Radio Ga Ga

Today I got up in the morning and started doing some work. I had put on some music in the media player. After some time I realised that Radio Ga Ga was playing.
It gave me such a feeling of pain and loneliness about the days gone by that I cant even begin to describe it.
I do remember one thing though. It is clear as crystal and will forever remain so. The winter of 1995-96. I had my Xth class board exams in March 1996. So the whole of winter was spent at home. The deal with the exams is that your academic year in Xth class goes from April-December, instead of the usual April-March. So in Xth basically you get to sit at home from just before Christmas till the exams in March next year. In between you have to pop into school now and then to give your pre-board exams, lab practicals and other stupid stuff.
Thus I got to sit at home and do absolutely everything (except study ofcourse) during my favourite season of the year (winter).
That winter was dominated by RADIO. I had gotten a Phillips portable radio some time before. The funny thing was that there used to be just one FM radio channel in Delhi at that time. This was the All India Radio 24 Hour FM radio service (launched on 14th Feb. 1995). It used to run at 102.6 MHz. So it was the only source of entertainment during those long and lonely winter nights. I did not have a CD player then and did not really know anything about music except that I liked it. In 1995 I had discovered Stephen King and I was going through his books one by one like termites through wood. It was the second most fascinating winter of my life. It was the first time I used to stay up late (VERY late) and just do stuff like listen to the radio, read, play with some toys (I was just 14 years old!). Radio became something to look forward to everynight. I was never a social person with tons of friends. All my friends in any case were busy with studies. Thus it was just me, my radio, my books and my toys. Thank god I have a vivid imagination.

The only problem was that the radio service used to end at 3 am and from 3 am till 6 am there was nothing on the radio except Indian classical So most of the times I used to fall asleep between 3 and 6 am. I used to take the radio with me damn near everywhere! If I was having a bath at 2 am (quite a normal thing for me to do) the radio would be in there sitting on top of the bathroom cabinet struggling to be heard above the roaring of the shower. I really used to enjoy listening to the RJ reading out peoples letters and stuff on the air. Many times it was my only connection to the outside world. I cant quite remember why I never used to watch TV. Maybe because the TV room was locked to keep me out! I dont really remember. But those days and nights were amazing.
I hardly used to step out of the house during that time. No school nothing. And radio as my only contact. To live in New Delhi, cut off from the rest of the world and living in a kind of monastic reclusion with the voice of the radio (instead of the voice of God) to keep me focussed.

Then just before my Xth boards I had my birthday (3rd March!) and got my dad to buy me a CD player/Tape/Radio system. A portable one. I was overjoyed! It was my first step into the world of music. The first music CD I bought was '101% Hitz'. The second and third CDs I was gifted: Queen The Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and Micheal Jackson's Dangerous.
It was then I discovered the song Radio Ga Ga. But its significance was not obvious to me immediatly.
The song talks about the ending of an age.
In 1996 an age did end for me. Infact in 1996 I became a whole new person. Someone much darker on the inside. I became what I am today. With the ending of the winter of 1995-96 as the hot winds started blowing across the Indo-Gangetic plains and spring turned to summer many things happened which changed me forever and Radioo Ga Ga did happen.

Firstly I became busy with the new school year and new issues. I virtually stopped listening to the radio and got involved with my new computer (purchased for me by my dad on 28th March 1996). It was his last and biggest gift to me.
I still remember during my board exams I was reading IT by Stephen King. My exams ended on the 27th of march and I got my PC the very next day. I got a couple of games with it. The one game which really influenced my life (I was already fond of video games!) was
Ultima 8: Pagan. I must have played that game so many times. I really did get under the skin of the game and explored every nook and cranny of the virtual world of Pagan.

Thus dawned the Age of the Computer and it forever took me away from the simple pleasures of life and of just sitting at 2 am on a winters black morning listening to the radio.