This post is a collection of random thoughts and memories……..
The beautiful world of books – As a teenager growing up in a middle class family in the suburb of Mumbai (Andheri East) during the 90’s there weren’t too many options when you wanted to chill out during the holidays. You didn’t have much pocket money, there wasn’t the internet and uber didn’t quite exist yet. So one could either hang around with their friends, or on played cricket or soccer on the grounds (both of which i really sucked at), or one could go to the library and grab a few good fiction novels. I wasn’t the sporty types, sport really wasn’t my thing. I took to reading, to the fascinating world of books, to the fascinating world of fiction and then later non-fiction books.
So come every holiday, i would beg mum to give me a few rupees so i could run down to the local library and grab as many books i could afford. I would then immerse myself in those books and nothing in the world could pull me away from them. It was through the local library that i discovered the Nancy Drew’s, the Hardy Boys, the Secret Seven and then in the later years the Fredrick Forsythe’s, Jeffrey Archers of the world, etc. I can’t specifically remember how it happened, how i turned into a voracious reader, but i am quite sure that over a period of time i had read all the novels written by Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Secret Seven that were available at the local book store (a local laundry service where the owner who was fond of books also ran a library for kids). I used to even proudly declare to a few around me that there wasn’t a Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys novel at the local library that I hadn’t already devoured.
Introduction to the world of computers – In one of my older years my parents purchased me a computer, that was possibly the best investment they had made for me in their whole life until then. I soon found myself spending increasing amounts of time on my computer, taking it apart, wanting to learn more about how it worked, putting it together, installing different pieces of software, exploring different facets of the operating system, etc.
Unfortunately the stock standard operating system (windows 95, etc.) that came along with my Pentium 133Mhz, 16 MB RAM, 128 MB Disk constantly kept crashing and i was determined to find something else that was more robust, something that was more stable, an operating system that wasn’t going to crash every time you attempted to multi-task and run a few different applications simultaneously. Those were the days when windows was in its infancy. Windows was going through its own growth pangs, it had just been given a fresh look. The big change was from Win 3.11 to Win 95 with a whole new look and feel to the entire operating system. However, Win 95 as the the operating system was really not the best, it was definitely not the most stable and would easily crash. It was at that point i started looking at alternatives, i stumbled across a PC magazine which was giving out copies of RedHat Linux. From what i can remember i got hold of a CD with RedHat 5.2 and began installing that on my Intel Pentium 133 Mhz PC. That’s how i was introduced to the world of Linux.
My days at FreeOS.com – Soon after i finished studying i landed myself a job at FreeOS.com, a company that who’s business model was based on generating revenue through the sale of CD’s of FREE Software (Linux, etc.) including providing Open Source consulting e.g. design, build, deploy and maintenance of Open Source platforms e.g. Linux server farms, mail servers, proxy servers, VPN’s, etc. Those were the days when venture capital was quite easily available and investors were willing to pour heaps of money into dotcom ventures based on unproven concepts. I worked at FreeOS helping sell Open Source solutions, while also helping out as an engineer building and deploying solutions under the guidance of more senior architects and engineers. FreeOS was led by Prakash Advani and Apurva Shah. Prakash was the CEO while Apu was the CTO. Apu’s dad was our Venture Capitalist and also happened to be the owner of Boston Computers, one of India’s largest and leading computer educational institutes. Apparently the family were based out of Boston, MA in the USA, that’s how the name Boston Computers came to be.
At FreeOS i helped with training once in a while, while my main responsibilities were assisting with sales, pre-sales and post sales engineering support. It was during my term at FreeOS.com i burnt a few CD’s for a friend of mine (Chetan Shetty, Abhishek Shinde) in the hope of getting them hooked onto Linux. Chetan and Abhishek had come to visit me at FreeOS while i was working there. My hopes of getting them hooked to Linux didn’t go very far but they surely managed to keep the CD safely for over two plus decades.
I was recently visiting Chetan at his house, helping his kids get started with the basics of programming on the BBC micro:bit, basics of micropython on the Raspberry Pi Pico, etc. when he dug out this CD from his closet. I had to grab a picture of the CD, it brought back some great memories. Chetan offered to let me have the CD but i had to decline. I wouldn’t have been able to such a great job storing the CD as he had done……even though the software wasn’t quite of much use. It was more nostalgia than anything else……
