Just when I was sitting idly this evening, flipping through a magazine’s page, this thought crossed my mind. Why is that I spend a lot of time before the computer nowadays? I would barely sit before a terminal in college for 5 mins to do real work. Mostly we used to watch movies, play games, that is what the computer was for in campus. Every computer in the hostel used to boast of holding 80 to 100 GB of movies. All downloaded from the internet. We never felt the need to learn anything from it. We used to play music all night on the computers, and that is it. I had a hell lot of work then, rather than sit before a dumb terminal. I had my friend (a roommate of mine) saying to me today as he was leaving out to meet his girl friend, why are you always talking to the computer these days. Am I really?
Yes! I spend most of my time on GTalk or Twitter, talking to people, we call it social networking. I am proud that I own a website. I feel happy to see the blog stats on wordpress. But what am I doing? Whatever that I am proud of does not exist, they are all virtual, living on the servers globally. Am I missing the real fun.
Going back to the days in college, still they are the best days I could remember. No worries about the next day, no one to answer to, a hell lot of friends who were really doing the same time as you are, just whiling the time. Sitting on the MIT bund was a favourite past time. We had little pocket money, but life was fun and carefree.
Going to Airways Hotel (that is just a small fast food shop in chromepet, chennai) at 2 in the night, with just Rs. 20, ordering 6 parottas and then sharing it with friends on the railway platform. It was more fulfilling meal than a great buffet lunch at the Residency Towers, with office colleagues.
My college life shaped me well and taught me to survive. There was a(there were actually many.. but this is one I am actually speaking about now) girl whom I liked on the campus. We were friends; we used to chat on the phone the whole night over, talking on stupid things. It was the time when mobile phone market was catching up in India, so we had lot of offers provided by the Cellphone operators. My operator plan allowed me to speak at 10 paise per min. Wow! what a deal it was.
I used to recharge for Rs. 530 a day and then go back to recharge in a couple of days. Days were fun. She was staying at her home with her parents and me in the hostel, but we found place and time to speak. From “GM, wat r u doing?” to “GN, sweet dreams”, SMS was our lingua franca. We chatted and chatted. But one fine day, it all blew up, and we fought. There were multiple chances that I would have made up, but then, I didn’t want to break the ice and so didn’t she. With that ended my saga with girl-friends or girls as friends.
Now when I want to begin the conversation with a girl, I really don’t have a clue as to where to start with. (Kindly bear with me, I just reeling it all from my head, so I never know why things are not in the proper order… Anyway this is just a musing…) So why did I come to this girl-friend episode, Ya! No girl friend to spend the time with, and so I have more free time to waste.
What about friends? I stay with my friends here in a rented house. As a matter of fact, all my room mates are also the ones that I studied in college with. We had great time together, we used to bunk classes, work on the college culturals, advice juniors and enjoy life. We never did study at college. Who wants to study, when being in MIT was itself a privilege? I was good at doing multimedia work for the college culturals. We used to have films screened at the OAT every month. Before the film, we used to have slideshows, and I wield my expertise to fight the opposite team. It was fun time all the time. So I should be spending time with them. But then, everyone works late in office. Welcome to Indian software market, here Working Late is synonymous to Working Great! I come home at 7 p.m and have a lot of tine until when my friends trickle in at 10 p.m. (Don’t feel that I am in a dream company where I work a job from 9 am to 6 pm, it is just that the situations have not gotten worse yet). So chatting with friends to pass time has been ruled out.
Coming to the TV, another idiot box. Only Star Vijay airs nice programs, and all nice programs start at 9 p.m, leaving me to do something from 7 p.m to 9 p.m everyday. Saturdays and Sundays are even worse. Unless or until everyone is home, it is a hell of boredom here.
So why don’t I catch up with my family, my mom and dad and sis on the phone. Hey come on, how much time will you phone your mom and dad!
That explains it! I am becoming dumb as the terminal before me! Someone cure me of this disease that has caught up on me, or which I have willfully embraced. What I need now is company! A real company, whom I can just chatter with! God, forsake!
Raasukutty's 