Monday, May 24, 2010

The Team Trip to Goa!

  After my last tour of Hyderabad, I didn't really think that I would attend another national tournament with my team.  Amazingly, we managed to pull it off yet again.  After qualifying at the City Level for ESWC/ICGC 2 tournament, we were short of players to attend the National Finals at Goa.  Thankfully, our friend and long time rival Sathya joined us and we made it to Goa.  It was me, Vijay (Maxi), Raja (Arch3r), Ganesh (papu) and Sathya (nofear86).

  The five of us hadn't played even a single match together before this event, but that didn't matter because we just wanted to have some fun and do what we did best, play DotA.  It was a completely different experience because, we didn't practice, we didn't plan, we didn't even book the tickets in advance.  Everything was done at the very last moment.  Since I managed to get only two days leave from office, I had to spend an extra 3.5k to catch a flight on the day of the tournament.  But we made it on time and we had a lot of fun.

  The venue was a resort in a remote location called Calangute.  I rented an Avenger at the resort and blasted through the empty roads at sunrise, dusk, dawn, midnight and any other time I could find.  The most fun I had on the bike was probably when I rode with Vijay in search of a hill to climb.  We had no idea where we were going or how to get back.  We just wanted to ride our bikes till the tank ran out of petrol.  We entered some narrow gap at the side of the road which lead into someone's backyard and then into a plowed field.

  We met a lot of gamers from around the country.  I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that around 30 players had turned up from Chennai which was the highest compared to other cities.  We spent hours together watching competitive action, sitting by the pool, chatting in silence, discussing about the games and drinking Lemon Soda without a care in the world.  It was a well deserved break from the routines of daily life and I just wish that we could go on such trips every few months..  :)

Friday, May 14, 2010

I'm a Grown-Up now!

  I really feel that I have finally become a grown-up.  Its not because I have become more responsible or that I'm earning now.  Its because I have lost my dreams; I spend most of the day looking at the clock, waiting for the day to end and I feel miserable most of the time.  Back when I was a student, I wouldn't have time to look at the clock or even to have food.  I was busy doing whatever it was that I was doing and I loved doing it.  Now-a-days, others love what I'm doing (I mean, the society praises a young adult who has joined a reputed IT company and is earning a hefty sum), but I hate what I've become.

  Its not necessarily the work that I hate.  I've learned to love almost everything that I do in my life and I can manage work.  But not finding time to do things that I loved so much, is really depressing.  When I was gaming, people used to say that kids who play computer games all day have no life at all.  But now, I realize that its the IT-employees that have no life at all.  The worst part is probably that, there is no scope to dream at all.  The further you go up the ladder (in the company), the more time you have to spend in the office and the more you miss your life.

  I'm losing my ability to dream.  When you start to think realistically rather than dreaming about possibilities, you know that your time is up.  I believe mine is about to end.  Even if I had studied well and joined an even bigger IT firm, I would've felt the same way.  I know this for a fact because an old friend of mine who did exactly that feels just like I do.  From an young age we are given only one aim.  Its to find a job that pays us a lot of money.  But our aim should have been to a find a job that we would love to do.  Anything else, just won't do.