Devdas, MMORPGs, Hentai and the Inter-generational Conversation

It was a Sunday spent in the hospital as Neo was down with a severe bacterial infection...Amongst the umpteen trips to Lilavati, two things caught my attention. A front page story in TOI on the gaming obsession amongst the young(The New Devdas is a Gamer) and the snatch of a conversation between a 6 year old girl and her grand-parents in the lift!

I know the world of gaming exists. I watch and wonder about it from a distance. Too old, too weary, too fascinated with it...

1. Had initiated a research few months back. With little supervision, didn't really get to the bottom of either gamers or gaming . Must do a ver 2.0 soon!

2. "Unable to face the realities of heart-break, outright rejection, and other humiliations of love, youngsters today are seeking refuge in addictive multi-user games, a whole parallel universe where life is boy-friendly." - Sunday TOI

3. Looks like these MMORPGs(Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games) are filling in for real life relationships, sexual fantasies and other fetish. And the legion of obsessive admirers is growing by the day!

4. There there is something called the Hentai(Japanese term) - these are cartoon games which involve sadomasochism and paedophilia!!

5. Amidst all this general knowledge I gleaned, I heard an exasperated 6 year old girl explain the Gameboy to her grand parents. Who kept on asking why the boys play gameboy and not the 'gamegirl?!@' LOL

In another few months, I can envisage a similar conversation between Neo and my father or worse still between Neo and me!!

Happy Holi

Had a great Holi today! Few thots before I hit bed...

1. It's the best Indian festival for a 3.5 year old...As you can see, my son Neo freaked out!

2. Increasingly the diyas for Diwali, the small Ganesha idols for Ganesh Chaturthi and now 100% of the pichkaris for Holi are made in the factories of Guangzhou...
BTW, the ecosystem of colours, pichkaris, etc. around Holi could be a possible candidate for a 'flash brand'.
So, flash meets a flat world:-)

3. My father, a late adopter of new technology(not because he was slow, but because technology was slow when he was younger) but a 'fast-and-furious' learner sent this 'Holi Game' though SantaBanta.com:-) And Neo had the best of the physical Holi and a taste of the digital-Holi.
End of day best scores...Baba(255), Neo 310 and me(410):-)


4. Many of us are life-caching our experiences with a vengeance. This post, the e-mail I just sent to my parents are part of my digital auto-biography...Even 5 years back, it would have been beyond my radar or reach!!
Hope all of you had a great time...