Subzero00

I was talking to someone a few days ago about chatting on the net. They happened to mention Internet Relay Chat (IRC). IRC is the grand-daddy of modern-day internet chat systems.

It was the only service accessible from the 'VSNL Non-graphical Student internet account'. Services like Yahoo Messenger and ICQ were only accessible from the 'VSNL Graphical internet accounts' which were quite expensive in those days.

I still remember my first IRC chat. That was my first on-line chat. First time I chatted for about 4-5 hours. It got me hooked! I met many good people there. Out of that long list of people there is only one person that I am still in touch with.

But what I remember most clearly is my first on-line nickname: Subzero00
The double zeros at the end because the nick Subzero was already taken.

I got the nick from the video game: Mortal Kombat (TM) which has a character named Subzero. The speciality of the character was a 'freeze' attack. My friend, who was a Mortal Kombat (TM) fan, was able to complete the game with this character only. Obviously used to be my character of choice when playing the game.

Those IRC days were fun.

There is just one thing I miss from those days. Melissa Smalley living in the state of Georgia, USA. I never actually met her but we did exchange a whole lot of emails and a few letters. She was a very special friend. Hope where-ever she is now, she is happy and content with life.

Chatting / Chat rooms are the way-stations (i.e. - a stopping place on a journey) of the present.
We go and share our thoughts with other people. Make them friends for some time. Then we loose touch. All this happening in the slip-stream of life.

It is most interesting to see where these threads meet and where the separate and where they meet again!

:)