Rann keeps getting more relevant and that’s not a good sign

April 13, 2021 by Keyur Seta 8 Comments

Rann (2010) was one of the better films created by Ram Gopal Varma. It came at a time when the filmmaker was being written off, especially after the debacle of Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007), the remake of Ramesh Sippy’s classic Sholay (1975).

Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Paresh Rawal, Sudeep, Mohnish Bahl, Suchitra Krishnamoorthi and Gul Panaag, Rann gave more than a glimpse of the RGV of his prime.

Unfortunately, the film just didn’t work at the box office and couldn’t reach a large number of the audience.

But since the last few years, Rann has been appearing more relevant than it did more than a decade ago when it had released. In fact, it continues to get more relevant with each passing year and that isn’t a good sign.

Rann was basically about Vijay Harshwardhan Malik (Bachchan), the righteous and honest owner of a news channel called India 24/7. His channel is struggling with TV ratings since he is not willing to carry out any unethical and dishonest means to up the ratings, like other rival channels, including the one headed by the corrupt Amrish Kakkar (Bahl).

Vijay’s son Jai (Sudeep) has the opposite ideology but is unable to do anything since it is his father who controls the channel, much to his frustration. Meanwhile, Purab Shastri (Deshmukh), a die-hard fan of Vijay and a budding journalist, is delighted to have got the opportunity to work for India 24/7.

Apart from being a film on the media, Rann was also a political drama. Mohan Pandey (Rawal) from the opposition is desperate to become the Prime Minister. He forms a deal with Jai to frame the existing PM Digvijay Hooda (KK Raina) in a terror plot. Jai convinces Vijay about Hooda’s involvement in the scandal and the latter airs the ‘news’ on his channel.

This results in an uproar in the nation and Hooda is forced to step down as the PM. The general elections are held mid-term in which Pandey triumphs and is all set to become the next PM. However, Purab gets to know about Jai’s evil plan to frame the innocent Hooda. But is it too late?

Although the term ‘fake news’ isn’t spelt out in Rann, that is the crux of the film’s basic plot. However, fake news as a concept was hardly there in 2010, so, obviously, it wasn’t known by the masses. Hence, the seriousness of the subject wasn’t felt by the audience back then.

But today, we are living in an era where fake news is not just a reality but a regularity. Political parties use it on a daily basis to score brownie points over their rivals. Their leaders are painted as saints while the opposing party leaders are made to look like evil through posts and memes that appear like real news.

Rann had a long and powerful tagline that can be seen above

And our gullible citizens believe them without bothering to do any kind of verification. The controversy of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput received more fuel because of fake news. It went to such an extent that ‘news’ like how some top Hindi film stars saw the live telecast of Rajput’s ‘murder’ were spread and they were believed even by well-educated individuals.

Rann also went way ahead of its time and showed a news channel airing fake news. This might have appeared difficult to believe 10 years back but today this is also a reality. There have been instances where channels have aired ‘news’ that can be sourced only to What’s App forwards.

Rann ends in a powerful way when Vijay addresses the nation and begs forgiveness for airing fake news about Hooda. The dialogues and Bachchan’s performance provides goose bumps as we are told the responsibility of the media from scratch.

Big B’s climax monologue in Rann

A line spoken by Vijay’s character sums up the relevance of the film today – Jab sarkar aur media satta ki duad mein aapsi sauda kar leti hain, toh khabarein banti nahin, banai jaati hain [When the government and the media make a deal in the race to power, news doesn’t happen; it is created]

Andha Yug to be discussed, screened at META online event on 2nd, 3rd April

April 1, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) has organized a conversation around the classic Hindi play Andha Yug on Friday 2 April at 7 pm IST on their official Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The topic of the conversation is Andha Yug: The Theatrics of Visual and Improv. Joy Maisnam, Sajida and Mohd. Shahnawa will be talking to Ajit Rai, the moderator.

The following day (Saturday 3 April) there will be an online performance of Andha Yug on 7 pm IST again on their official Facebook page and YouTube channel. The play will be performed by artistes from across India.

A verse play, Andha Yug is set against the backdrop of the last day of the Mahabharata war until the final moments of Lord Krishna’s life. The moral centre of the play lies in Krishna and his presence which reveals to us that the ethical and the just are always available to human beings, even at the worst of times.

To visit META’s Facebook page, click HERE

To visit META’s YouTube channel, click HERE

When Livingstone’s team won a ONE-DAY match by 500 runs!

March 30, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

We all have seen teams winning one-day matches by huge margins, especially while playing against minnows. But the info I came across about Liam Livingstone during India’s third and final ODI against England on Sunday 28 March shocked me.

One of the commentators shared this interesting trivia when England’s Livingstone came into bat.

In 2015, when Livingstone was just 21-year old, he played a 45-over one-day match for his club Nantwich CC against Caldy in Cheshire in the Royal London Club Championship.

Liam Livingstone after the match — Liam Livingstone with Ben Johnston after the match [Photo credits: Nantwich CC Twitter page]

Livingstone went onto score as many as, hold your breath, a mammoth 350 runs in just 138 balls. He hit 34 fours and 27 sixes! His team scored an unbelievable total of 579 runs in the allotted 45 overs!

He also had a partnership of as many as 290 runs with fellow batsman Ben Johnston, which is considered a record.

Speaking about his innings, Livingstone had told in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, “It was just one of those days when everything I did came off. Every shot I tried to play, most came out of the middle [of the bat]. All the edges went past fielders. Balls landed in the gap. I think it was just my day and luckily I cashed in on it.”

Interestingly, there were still 9 overs to go when Livingstone got out. “I was out with 9 overs to go. I was quite disappointed that I didn’t get more [laughs]. It’s just one of those things,” he added.

At that time, it was believed 350 is the highest score in any form of limited overs matches in the world. However, it was later learnt that in 2013, an Australian batsman Ashley Gray had smashed 358 not out in a 40-over match for Royal Household Cricket Club against Tambler Valley Ramblers. His team went onto score 454 for 1 in 40 overs.

Livingstone 350 runs scorecard — Scorecard of the match [Photo credits: Nantwich CC Twitter page]

But it is believed that the margin of victory for Livingstone’s club team is the highest ever in limited overs cricket around the world.

In reply to his team’s 579, the opposing team Caldy was all out for just 79! Hence, Livingstone’s club team won the match by a whopping 500 runs!

In case somebody is aware of any instance where a team won a limited overs match by more than 500 runs, do mention it in the comments.

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When Jayasuriya-Afridi opened batting together for a noble cause

March 19, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi were two of the most destructive batsmen in the mid to late 1990s era. Both were at the peak of their form at the same time.

Jayasuriya broke the record for fastest 100 in ODIs [one-day internationals] in 48 balls against Pakistan in 1996 in Singapore. Afridi, on the other hand, broke that record against the Sri Lanka in the same year when he scored 100 off just 37 balls in Nairobi.

I remember having discussions in school at that time on what would happen if Jayasuriya and Afridi were in the same team and they opened the batting together. I would regularly note down my World XI team and would include both the players in it.

The dream of watching Jayasuriya and Afridi in the same team came true all of a sudden when a match between India and Rest of the World [ROW] was planned.

The match was organized on 30 December 1997 by Sathya Sai Baba at his model village in Puttaparthi. A stadium was specially created for this match in a short time. It’s perhaps the only cricket stadium that has big statues of various Gods like Hanuman, Shankar, Jesus and Buddha on the boundaries.

The purpose behind the match was to promote unity among the various nations of the world through spirituality. The stadium offered a perfect setting to achieve the goal. More so with school students taking out a rally with the flags of every country in the world.

The dignitaries who attended the match included the then Indian Prime Minister IK Gujral, former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and EAS Prasanna, former Pakistani cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Hanif Mohammad and former West Indian players Clive Lloyd and Alvin Kallicharran. Syed Kirmani, another former Indian cricketer, was the commentator.

The dignitaries seated (Photo source: Radiosai.org)

India was captained by Sachin Tendulkar and World XI by Arjuna Ranatunga. The latter consisted mostly of Sri Lankan and Pakistani players. The Indians came up with a full strength side despite it being an unofficial match. Apart from Tendulkar, they had the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Ajay Jadeja, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi etc.

India won the toss and opted to bat in the 45-over contest and made a big score of 289 for 4. Tendulkar was the star of the innings as he scored 88 not out, followed by Jadeja (77) and Dravid (62). I have a slight memory of few aggressive shots by Tendulkar and Dravid.

Then came the moment I was waiting for as Jayasuriya and Afridi came out to open. They started off decently but their opening partnership didn’t yield much as Afridi was dismissed soon. But Jayasuriya scored a quick 45, followed by Arjuna Ranatunga’s 67.

However, no other batsman showed any form as the World XI was bowled out for just 165 in just 26.2 overs. Prasad, Joshi and Sairaj Bahutule had bowling figures of 4-37, 3-24 and 3-16 respectively. India comfortably won by a heavy margin of 124 runs.

For complete details of the match, click HERE.

After defeating Jayasuriya and company — Indian team with the Unity Cup (Photo source: Radiosai.org)

Unfortunately, no video footage of this match is available anywhere on the internet. In fact, even a proper scorecard of the match isn’t available anywhere except a part of it here HERE.

Hopefully, someone might remember this match and try to find out any video after going through the article. The match was telecast by Doordarshan. They surely would have it in the archives.

Although it wasn’t a close contest by any means, at least the view of the beautiful stadium should be worth revisiting this match.

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Superstar’s Silence: Why Halla Bol is more relevant today

March 11, 2021 by Keyur Seta 1 Comment

To say that a film was ahead of its times has become a cliché. But there is no better way to describe Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ajay Devgn-starrer Halla Bol (2008). The film would have surely made more heads turn had it released in the current era.

Halla Bol traces the journey of Ashfaque Khan (Devgn). Hailing from a small town in India, he was named after the revolutionary Ashfaqulla Khan. Ashfaque dreams of becoming a film star. He joins a theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu (Pankaj Kapur) as a first step towards fulfilling his dream.

Sidhu specializes in using the medium of theatre to expose social evils and raise issues that are plaguing the society. Ashfaque wholeheartedly takes part in all such plays that aim to make a difference in the society, staying true to his name.

Meanwhile, Ashfaque’s efforts to get a break in movies pay off and he soon acquires the status of a star. He changes his name from Ashfaque Khan to Sameer Khan. But along with his name, he also changes as a person. Unlike Ashfaque, Sameer plainly refuses to take part in a play organized by Sidhu once for a social cause because this could hamper his star status, much to the shock and disappointment of the latter.

Not just that, the simple and innocent Ashfaque now becomes a womanizer and cheats his childhood love and wife (Vidya Balan) on numerous occasions.

Sameer’s biggest turning point arrives when he witnesses a murder at a party. He doesn’t testify against the culprits out of fear. But when his conscience doesn’t allow him to be at peace, he decides to carry out his duty as a responsible citizen by naming the killers to the police.

However, he receives serious threats since the perpetrators belong to the camp of the powerful and corrupt politician Ganpatrao Gaekwad (Darshan Jariwala). Raising voice against him would mean an end not only for his career but also his life.

Hence, the man known for raising his voice when he was a nobody becomes silent to all wrongdoings after becoming a superstar.

I was quite impressed with Hall Bol when it had released more than a decade ago. But when I look at it today, it excites me even more. It seems the film was tailor-made for the era we are currently living in.

The idea of a superstar not willing to raise his voice against an offence provided an interesting conflict back then. But today, it seems like straight out of reality. A lot has changed since last 6-7 years. Big stars are now super scared to share their opinion on any serious issue, leave alone raising their voice against a wrongdoing, like they used to before.

In fact, some stars are not even willing to speak up on the enormous rising prices of petrol. Interestingly, the same people were happy to share jokes on the same issue when the previous government was in power and when the price of fuel was much lower than what it is today.

Funnily, one star even deleted his tweets from 2012 when he had shared jokes on rising petrol prices. So that people stop questioning him as to why he is silent now.

Hall Bola shows Sameer go through a change of heart later on. He fights the evil forces all by himself [with timely help from Sidhu] to bring justice to the deceased. Of course, it would be laughable to even think of expecting this in reality. Halla Bol, after all, was a mainstream Hindi movie, so it had to end this way.

The extent of the fear of the authorities in today’s times was seen the most last month when famous celebrities shared scripted tweets in favour of the government after Rihanna spoke up on the issue of farmers’ protest.

Funnily, among the famous names who tweeted included the main lead of Halla Bol.

P.S: Halla Bol is available on Amazon Prime Video, Shemaroo Me and Voot.

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Photos: Chandigarh’s Rock Garden is another bhool bhulaiya

March 6, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The name ‘Rock Garden’, a tourist sight in Chandigarh, Punjab, interested me but didn’t excite. I felt it would just be a collection of different types of rocks. And I felt I was right at the start.

As soon as we entered the Rock Garden after paying Rs 30 entry fee, we were greeted by a number of stone and rock structures of various sizes. No doubt, they were some interesting pieces of arts. But it wasn’t enough to give me a kick.

Soon, I, and few others in our group, felt this is it as far as the art at Rock Garden is concerned. But as we kept walking ahead, we were proved wrong and how!

Out of nowhere a tiny passage gave way to a waterfall, out of the blue, which was a pleasant surprise. The sudden cool waves and the sweet smell of the union of rocks and water was enough for us to keep venturing inside further.

We soon realized that this waterfall was just the beginning. There were few more with the biggest of them all, in the picture below, was the most impressive.

Other pretty sights like the bridge on a pond and the passageways between rocks made us feel glad for our decision of not abandoning the place at the start.

But there was another surprise waiting for us, and this time it wasn’t completely a pleasant one. The place suddenly became deserted while we kept venturing further inside through the narrow doors and openings.

It suddenly dawned upon us that the exit was nowhere in sight. We kept following the path with more openings and doors leading to new areas but it was just unending. I felt a rare feeling of being trapped after going through the same exercise of finding the exit for almost 30 minutes!

Also see: Photos: Shikara ride and Houseboats in Dal Lake, Srinagar

We then came across another little opening but this time it was the exit, finally! I felt what Rajkummar Rao’s character did when he finds his way out in Trapped (2016).

The Rock Garden is highly recommended, provided you are okay with experiencing a bhool-bhulaiya.

History of the Rock Garden in Chandigarh:

The Rock Garden was built secretly by a government official named Nek Chand Saini from 1957 onwards in his spare time. It is completely built from waste and discarded items that he kept collecting.

There is also a Dolls Museum inside the Rock Garden. There are around 200 dolls that were made by Saini from waste cloth and discarded items.

Also see: Dalhousie pictures: The place with picturesque hills heals you

The best & worst of times: Musings of an Arts graduate who had taken Commerce

February 20, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

It was the worst of times. This is what I feel when I look back at a period in the early years of the new millennium.

During my growing up years, there were norms in the society on what stream a student should opt for after passing 10th standard. The best students or scholars, as they are called, should go for Science. The worst should go for Arts and those who fall in the middle should latch onto Commerce.

As I had always been an average or an in-between student, I took Commerce; also because most of my friends were opting for it.

The problem was that I had absolutely no idea what comes under Commerce as part of studies. I hardly even knew the meaning of the word. Once college began, I realized I had absolutely no interest in subjects like Accounts, Economics, etc.

Worse, I found it way too difficult to grasp even the simplest of teachings. But I felt it was too late. I tried studying these subjects somehow. I opted for special tuition at the end of the year and just managed to pass the year [read: promoted].

The following year, 12th or HSC, wasn’t as difficult but it was certainly not interesting for sure. Again, because of the tuition, I crawled towards 51% in the boards. This isn’t a big score by any means but for me it was a major achievement. My family was happy as they hadn’t expected even this much.

Best and worst - 3 Idiots — R Madhavan in 3 Idiots

I thought that the nightmare was over and I would somehow clear the remaining three years and secure a B Com degree. But the actual nightmare had just begun in the first year after 12th, which is known as F.Y.B.Com.

It was just impossible for me to grasp any subject. The biggest villain being Maths. I used to regularly feel sad and helpless. I just dragged myself till the end of the year. But by that time, I had lost all mental energy to associate myself with Commerce any more. It was the worst period of my life.

Right before our final exams, I took a major decision of quitting Commerce and opting for Arts to complete my graduation. I was deeply interested in writing from my school days. By the time the final exams neared, I became more convinced about it.

Changing my stream in between after 13th meant that I would lose one year, but that was fine. I just had to divorce Commerce.

After some hesitation, my parents agreed; thank God for that. The scene in 3 Idiots (2009) where Farhan’s (R Madhavan) father allows his son to follow his passion towards photography had happened with me much before that.

Just like how we change a TV channel, my life changed after I took Arts. Subjects like Psychology, Sociology, History, English and Hindi made me feel at home. Now, I didn’t feel I was studying. It was fun.

After passing the third year and acquiring the Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree, I opted for a Post Graduate course in Journalism and Mass Communication as I had decided I would be a journalist or at least go into a profession that involves writing.

The PG course was more enjoyable since I got a chance of dabbling into things I love the most and knowing that this will help me in the future. It was also the only time in my student life when I was very good at studies. It was the best of times.

*This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda*

After 51 for 7, Pakistan fought back in this unofficial semi-final: Flashback

February 18, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Sharjah was known for producing some interesting and unpredictable cricket matches in the 1980s and 1990s. The Pakistan v/s Zimbabwe match in the league stage of the 1997 Singer-Akai Cup turned out to be one such saga with unexpected twists.

It was the last league match of the series and was more like a semi-final. Sri Lanka had reached the final and it was left to this match to decide whether Pakistan would join them or Zimbabwe.

Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat. They had a very strong team and this made them the favorites. But the Zimbabwean team of the 1990s had the ability to scare anyone on their day.

This is exactly what the African nation did with the ball. Pakistan kept losing wickets right from the start. We soon realized that this isn’t just another bad start from which teams generally recover.

In less than 20 overs, Pakistan was reduced to 51 for 7! The trio of Eddo Brandes, Heath Streak and Everton Matambanadzo was all over Pakistan and it looked as if they would be bundled out before reaching 100, considering all their frontline batsmen were out.

I clearly remember being shocked and amused as a school boy watching the match on TV.

Pakistan keeper Moin Khan — Moin Khan [Photo source: Indian Express]

Although the big names had collapsed, Pakistan still had Moin Khan out there. The gutsy wicketkeeper-batsmen had bailed out his team from trouble on numerous occasions in the past. He did it again for his team, despite the disadvantage of having only the tail for company.

Their star off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq put his hand up and gave a solid support to Khan. The scorecard might indicate that he played a test innings by scoring 20 off 81 balls but in the context of the match, the innings was priceless.

Khan succeeded in rescuing his team with a brilliant 61 off 97 balls. The fact that he could hit just one four and one six was proof of how hard he had to work for his runs. The pair of Khan and Saqlain added 77 runs for the eight wicket and Pakistan had something to bowl to by finishing at 151 for 9.

But despite the fightback, the score was very low and there were no demons in the wicket. Zimbabweans still had the upper hand.

However, there were more unexpected events in store. Pakistan’s strong bowling attack lead by Waqar Younis kept striking regularly at the start. His team mate and leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed rose to the occasion and picked up 4 wickets. Apart from playing a gutsy innings, Saqlain picked up a couple of wickets too.

In the end, Zimbabwe was all out for a paltry 119 in 40.1 overs.

At the halfway stage, it looked like Zimbabwe would create another upset after their win against Sri Lanka earlier in the series. But that wasn’t to be courtesy one of the biggest fightbacks in ODI history.

In the end, the match became like a replay of the earlier league game between both the teams. Pakistan were all out for 187 and Zimbabwe were bundled out for 95 after being 39 for no loss at one stage.

This match also brought back memories of India being 17 for 5 against the same team in the 1983 World Cup match and then going onto win due to skipper Kapil Dev’s incredible innings of 175 not out.

Unfortunately, there is no video available of this encounter on YouTube.

SRK & Ashok SARAF’s pair in Yes Boss deserves more appreciation

February 13, 2021 by Keyur Seta 8 Comments

There have been some comic, non-romantic male pairs in Hindi cinema since the 1990s. Govinda-Kader Khan, Kader Khan-Shakti Kapoor, Akshay Kumar-Paresh Rawal, etc, are the ones that come to our mind instantly. But a pair that I consider as impressive as these ones is that of Shah Rukh Khan and Ashok Saraf in Aziz Mirza’s Yes Boss (1997).

It’s an unusual pair for sure. Both the actors have different personalities, mannerisms, acting skills and temperaments. Plus, one was an emerging Bollywood star while the other had already acquired the status of a legend in Marathi cinema.

Sometimes, the more unusual the pair, the more are its chances of standing out, especially while doing comedy, and that is exactly what happened with SRK and Saraf in this movie.

Yes Boss saw Khan play Rahul, an ambitious youngster eager to be rich and own a dream office. To achieve his mission, he doesn’t mind bootlicking his boss Siddharth (Aditya Pancholi), which also involves hiding his extra-marital affairs. Siddharth falls for the beautiful Seema (Juhi Chawla), who starts modelling for his firm. He takes Rahul’s help to woo her as usual. However, Rahul also falls for her.

SRK-Ashok Saraf in Yes Boss — Ashok Saraf and Shah Rukh Khan

Saraf played Rahul’s colleague and close friend Johnny. The two share a close bond in the film and are seen hanging out and confiding in each other regularly.

Khan and Saraf were cast together in Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun (1995) but their characters weren’t related to each other. They hardly interacted.

Yes Boss was the first time that the two actors played a pair of characters involved with each other. However, it didn’t look like that. Their chemistry and tuning appeared so natural that it seemed as if they have been playing each other’s co-stars since a long time.

As soon as they appear together on-screen, you are either laughing or smiling, all thanks to their chemistry, acting skills and antics. The scene where Rahul tries to shoo off Johnny so that he can share a private chat with Seema is one such amusing scene.

But what takes the cake is the moment when Khan and Saraf are seen bathing together in the same tub while singing ‘Muqabla Muqabla, O Laila.’ This is followed by their embarrassing moment in the corridor of the hotel because they are only wearing a towel as a cloth.

See the tub scene in this video

Now, who would have thought of such a tub scene with Khan and Saraf? (See in the video above). In today’s times, this would instantly make us question if they are homosexuals. But when I saw the film for the first time in my childhood, obviously I didn’t even think of such a thing. I am sure same is the case with others as well then.

The outcome of SRK and Saraf’s pair appears appealing even today. That’s why these days the more I think of the film, the more I wonder why nothing is spoken or written about this hilarious pairing in the numerous movie related articles and discussions on the internet and social media.

It’s still not too late.

Needless to say, I feel the SRK-Saraf pair should have been explored more in the last 20 years or so.

Maybe, it’s still not too late for this as well…

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My 1st encounter with INTERNET through a cola drink 20 years ago

February 2, 2021 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Internet has become one of the basic needs today, especially for city-dwellers; whether professionals or students. It has penetrated so much into our lives that it often makes us wonder how life would be without its presence.

This makes me recall the time when I was introduced to the internet for the first time ever or when I took baby steps into this medium, which was called revolutionary back then. It makes me feel strange to even imagine the time when I was able to live without the internet!

During the start of the new millennium (in the year 2000) I was an addict of colas. It is this addiction that played a major role in me getting introduced to this medium.

Coca-Cola had come up with a scheme then of offering free internet surfing for 30 minutes with every glass of the soft drink. They provided a card that could be exchanged at any of the cyber cafes listed by them for half an hour of net surfing.

When the person at the counter gave me and my friends the card when we bought Coca-Cola for the first time after the scheme was launched, we were surprised. When he explained to us about the internet, I was confused. What is internet? What is a cyber café? I could hardly understand any of it but still decided to go ahead since it was for free and involved sitting in front of the computer.

The cyber café closest to my house was located in a crammed place near Dadar railway station. It appeared like a shady office space but the person running it was kind enough to explain to us what exactly internet is and what all can we do with it. But it took us some time to even get used to handling the ‘mouse,’ since we hadn’t learnt Windows in school.

We soon came to know about something called an e-mail address and that it’s a different way of sending a letter, since the word ‘digital’ hadn’t become common then. It didn’t take me long to keep ‘iamthebest’ as my first e-mail ID; based on one of my favourite songs from Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000). [Few months later, my next e-mail ID included the words ‘raj_aryan’ when Mohabbatein (2000) became my next favourite film.]

By the way, kids from today’s era won’t know that we used to connect to the net through a device called modem. And it used to make strange sounds before connecting.

The sounds emanating from the modem in olden days before connecting to the net

Funnily, we opened an e-mail ID but we had nobody to whom we can send e-mails. So, we started sending mails to each other.

In one of my next visits to the café, someone else was sitting on the computer I always used. The owner asked me to take the next PC. But I opposed saying I have always accessed my mails from this PC, so how can I check them from another machine? That’s how I came to know that e-mails can be accessed from any computer in the world and that’s why it’s called the World Wide Web (www).

In today’s times, it’s obvious that if we send an e-mail to someone, it gets saved in the address book automatically. But what wasn’t the case then. We actually wrote down e-mail IDs of people in a diary! We didn’t know we can copy-paste the e-mail ID of a person from his or her previous mail.

It felt like a sense of achievement to surf news from the computer. The two most common websites I used to visit were Cricinfo.com and IndiaFM.com [which later became BollywoodHungama.com].

I felt more triumphant when I could open and load pictures of film stars or cricketers. The speed to open one picture back then was the same to download a 20 or 30 MB videos today.

The now defunct Yahoo chat rooms through Yahoo messenger

Internet soon became our latest sensation and we started visiting cyber cafes on every weekend; this time by paying. We started visiting a different and more sophisticated café at Gokhale Road (North), Dadar where you could also order food.

Slowly, we were introduced to the idea of chat rooms [In MSN, followed by Yahoo]. And this made us familiar with the concept of making friends online, even in far distant countries. It took us just few weeks to become pros at using the internet.

There was a sense of pride to have become ‘experts’ in this new medium much before our other friends in the building, relatives and a large majority of the Indian population.

But my pride was demolished either in the same year or the next when I noticed that one famous paan wala at Breach Candy with the name of the shop as ‘Muchhad Panwala’ was having his own official website since 1998!

And here we were feeling on top of the world by just having an e-mail ID!

P.S – Just last month, the paan wala was arrested in a drug-related case, but that’s a different story.

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