"RPG," he said.

So, a small hiatus. Wondering where I have been? Literally - in another world

The world of RPG. For the uninitiated, RPG stands for Role-playing games. It basically goes like this:

You first register on some RPG site and get a username. There is a public forum where different people from around the globe start various threads. you can either start your own thread or enter an existing one. The thread usually is a typical game of the fantasy genre - swords, knights, dungeons and dragons. You start out by defining the character and type in your character's actions and dialogues and the events surrounding him/her. Someone may (and will) respond with their character's response to the above-mentioned action. And it goes on and on, sometimes involving hundreds of players, spanning various lands and events. No visuals. There are rules, however. You can't act out-of-character (OOC); you can't do everything! (god-modding or mary-sue); you can't right away do magic if you are too young and all that.

It is an extremely addictive world. After sometime, the real world fuses with the RPG world. I even started seeing myself in the third person; my mind forming words in the past tense for my actions. Scary. And man, does it give you a high. You could be absolutely anyone you want - go anywhere - undertake quests - kiss sleeping beauties...

Why do people do RPGs? I got to interact with a lot of RPers outside the game and most of them had a very sorry personal life. Kids and teenagers living in trailer parks; going through some sort of mental trauma....Sad.

Why did I go? Initially, the main reason was to write. I love writing (especially this dungeons and dragons kind of stories), and I was curious. But once in it, I realised this was big! This was like a deep chasm - the one from which you cannot tear your eyes away but dangerous all the same. I once sat up till four in the morning, trying to kill the evil king Aemon!

Then I got thinking. What makes this RPG world real? Acceptance. Everyone in your story accepts you are the Dark Knight come to terrorize the town - and you are. Just like how everyone accepts you are Mr So-and-so in the real world.

And then, there was this nine-year-old girl (meggiethebest was her username) who wanted to play a game about 'hourses'. Her hourse's name was Penny. Poor girl, no one ever replied to her post. Only one did, and that too to tell her that it is spelt 'horses'. I just do not want to think about her reason to enter the world of RPG.

Call me crazy or weird or freaky or whatever - but this post is for meggiethebest.

Sunset - outsourced!

I am sweating now and I can't breathe! You would too, if you see what I have!

My office is on Old Mahabalipuram Road - the road that meant a weekend of fun at Silver Sands Resorts when I was a kid. Now it stands for work. And more work. The road is a potholes haven. And towering IT parks make it as impersonal as ever. The sun bakes the people relentlessly.

The scene that I am about to describe happened at six fourty-five in the evening. As usual, I went to the pantry to pick up a cup of coffee and genially stood in the balcony. The view was breathtaking! Behind our office is a huge, dried up lake that spans acres. And beyond that is the Chennai skyline. Towering over all these was the huge, huge sky. The sun had set but its spirit remained in the form a wide band of crimson set low in the western horizon. Abruptly, like the painting by an impatient kid, the sky was a deep violet above the red. The two colors clashed splendidly, and the whole scene was watched over by the brightest Venus I have ever seen - my favorite object in the sky.

I stood there, drinking it all in with my coffee. I turned around with that stupid grin I have whenever I am pleased stupid and looked at a scene of absolute horror. There were about fifteen men and women there in that balcony, with their coffee and the optional cigarette - and every single one of them was doing something with their phone. A lot of them were talking; some were playing their favorite music (loudly); some were showing their favorite forwards to their friends; and some just held on to their cellphones so as to feel secure. Not one looked out. NOT ONE! But they did look at me - with horror. I had violated the code!

I was close to chocking before I was rushed to my cubicle. The sight of my screen soothed me a bit and the hum of AC brought me back to reality. My manager severely admonished me and asked me to stay away from the sky.

Sunset is something that happens to someone else. In a different land. The sun has no place in this world of steel and silicon. We are safe in our cubicles. If we need the sunset, then we'll outsource it. I had almost become an outcast, trying to enjoy the sunset. Never again! Never ever!

Ting ting.....ting ting.....Ahhhh.....!