Connected!

Finally I got myself a net connection. A fast, steady one. First thing I downloaded was GTalk. GTalk - used to be the chief medium of communication between me and my friends, and I missed it badly throughout last year.

Imagine sitting in some stuffy, hot cybercafe of Trivandrum, pathetic speed, guy next to you watching titillating clips from some B-grade Malayali movie and Creative speakers airing 'Mukunda Mukunda' with full bass and treble.

Not my idea of a comfort zone, where you can relax and have a nice chat with your schoolfriend in Adelaide, or maybe discuss The Dark Knight with another movie buff buddy.

These apparently trifle yearnings meant a lot to me, and I so much wanted to see that white list populated with some favourite names - green and red dots beside them. Last Friday, it happened at last. I ran the 1.53 mb setup file and up popped the familiar GTalk Window.

I checked it. Yeah, it looked the same. Those names were there. The lights were on. I knocked on each name, and the names responded happily. New camera in the market, new books to be read, whether Bond should show more skin and all things under the sky were talked about. Bing-bong sounds all the night, IM windows appearing allover screen, writing wrong message in wrong window - life suddenly became so familiar.

Late that night, one deviant glance at the clock reminded me that I had to be in office 7 hours from then. So there ended my first day of surfing. I was more than satiated. People whom I chat with in GTalk are my real-life buddies as well. They always were just a phone call away. Still, something was amiss.

Now, with the GTalk and YM icons on bottom right corner of my desktop, everything seemed to be in place. You know, an unexpected lump of happiness which can't be explained. It never felt so good to be connected.