One rupee taught me a very big Lesson

My tryst with computers and video games started in my childhood.

I had gone with my friends to a video parlour in the supermarket near my sheikh sarai residence in New Delhi. It was probably 1987. I was all of 8 or 9 years old. There were several game consoles. They were big. Had a television at the top for display and joysticks to move characters on screen. They made huge noises and those noises had drawn me to them when I had walked past the parlour.

With my friends I learnt several things in one shot. Biggest shock was that you had to pay one rupee to play. Second, you had several chances or lives. This I learn’t later. My knowledge about money matters until that point were limited to prices of eggs (20 paisa in Karkala and 80 paisa in New Delhi) and chewing gum(25 paise medium quality,50 paise good quality as u could blow big baloons out of them) and parle-G biscuits. Parle-G biscuits were about 3.5 rupees and I had never carried such a huge sum of money. May be my parents considered my elder brother a more reliable person to buy that. He used to take a commission of one biscuit as the packet had 13 biscuits and I used to get a raw deal in the division. It still costs near to 5 rupees if I am not wrong.

(images are for illustrative purpose and any resemblance to commercial products is on purpose)

I was a lean, thin built boy. Starved of proteins… may be I yearned for eggs. At a very young age I was denied an egg by a shop keeper as I had twenty paise only and the prices had risen by five paise to 25 paise per egg. I did not bargain or was not adamant that he give me the egg. I was allowed only one egg at a time. They were considered heat. In New Delhi I had ventured out to buy an egg all on my own. With one rupee in hand I had gone to a shop managed by a Sikh Sardar and he did not cheat a boy of seven years. He had promptly given a twenty paise coin as change. Back at home I had instructed my aunt Vidya to boil it for 5 minutes. It did not matter that we were a Brahmin family. It just tasted so good. I broke open the egg from the little end and dipped the spoon in salt and chilly powder and then took out a portion of the gooey half boiled egg in a scoop.

Back to the video parlour I saw my friends play Prince of Persia and PacMan. There were other games which I didn’t know about like Doom. They made huge noises when they shoot guns. My friend Ravi was very good in fighting the five levels of Prince of Persia. In the second level comes the “genda”(Big monkey, probably gorilla) and in level 5(fifth floor) comes the magician. That is all I remember of the game. I went home that day feeling on top of the world. I had just uncovered a magic potion for unlimited enjoyment. I developed a secret desire to play Prince of Persia. Just the other day I had eaten one puri(pani which is called “gol gappa” in delhi) which cost 33 paise each. For one rupee you get three. They too tasted like heaven. Of course Ravi was benevolent in getting me that one puri. I will be grateful to him lifelong for that. I adored him. He played cricket nicely. He used to bowl me clean several times.

Days passed by and I waited to bring up the matter of one rupee with mom. I really wanted to play Prince of Persia and never thought even once that the one rupee I would get could be used to buy chewing gum or pani puri or eggs. I had gone mad. I succeeded in getting the one rupee. My mom didn’t know that I would play a game with it. This was the second time I had ever asked for money from mom. The first time was for the egg. I went straight to the parlour. I saw a few familiar faces on the way but did not engage with them. I was possessed. I wanted to play as long as possible and over estimated my capabilities. In the parlour I paid the one rupee and got a big coin. I inserted the coin into the machine. It made some sounds and the game started. This bit of trivia I had missed. I tried my best to play but could not go beyond the ground floor. All three lives were lost. The joystick was new to me. It was the first time I had played. I repented having blown away a rupee on something which was not worth it. I didn’t ask for a refund or I didn’t cry. I owned full responsibility for what had happened. I walked out of the parlour never to return. I walked past it on several other occasions but never ventured into it. I knew it was not for me. Of course I got scolded for having wasted a rupee. I would not open my mouth as to where. My mom still does not know.

My life changed a lot after that incident. A rupee had taught me a big lesson. But I was fascinated by the game. That was the only fascinating thing in my life but I never indulged in the money hogging passion. There was loose talk about computers in school. Schools got compared based on number of computers. Delhi Public School had ten. Up until that time number of books in the library was what I thought mattered. I was too young that time to realize importance of availability of books or computers. I read only the Guinness book of records and I understood very little of it anyhow.

My life revolved around cricket, hockey played with plastic ball and badminton racket and “Pittu”(lagori in kannada) and riding bicycle.

The horror returns every time i walk past gaming consoles in multiplexes now. More about my childhood memories some other time…