A software engineer, hobbyist cricketer, movie buff and a bunch of other things (25+ years of living cannot be confined to just a few words). Thinking about it now, the interest for these 3 things that I'm majorly associating myself to has been there ever since I could remember things. I don't want to be a confirmist, but I don't want to stop doing things not to be one either.
Even when I was very very early in my primary school, I've played cricket, mostly in the terrace (and sometimes inside the house, sitting down, the bowler would roll the ball over and the batsman would just sweep the ball in the gap for runs), in confined environments with all the rules which comes along with playing in such environments like the classic 'one pitch one hand', not hitting outside a particular box and N consecutive leaves are all considered modes of dismissal. I was the youngest and there were guys who were ~10 years elder to me. I guess the sporty nature comes along in such environments. Even though they'll go easy on the youngest one, you still feel the need to up your game to try and match that level. Not necessarily a conscious thought or pressure, but I guess that's how any sport works when there's a match up with a stronger or better skilled opponent. So, I was (and am) always excited to play cricket.
I was one of those guys who wasn't allowed to watch movies till mid school level. I wasn't explicitly told not to watch but I wasn't given a chance to watch either. So I used to and sometimes even now get this question, "You haven't watched XYZ movie? Seriously?!". Not to stereotype, but the place I'm from has a history for hero worships. In school, most of the guys used to take sides and I was on side Vijay (I used to and still like actors who could dance well gracefully and be able to do comedy on screen). Going to theatres regularly with friends became a thing for me in high school and it still is. My Father is a big fan of Maniratnam and during my college, I started watching his films and that grew my fascination towards creators more than the actors (rightly so I guess). From there on, following few other creators and their work I evolved a bit and every good film I watch it just continues.
For the software engineer part, there used to be a desktop computer running on Windows 98 or something and I was hardly allowed to use it. I remember playing Wolf 3D with 4, 5 guys around, each taking a part of the control like a guy handles spacebar which opens the door, another guy handles navigation and so on. It was just fascinating. It is nowhere close to all the first person shooting game that exists, but this experience is so strongly ingrained in me. If I was allowed to play that game as and when I wished, I think the fascination might have come down, but I wasn't. So, I was just fascinated about this fancy machine and as I was growing up, somewhere I knew I would be working in a profession that's related to computers. When I learnt C and C++ during my higher secondary level, the fact that I was able to write code to make the machine behave in a certain way was just a whole new fascination level and at this time I knew for sure that I would be doing this for my life.
