Over time, a person learns about a lot of subjects through experience and exposure. I’ve had the privilege to be exposed to a number of such subjects which helped me understand the world in a better way.
Apart from the school curriculum, I was exposed to the idea of computer science at a very young age (4-5 y/o) through my dad who was working as a computer specialist at the time. Even though he shifted his job, the idea of using computers stuck around for a very very long time and I developed a keen interest in using the internet, playing games, and other basic / intermediate level operations using a computer. Around the 4th grade or so, I was introduced to Scratch. To me, it was a fun software, using which I could make some really funny things. I explored it a lot and eventually after a year or so, I forgot about it. It wasn’t until 8th grade when I learned about web designing using HTML and CSS through my school computer teachers which revived my interest in computers and to do more with it. Things progressed and I became a self-taught software engineer after school, working part-time jobs and freelancing projects, writing open source software and coping with the new changes. I will write about this in detail later in another post.
Apart from computers, I developed a keen interest in astronomy and studying about the cosmos. It all began through a very foolish accident in grade 2, when I was out shopping with my parents one night and I found a very thin book titled “Universe” with the picture of a nebula printed on its hard cover. It aroused my curiosity and I wanted to know more about this thing called the universe. I asked my parents and they bought it for me, I believe they protested a little considering I was a small kid to understand the physics that they talked about in the book. However, I learned a LOT about the universe through that book and not only did I pursue astronomy as a subject, but later learned about so many different fields of study like cosmology, astrophysics, quantum sciences, etc. Though I couldn’t contribute to this segment of science in formal terms, I would keep exploring and coming up with theories on my own, only to find out later that someone had already come up with that theory and become famous. Later through the years, it became much of a hobby rather than a profession.
I learned about western music formally when I was in the 4th grade, when I insisted my parents to enrol me into the music classes in school that were part of our extra curricular activities. Before this I had learned about clay modelling, a little bit of theatre and Indian vocal music. Western music, at the time, was just something I wanted to learn about because most of my friends were learning that, and also because I was exposed to western pop songs since a young age. This enabled me to start my journey as a keyboard player in the world of western music, which progressed to guitar, then to bass guitar and ultimately to everything, through the help of some of my good and close friends, band mates and a great teacher, Mr R.K. Ruata. After R.K. sir left our school, I pursued music on my own, mostly treading into music production with a little help from my good friend, Aditya Bhagavatula. In 10th grade, I purchased a 7-string guitar for a couple of reasons. One, I was listening to a lot of music which utilised extended range guitars and I was fascinated to explore more about that area of music. I wanted to purchase an 8-string guitar, more specifically, one of the RG-8 series by Ibanez, but I didn’t have the budget at the time. Two, I initially wanted to make my own custom guitar but then I realised that it’s a lot tougher than I thought it to be (especially using just a couple of hand tools). After this, I learned a lot more about music, sound engineering, instruments and pretty much everything, faster than before. I had earned a name in my circles and within the school, but it faded as soon as I got into senior years of school, where my primary focus was studies and computers.
One of the very first computer games that I was exposed to was Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, and thanks to this, and many other factors, which I can’t recall, I developed a serious passion for warfare, strategies, weaponry, and history. This was also one of the factors which motivated me to learn about martial arts in school. Therefore, again in grade 4, I enrolled in Taekwondo classes that were been taught in my school. Fortunately, I did well and made a reputation among the teachers as well as my peers, however, I didn’t pursue martial arts in school during middle school as I chose music as a permanent interest. I did make some efforts and learned about self defence, weaponry, warfare and military. This enabled me to look at a lot of things differently, mostly from a diplomatic point of view. Eventually, I was so fascinated by military and its way of life that I started to adopt it as my own in whichever way possible.
Note: This page is updated on a frequent basis, so if you find there is anything missing, expect it to be there sooner than you think.