Straight From The Parking Place

None but I had the privilege to roam around that parking place. Around 2009, rarely did anyone have cars to use vehicles, and it wasn't used for that purpose as well, what did it have? Computers, Monitors, lots of them.

I was just eight or nine years old, wearing short pants, and used to spend a chunk of my time walking around the parking lot, seeing those huge, gigantic, fat monitors. Probably five to seven at least.

“Hey, kiddo! Sit here, don't touch, see what I’m doing.” said by my neighboring big brother who owns the setups, he took the rent of this parking lot and made his setup here. He was the master of computers, used to see him play with the hardwares oftentimes and teach a few as well and that's why there were so many of them.

It was 25th June, 2009, what happened? A tragic day for him, I do still remember seeing him off for the whole day. No conversations but I could see him sad. The thing is, Michael Jackson died on that day and he was a die-hard fan of his. Always played videos of him, I can recall.

“Say Hi to your Uncle, wave towards him.” along with his family, in front of the webcam on top of the monitor, from the other end I could see the face of a stranger, smiling towards us and talking. It was via skype that I can tell now.

In short, I was the guy who used to give company to him throughout the whole day, and seeing him always with these fancy hardwares that were unknown to me but seemed like something exceptional that one or two out of hundred used to possess during those days, it hit me hard. I wasn't just a neighbouring kid, I was a partner in his daily routine as well as the guy who kept his cats busy playing.

📸 Vertex Designs

In 2010, they left the area and moved to somewhere else where the time when all the ties got shattered as I was supposed to go in other areas as a kid. So life continued just like the other kids. But in 2014, we got our first computer, my elder brother brought one home, and i was the one to sit on it throughout the whole day.

“Brother, I got my computer, come home, I have tons to talk and learn from you.” congratulating me, he showed his changed passion, he now sits on his father’s business, miles away from computers like before.

“Let's go home, our place, meet with your aunty and lemme show you something.”He took me to his home, they were happy to see me again, and did some serious hospitality, lol. I can still remember the scene, he is plugging the cables, cleaning the dust, as if it was rotting in the corner and now making it come alive. “Back in action! Let's see what it got for us.”saying so he started exploring, it felt like he too forgot what's inside, recalling things and to be honest, the expression and enthusiasm I could relate to the old him.

“Brother, I’m sure you do have the games that I used to play on your computer, need them badly.” he smilingly replied to me, “I know why you have rushed to me, that's why I brought you home.”
He gave me a pendrive, filled with necessary software's, songs, movies, and mostly games. Hehe, I got what I wanted.

That was my first computer, I do remember myself spending countless hours on games and other stuff. He was the person behind the interest and enthusiasm towards computers. I was never afraid of opening the whole computer apart for diagnostic or cleaning, as I have always seen him doing these things, knew it's not gonna explode if I do things right.

“Got stuck I guess I am done for today, can you please come home today and check on my computer. I really need you badly.” is the moment when I accidentally ended up in some real trouble while flexing a little bit. He was like, “Hey, don't panic, nothing has gone wrong, it can never be, it's a computer, we can always fix this, no matter what you did. Chill, I am stopping by your place at night.” this particular line hit me so hard that I still believe that it can never go wrong, we can always fix it. That's the reason I always choose a PC over a laptop, because I can just disassemble and fix the faulty thing at ease. Hell yeah, its completely his credit behind my expertise or whatever you tell, my enthusiasm towards tech today.

The way he gave access to his den and later helped me over the time, none would do that during that time or now. Its not like I wanted to be him but I had always wanted to be part of him with the vast knowledge and expertise with computers and tech stuffs. I feel like I am there as well and he has helped me on that path.