Straight ten years back—when I was a tot, recently admitted to Don Bosco School. I clearly recall it was the tenth of June when for the first time, a computer thrust its way into our house. I had experienced hands since I used to type in the computer at my father’s table at his office (yes, I went to his office also on Saturdays or Sundays. It had been the Command Prompt (MS DOS); no Windows. Over here, we had no computer table at that time and so the PC was kept on the drawing room bed for the time being. My dad assembled it after consulting my friend’s dad from whom it was purchased.
DEMORASH (or rather ROADRASH), the game that I had first seen with bulging eyes in one of my friends’ house just weeks ago, was a hot cake at that time. “Player 1” (changeable, of course) inscribed at the left hand corner juts below the speedometer and the man ahead of you on the right side. The music was captivating and the bike crashes sensational. And the man used to run towards his bike howsoever it crashed and after picking it up in a unique style, he went off. I still remember that there was always a fellow named Mike at the front and following him Bose. Then there was the “Restroom”, which you call the “Main Menu”. Then there were the unforgettable “Sam” and “Sydney” whom I liked kicking, punching (=kick and =punch and + together once=ceaseless involuntary punches). Great game it was indeed! I couldn't stop laughing! Later on in the following years, I went on to complete the full version of the game.
Fifa 99, Cricket ’97 Ashes Tour Edition were also loaded with the computer. The cricket game had a lot of memories with my elder nephew (two-years elder to me) but I shall throw light on that later on, when I received the full version. Let me tell you my specifications at that time: Windows 98, 64 MB of RAM and Pentium III 733 MHz and 10 GB HDD. Don’t’ giggle! I used to look transfixed at the computer and my mom used to put the food into my mouth while I involuntarily masticated. Oh, there was KBC also: the same Amitabh Bachchan voice and random questions with all lifelines ready to be availed of. Brilliant experience!
Digit, India’s most demotic tech-mag, found the roots of its inception in June 2001. My dad bought the October issue. That time you didn’t have three dual layer DVDs, we only had a Playware CD and a Mindware CD. I remember that there was a game involving Donald Duck which had to be played with the CD plugged in without any installation. That time the price of the recently extinct Nokia 6600 was near about `30,000 with which today you can easily lay your hands on a brand new Nokia N8. You know the significance of this Playware CD? The beginning of my love affair with games, or rather an irresistible addiction which I later got to know. A latent passion was on the cards. My dad kept buying every month’s issue and I kept being all agog at games galore.
Max Payne [I]—The American Dream, was released in 2001; I laid my hands on the demo when I was 7.
One of the best Co-operative First Person Shooters at that time was the Unreal Tournament. Whoa! What a game! What weapons! It had been an instant hit. Being a child I used to pronounce it “Un-reel Tower-ment”. I still remember my folder had 26 games in some month of 2002 and all of them demos.
The Grand Theft Auto games which are played now are of the newer variety. I saw history being made, with GTA I and GTA II being, at that time, a cut above the rest.
I started playing Delta Force in the June of 2002 when dad bought a CD comprising DF 1, DF 2 and DF 3 (Land Warrior). Oh! What a game! It was amazing for an FPS of those days featuring multiple weapon-varieties. Sensational indeed!
Heard of EA SPORTS Cricket 2002? The game that fetched millions, taking the generation by storm, was released in the same month of June, 2002. I played the demo and instantly got addicted to it. That was my first cricket game after the spanking Cricket ’97 (I shall keep a separate post for this).
This wasn’t the end of 2002, I played S.W.A.T. 3—the first game in its genre that involved realistic handcuffing, lock-breakers and tear gas.
Now the game that still makes me cry—Age Of Empires II-The Age of Kings; My first ever Strategy game after I had played a similar game of that sort prior to it. The menu music still haunts me; the calls of the Paladin, the Samurai and the Cavalry; Genghis Khan and the Mongols—in short, I played History at quite a young age.
With Quake 2 I had similar memories. I completed the game along with my 6-years elder cousin. He lives in Kolkata and in the December of 2003, I played it once more in a game parlor, 30 seconds distance from his house.
There were many others like Crimson Skies [my first fighter plane game] and innumerable forgotten names.
So, (*sigh*) that was for 2001-2002. Visit this page to get more updates till I come up to 2009-2010.
I am witness to a story of two intimate souls—immersed in depths of longing and friendship they fleeted time. I saw them together when the world was isolated. I saw them help each other when none helped. Their longing, their passion for each other formed their friendship.
Wherever and howsoever they played, they played as a team, mostly against the witness. Their triumph, their joy, their pending trophies form a natural bond. Tears roll out of their eyes if they even dream of isolation. Innumerable reprimands did I get, numerous derisions did I receive, but I hadn't seen any two individuals remain as a close as that (no pun intended), both in heart and in soul.
Their feet took them to the farthest of places; sometimes to Meghdoot when mostly lies initiated it. I have been seeing them for the last four years (nearly) and haven't noticed a single change in their relation. When I first witnessed such a sight in every Bengali class, I was amazed; even others were close—but their closeness has faded away now while not theirs. Maybe there had been some establishment of distance, but that never made their minds get away from each other. That's why I call them "The Inseparable Souls".
2014 shall be a year to "remember" (at COSMOS indeed!).
My mind moved nostalgically to a date exactly 365 days back; when the "Binnacle" phenomenon overwhelmed me. Today tears fill my eyes as I look back at that Delhi hotel where I was snug under the blanket, asleep not due to satisfaction but a feeling of vague regret. Now as I look forward to my latest challenge (ICSE), the challenge awaiting me once more in Class XI is strengthening my spirits more and more.
27 January, 2011.
[FOR MORE INFORMATION, READ THE POST DATED 30 JANUARY,2010 IN THIS VERY BLOG]
