When I logged in to my Hotmail account today, I noticed the Registered since field which was set to 27th February, 2002. w00t, a decade had passed.
I created that email account from my school’s computer lab, as part of settle down on one-email account. IIRC I went to school to collect my admit card for 10+2 board exams, and I sneaked into computer science lab, and created that account there. I kept checking it regularly in an effort to keep it active. It was crazy in those days when I didn’t have any internet connection at home, going to cybercafes, friend’s home, dad’s work place, and where not. It was a very special account for me, I interacted with lots of awesome/special friends through it, but unfortunately I didn’t have any emails that old, courtesy their 5MB limit.
Anyways, it is the only part of my Microsoft legacy, which I’m still carrying, and I hope to carry it for as long as possible, feeling nostalgic!
After nearly half a decade, I visited Palam again. I wanted to take this trip a bit early, for a special reason, but my luse^H^H^Haziness preëmpted it, and now that reason isn’t anymore . Anyways, since most of the friends are married, or are in process of getting married, I feel a bit awkward to hang out with them, so this time I decided to troll the streets alone by myself. And also as this is a completely unannounced visit, there is very less chance to catch them.
The place had undergone a major overhaul. Lots of artifacts (of that time) are destroyed, re-built. Streets are narrowed, paths were altered, but thankfully roads are still uneven. It has become a mess and finding my way in this mess was fun, but it was really disheartening to see it like that. I visited a couple of places where I was regular at one time, to see if they still recognize me, but none-of-them recognized me, except for one person .
So, after fed up of trolling streets, and waiting on the corner of street hoping for someone to see me from their balcony, recognize me, call my name, I decided to call Rahul, who as I expected wasn’t at his place . Considering, it as fate, I decided to take bus back to Metro station, but then thought at least I should check out my school, so I decided to take the shortcut to school. The shortcut proved real short this time, unlike a bit longer when I used to take it daily 9 years ago. I’m not sure what made it look shorter, maybe the obscurity introduced in paths, or is it the zeal of find / . The school, which at that time was recognizable from far, is now unrecognizable due to even taller structures grown around it. Anyways, I didn’t enter school this time.
I wanted to meet Arun, who once called from .au years ago to surprise me, and IIRC my response wasn’t at all cool . I haven’t heard from him since then. Nor I heard any news of Puneet, so I decided to show up at Puneet‘s shop and probe about Arun as well. I went outside at Puneet‘s shop, and luckily he was there. We chatted for few minutes, and he mentioned about getting a gold medal for MCA from IGNOU, most crazy thing . He mentioned Arun is also in India, so from there we went to Arun‘s place. Arun had some health issues recently, but was looking cheerful as usual. We refreshed lots of old memories, which of course aren’t safe to post here . It really felt great to physically see him after a long time. He is one of my good friends I’ve in school, although I never realized it while in school, but looking at it now seems the one whom I considered my best friends don’t even talk to me. I wish he recover soon, and live n! years, where n is his favorite positive integer .
Lastly I wanted to meet Dinu, but since I was running out of time, and it started raining as well, and realized, that was probably his time to go back to work, so decided not to call him. I wish I’d made this trip earlier, c’est la vie.
Anyways, too much nostalgia, time to shut up and hack, after all this’s what I’m here for.
