I was watching a youtube video by google that reviewed 2011. I have always been a fan of google and admired a variety of their products including the google doodles and a host of other applications that were recently shut down by them.. 
. The video made me think about my early trysts with the internet. I was still in school and had heard about the internet. I was already fascinated by computers and naturally, the concept of internet attracted me. Those days, the internet was still a luxury much like cell phones. I needed a strong reason to convince my parents to pay me for that one hour of internet access at a nearby internet center. The charge was 40 rupees per hour.
The opportunity came sliding under the door. A newspaper ad showcasing a website for education was the bait. Surprisingly, my parents agreed rather easily… a mystery that I have not been able to solve till this day 
. In summary, I was all set to embark on this new “adventure”. Trepidation filled me as I entered the huge and spacious building complex with the afternoon sun blazing into the central empty space of the complex. As soon as I entered the internet centre, I spotted 3 of my juniors working seriously on the system. Worse, they also spotted me. One of them immediately showed me some website and started jabbering away. Apparently, he thought that I knew more than him. I felt it would be an unforgivable offence to clear such a misconception 
. I nodded wisely and slipped away from them. I took a system at the far end of the system so that they would not come near me. I then gingerly switched on the monitor and glanced at all the icons on the dektop. I was filled with pride. I was about to accomplish a great task. I could hear the bands playing away in my honour (in my mind of course). I double-clicked on the internet explorer(IE) icon. The application opened slowly. The band’s music was getting louder… and then….CRASH!!!!!!. IE had opened some other site. I was unaware that there was some other site on the internet. Duh. I sat there gaping at the computer. In my eagerness to use the internet, I had totally forgotten about how to use the website name in Internet explorer. I had assumed (do not ask me how ) that IE would automatically open up the website that I wanted to see. Obviously IE had other ideas. It had opened a site called yahoo(if my memory serves me correct) about which I did not have the faintest clue. I closed IE and opened it again. Nope. Same result. This time I scanned through the entire screen to see if the website name I was looking for was also displayed somewhere. Another failure. I closed IE and opened netscape. Now, it opened some other site. *sigh*.
I peeked from my monitor and looked towards my juniors. They were busy with their work. My mind was at war with itself. On one hand, I wanted to learn about the internet and on the other, I had to maintain my pride. It was obvious which won. My pride. So , I stayed put in my seat focusing all my energy on the monitor to find the one way to access the website. I did that for the next 40 minutes. Then the moment of enlightenment came. I tried my luck at the “address bar” and Voila! The bands started playing again. The next 15 minutes, I spent at actually looking at the site.
At the end of the hour, I reached home with the air of someone who had single-handedly launched a satellite into space. My parents ultimately decided that 40 rupees was too costly. My tryst with the internet was put in abeyance. It would be some more time before which I could use the internet. This time, it was the sound of the dial-up modem. A sound that is no longer present. A sound that was replaced by a more silent ethernet card… :}
