Back in 2014, I figured out that airtel.live didn’t need a data pack to access. I had previously depleted the balance trying to access YouTube to watch Doraemon. If you were curious and stupid like me back then, you’d surely know the pain that ensued after that mishap. So, finding a website that didn’t cost anything was wonderful. I still have no idea how I figured out it could be used for free.

The site was mostly filled with news. So, the first news that I excitedly shared after accessing internet for maybe the first time was that our Chief Minister had resigned and been replaced by a fellow party member. I don’t remember the rest, but I was so proud knowing that I had spoiled the next day’s newspaper for everyone around me still living in archaic times.

I lost interest in news shortly after and spent the next month downloading episodes of So Sorry by Aaj Tak which were around 2 MB each. They were pretty much the only fun videos I could find on that website. The internet was so slow that I would’ve finished all my evening playtime which was definitely more than an hour and still not have a single video downloaded. And of course, the software on cheap keypad phones was so barebones that you couldn’t even use the phone while something was being downloaded.

We didn’t have a TV at that time, so a 1-2 minute video of politicians doing stupid things was fun to watch. Maybe that’s where my lack of respect for politicians began.