I actually got a bit bored when I was in Thailand. I only had one lecture per day and nothing else to do. Additionally I did not enjoy going out to walk in Bangkok. There were so many restaurants where they had meat hanging just in front of the door which they would then prepare for any guest who might come in. So when you walked in the street, everywhere in the open there were dead animals hanging down, parts of pigs, whole chicken and unidentifiable other pieces of meat. It was stinking and I could not look there, had to turn my eyes away, up to the sky or to the floor. It was really horrible for me. I had not seen this anywhere in my life before. And just there, next to the dead meat, there were people, sitting and joyfully eating a piece of that pig hanging next to them. I felt that this was not a good place for me!
So what should I do? While I was getting bored there and did not want to walk around outside, I even felt homesick and was longing to be with my family. One day I spoke to Yashendu on phone and he suggested that we could also chat on internet, instead of talking on phone. I would be able to send them emails and directly communicate through the computer. Until that time, I had not ever used a computer. Then, in August 2001, I was 29 years old already but in that time there was no computer education in school which is now so popular. I had not been introduced to this new technique yet, although I was interested. The idea was fascinating and so Yashendu created my first e-mail address for me.
With the mobile phone on my ear, I went to a cybercafé close-by. I sat down in front of one of the computers and Yashendu instructed me from India what to do. At first I had difficulties using the mouse. It was a mechanical mouse with a trackball and carefully holding it between two fingers I tried to move the cursor with it. It just never went where I wanted it to go! It took me a while until I had managed to move the cursor around as I wanted and could click on the messenger that Yashendu indicated to me. With a few clicks I had signed up and found myself in the wide world of internet and chatting.
It was amazing! While still on phone, he wrote to me and I could just read it there, instantly, as if he was sitting next to me! I wrote Hindi language in Latin alphabet. In that time already it had started to be a kind of fashion to mix English words in your Hindi and sometimes you cannot avoid that, especially when you talk and write about computers.
I saw how everybody around me in the cybercafé also was chatting and so I discovered that you could chat with different people around the world at the same time. I started chatting with other people and can actually say that this was the very starting point of my English-learning.
From that point on I daily went to the cybercafé and spent a few hours there, chatting and exploring the internet. There was nobody to send me emails but I checked them daily anyway. Sometimes one, sometimes up to three hours, I was sitting there, online, and amazed about the new possibilities.
Two Thai boys had the same routine. I met them daily in the cybercafé and we became friends, chatting with each other while sitting in the same room. To them I obviously had to write in English which was probably most of the time too bad for them to understand but we had fun!
I could chat with the person sitting next to me but at the same time also chat with Yashendu, in India. This is how I learned that distance does not matter anymore for communication! I had read about the internet a bit and had heard about its possibilities but actually using it was a fully different thing. It was simply wonderful to see how it worked!
Related posts
When My Father Was Alive… Yet Not Mine
My relationship with my father
New chapter in life, challenges and lessons
Sexually abused sister at 11 and my guilt for not being able to save her!
I got stabbed in my back by my family in India
Accepting Challenges of an overwhelming Response at Ammaji’s – 1 May 16
My Day as a Waiter – 24 Apr 16
Ramona’s first Birthday as a Restaurant Owner – 20 Mar 16
A week at the Hospital – 13 Mar 16
Hard to believe that you only started using a computer 10 years ago and now have such a big website, write your daily blog and do so much via the internet!That is development and progress with technique!
Cheers!
You made me laugh Swami Ji and remember my first efforts on my daughter’s computer. I was typing everything with one finger, not trusting that what i pressed would actually appear on that screen. I was horribly afraid I could break something 🙂 So I know how it is to start late with such things!
Thank you for your comment John.Yes, I have started only 10 years ago and now most of our work takes place at the computer. It is still amazing for me to think how much technology has changed our lives in the last ten years!
Much love to you and hope to see you some day in India!
🙂 We all have to start some day! It is never too late! 🙂