and finally we decided to take an auto. We didnt have space in the auto thanks to Mithin and also all the stuff we had to carry. I would count myself in too because I am not thin and tall guy,lol. I asked "Do u think we will fit in this auto??" Arun and Mithin said "Let's Adjust!!". After I got into the auto-rickshaw, I asked Arun "Do u want to sit on my lap so we could a little more comfortably with so many stuff taking half the space?". Arun said "No need". But I had no option to sit in an awkward position by coming forward so that everybody got some space to sit in the auto-rickshaw.

2:50 P.M.

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

We all were stunned by the noise but it was a traffic cop ramming the roof of the auto with his lathi-stick asking the auto-rickshaw to get a move on by not disrupting the traffic. So off we were on our way to our apartments hoping to start our new bachelor lives...

(to be continued...)

July 31st, 2007 - Chapter One (RE-EDIT)

I have no idea why I am writing about this. But it is something I wanted to tell the whole world about!!

July 31st 2007 marked a disastrous event in my life that I simply cannot forget or something that I cant stop talking about. So many turn of events happened which could have been avoided but as everyone would say "Fate is without a sense of Irony".

I will narrate this D-Day like a story/journal-entry (with 3-4 chapters). Though I vaguely remember some of the stuff which happened, I have tried my utmost level to present the happenings in detail.


CHAPTER ONE

WE HAD NO OPTIONS

June 30,2007

6:00 A.M.

I was heading to the railway station (Coimbatore) accompanied by my dad. I find Arun, my friend who also like me wanted to pursue his career in the big CHENNAI city. Me,Arun and Arun Lee were the ones who planned to go to Chennai and make a mark in our lives. But due to some reasons, Arun lee didn't join us. So it was just me and Arun starting off from Coimbatore. Arun's friend Mithin Raj who was from Salem was also due to join us in our journey. I bumped in to Krishnamoorthy who was my college-mate and he too was heading to chennai. So we had a great time in train, talking about stuffs and planning on what to do after reaching chennai. On the way, Mithin joined us at Salem. On the first look itself i had a feeling that we are not going to get along but I remained mum and was just responding to his queries.

2:00 P.M.

We reached Chennai. I was all smiles to head start a new chapter in my life. After a long walk to get out of the station, we hired a call taxi and we were on our way to meet our apartment owner. After negotiating with the owner, we headed straight to the apartment.

4:00 P.M.

After reaching the place (Vadapalani), we were waiting for one of my friend Nishant who was willing to join us in the apartment. We checked out the apartment and it was pretty decent one. We had to quarrel little bit with the broker who asked one month rent as his commission but nothing worked out so we paid him.

4:30 P.M.

We went to a restaurant for food since we skipped lunch. We had to pay for those idiot broker and co-owner for their food. We were already finding chennai to be expensive. But we had no choice.

5:30 P.M.

My friend Karthik and his cousin Raja came to see us. They were pretty happy to see us. Immediately I said to Karthik that I wanted to see City centre, watch a movie at Satyam theatre or hang out in the marina or thiruvanmyur beach. Karthik assured that he will take us on the next day. Then came a question of, where to get the bare necessities for the apartment. Raja told us he could arrange for that and everything will delivered to the apartment (if needed). Arun and Mithin stared at each other and it looked like they were not trusting Raja's words (i may be wrong but its just my view). They said "We will call you if we need anything".

7:00 P.M.

Next stop was meeting the owner and paying the advance for the apartment. We had to wait for more than an hour for the owner to show up. Then suddenly there was a huge quarrel between us and the co-owner. He started using foul-language and spoke as if we were not fitting in to their demands. After a lot of heated exchanges, we had to compromise because we had nowhere to go. It felt like we just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. After carefully discussing with all my roomies we came to a conclusion and paid the advance. I told Arun "Looks like we had come to chennai at wrong time". He told "We had no other option and we have to get used to it". Nishanth left off with his friend since he had some unfinished work, so it was just the 3 of us.

9:50 P.M.

We got out and we were searching for a place to have our dinner. Most of the restaurants were closing and we had to rush. They served only dosa. We had no option. We had 2 dosas each, and while having Arun and Mithin were going about it, they were arguing about the incident that happened and there was even talks about controlling the expenses because we had lost 75% of the cash we had brought in advance and rent. I said "We have to control our apetite for some more days" and Mithin was quite unhappy with my decision.Arun said "I can live by eating just dosas". Again, they started arguing. I was so frustrated but had to be calm in getting used to their fights. The bill was around 80 bucks, and Mithin started all over again. I said " I will pay the bill.. I have no problem."

10:30 P.M.

After all those bad events, we still remained cool and we seemed happy to be at chennai. Had a nice chat with Mithin and Arun for about 15-20 minutes, then Nishanth came back from work. Mithin and Arun shared a room where as Me and Nishant were shared the other. Before going to hit the sack, I said to myself "Today might have been a bad start, lets just leave everything for tomorrow.. ".

(to be continued...)

Evolution of Gaming

Gaming has been one of my passions in Life. I always loved to spending time playing games. My folks used to call me crazy even though I am not a die-hard gamer like many of 'em out there. But in my life (till now) I can say 'I have witnessed the evolution of gaming'. And I am going to share my experience with Gaming in this blog. I was eventually planning to title it as "Journal of a Gamer" but I will stick to "Evolution of Gaming" .

My First experience to games was of course a hand-held video game. My mom had bought it for when I was 6 or 7 years old. It was a car racing game and worked on a single coin-shaped battery. I used to be so addicted with it that sometimes I used to take it to School :)

Then came my first console gaming experience in the year 1992. It was an Atari console. I don't remember the exact game titles but I remember having a 51 in 1 game cartridge which had games like PAC-MAN,Tennis, Battlezone, Air-sea battle etc. Originally it was owned by cousin but later on he handed it over to me, and I went nuts with it. I can probably call it the beginning of my gaming-life.

Probably two years from then on, I started playing PC Games but I didn't have a PC of my own. I used to go to my dad's shop, where they had this black and white monitor PC (sorry don't have the specs of the computer) and they had Wolfenstein 3D and Prince of Persia installed. In those days u got these games when u purchased some softwares. I used to go every Saturday and play from the morning till someone pulls me off from the chair. I used to suck real bad but I never gave up because the graphics and gameplay thrilled me. But after a couple of weeks they had removed the games because my dad couldn't get his work done :'(

So I moved back to Atari but I wasn't thrilled playing because I felt the graphics in the games were utter crap. My next addiction was arcade gaming. There was this arcade centre near my house called "Missing Link", I didn't know that such a thing existed until my friend showed it to me (This was around 1995-'96). They charged Rs.1 for a coin which was cheap but then my parents wouldn't give me pocket money because they thought I wasn't old enough. So I used to sneek, I used to steal coins from wherever I can find and run to the arcade centre. But then I used to have Rs.5 at the max, but still I would be enthralled to get my hands on the games. They had games like Street fighter, WWF, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(TMNT) etc. But they had only multiplayer games so u either have to play with your friend or a guy who will be waiting to join. I used to suck big time. People used to bash me like hell(of course in the game) and I end up on the losing side. Only TMNT was a co-op game where two players work together to finish the game. I remember during my birthday in the year 1997. I spent 50 bucks for finishing TMNT with my friend Vikram. At that time, there was even a hand-held brick game device that was doing its rounds and which was quite popular in school.

Now, Vikram was the kind of guy whom any gaming freak would hang out with. Wanna know why??? Because he owned a TERMINATOR3, which is one of the biggest selling 8-bit gaming consoles in our times. He also had a Nintendo (thank god it wasn't in a working condition) and he had a PC of his own. Through Vikram, I got to play a lot of games. Some of them which I will remember for a long time. Games like Contra, Mario bros, TMNT, Mortal kombat for Terminator3 were really fun and engaging. But I didnt have a Terminator 3 then. I used to cry in front of my parents to buy me one but they never used to listen. Then in 1997, they got me one and I used to buy cartridges every 3 months and it had cost in the range of 450-550 bucks which was really costly. I used to pester my mom to get me and she used to pity me and buy all the games I asked for. I was such a TMNT addict and was always in search of any TMNT game that was available in the market.

Coming back to Vikram, he was really a spoiled brat.. he always made me feel jealous with his PC games. In 1997, my Dad bought me a PC. The First game I played was Allan Border's Cricket which was a pure DOS based Game. I knew Windows 95 existed then but I never let anyone install it because the game used to run only in DOS. I also played a lot of other games like DOOM (my all time personal favourite),Dangerous DAVE,Hocus pocus, Duke Nukem, Stargunner, Jazz Jackrabbit, Mortal Kombat 3, Indiana Jones: Fate of Atlantis. These games were really awesome because it had a new feel with the sounds and music used in the games were mind-blowing. Some of the games were like movies with great storyline. Around 1998 I started playing windows based games like Need for speed 2 SE, FIFA '08, Cricket 07 (ashes edition) and I used to buy these games for 499 bucks after every mid-term exam. I used to flunk in my exams real bad but then again My mom used to buy everything I asked for...

I wouldn't say I was a pro-gamer but it was something I was good at. Once I started playing windows games I concentrated on a specific genre of games and that was Sports. I was so addicted to the CRICKET series from EA sports, I literally owned all their titles from 97 to 2002.
It might have been because I was very much into CRICKET that I used to watch it in TV, play with my friends in the nearest playground or at home. Then came along my terror-friends named 'Prahalad Ramji' and 'Dinesh kumar'...

First, I wanna tell about Dinesh.. He is one of those guys who lends a lot of stuff from others and from me... he used to lend video-game cartridges. But Dinesh was still in the 8-bit TERMINATOR Gaming Level. I used to give away some of my old cartridges to him for FREE!! He then noticed some of the games in my PC. I personally didn't know the guy.. All I knew was that he studied in my school. We became classmates in the 11th grade. The game which brought us together was MIB... and the reason for buying the game was because of the movie. Every week he used to come to my place and play games... Sometimes he even brings some new titles for me. That way we became good buddies. During 1999, my gaming profile reduced but I always played games when I wanted to. I got in to a nasty habit of playing games with cheat-codes, which kinda made me lazy and finish off the games pretty fast.

Now, for Prahalad Ramji. He was like the second Vikram who came in my life and believe me he created a lot of envy in me. I would say he was a much sophisticated version of Vikram and wanna know the reason why???.... cuz he owned a PLAYSTATION, damn it!! Probably the only guy in our class to own a PS. Of course, he was a nice-friendly person and invited me to his place for showing the PS. I have never seen a PS or never even heard of it (until this guy told me about it). He showed me the list of games and offered me to select one. I chose some Gran Turismo and my jaw-dropped immediately when he started the game. Later on, he showed Tomb Raider which made my condition even worse. Every week I used to go to Prahalad's apartment to play PS, but I used to suck whenever I played with him. He was like a Pro-Gamer.
But every now and then, he used to buy some games for PC and used to share it with me.


During 2000-'02 I had played games like Tomb Raider, The Mummy, Brian Lara Cricket, NFS III: Hot Pursuit, Max Payne,FIFA 02, CROC, and a bunch of Arcade games for PC which I don't remember. But since I developed a habit of playing games with cheats , I couldn't get over the weakness. And games like Max Payne had Mods which was something new for me, although Mods had been coming for other games like Quake and Half-life. I got to play some mod games only in Max Payne. I also used to buy gaming magazines like SKOAR which made me know about the good games that were available in the market.

(2002) Prahalad calls me one day and tells me he just got the PS2... This time I was more envious than ever. He showed games like Metal Gear Solid 2, Splinter's Cell series, Silent Hill Series, Driv3r, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance,TMNT, etc. But the PS2 was unaffordable for me. Still, I used to play the PS2 at his place. Slowly from 2003-2005, (when I was in college) I lost the interest in gaming but I had played some games like Max Payne 2, Warcraft III,GTA III, GTA: Vice City, Doom 3, FAR CRY etc.

During the summer 2005, Prahalad (again) shows me his new portable Gaming device which was the Nokia N-GAGE QD... Luckily, I had lent it from him for a month and I was impressed with the games in that platform. Slowly, I started persuading my sister who was working in a bank. After a couple of weeks of urging, she bought me one. I loved every single bit of the device. It is one of the first Multimedia phone I had used. The best part was the gaming functionality. The graphics were pretty neat for a mobile device. I would say it was an N-GAGE'ing experience. But I sold that phone in 2006 and I still regret for selling that phone because it was the best.

2006 fall, I got a bit of the gaming-fever. I finally saved some the cash that was required to buy me one PS2. I finally bought the PS2 and called Prahalad and he said "Dude! PS3 is coming soon!!, why did u get the PS2 now." I fainted. But the news didn't stop me from playing some of the playstation titles like WWE: Raw Vs Smackdown, Bully, Splinter Cell 4, God of War,(new) Prince of Persia.. Though I didn't finish any game, I was really glued on to my seat when I played them. After a couple of months, I sold my PS2 to my friend Dinesh for a good price.

In 2007, I was hooked on to PC Games again. I completed games like NFS Most Wanted and Carbon, The Matrix: Path of Neo which probably brought me back my gaming skills which I had lost. And 2008 has been a great (so far). I got a sneak-peek of the XBOX 360 at my cousin's place and had fun playing Tomb Raider: Legends and Hitman 4. I had a chance to try the Nintendo Wii but I was unlucky.

Recently, I thoroughly enjoyed playing games like Gears of War, Assassin's Creed and Kane&Lynch:Dead men.

I still haven't had a chance to play games in PS3 or Wii but I am pretty sure it will happen some day.

I have played games from arcade to 3rd person shooter, adventures to sports... I was amazed by the concepts like FPS especially from it's early stages and breaking barriers by incorporating stuffs like bullet-time,ragged doll physics,stealth, etc. I learned a lot through games, stuffs which I wouldn't have learned in school... I mean, I probably would have learned it but not with the same involvement or enthusiasm .

From all these things, I have noted one thing.And I say it again 'I have witnessed the evolution of gaming'. Probably not at the exact-moment but a little late unlike the people in US or other foreign countries.

I dedicate this blog to all my gaming-friends and I hope u too had some similar experiences like me.

Opening My (Blog) Account

I wanted my first blog in this site to be a special one. But there are too many things in my head and I can't jump onto a conclusion. So I have decided my first blog at blog spot to be just like any book's Preface.

First of all, I haven't read many blogs but I know blogging is really a good way of expressing one's thoughts. My Friend Aravind Menon and of course my sister Sreelatha are the ones who inspired me to blog.

I have used blog before but I had used it to write one fictional story. You can have a read if you are interested.

(Link: http://360.yahoo.com/xtreme_maddy)

I am going to use this one to express my view and sharing some of my experiences in my life. Everybody is welcome to comment and express their views, and please don't mind the language. I am not a scholar or anything.

Guess I will stop here. Hope you will find my blogs interesting.

Stay Tuned ;-)