By nika 
Not Every Journey Begins with a Revolution, Some begin quietly.
Mine was with a screen, a keyboard, and eyes filled with wonder.
The First Spark
My earliest memory with a computer? I was just a kid. My uncle, my father’s brother had one. While he used it for Photoshop, I would sit beside him, watching him edit photos like he was painting with light. I played games on it too.
When I was in about 5th or 6th grade, or maybe even before that, we got our own computer at home. Unfortunately, there was no internet access at the time. My brother and I would spend countless hours playing classic games. There was one Dracula game… I don’t even remember if it was Dracula or his son, but the mission was simple, save the sister. That game lit a fire inside me.
Eventually, that computer stopped functioning.
My First Encounter with the Internet
At that point, I had never experienced the internet and was unaware of its real possibilities. I still remember the first time I caught a glimpse of it. One of my uncles, Pradeep, who worked in a Gulf country, came back around mid-2013 or early 2014 and brought a computer to my mother’s house.
At that time, my grandfather, grandmother, and my mother’s second brother, Prasanth, were all living there. Their house wasn’t too far from ours, so I’d often visit. One day, Uncle Pradeep showed me something new, a movie on YouTube. By then, I was already a movie fan. In fact, I’ve always enjoyed watching all kinds of things on TV-movies, cartoons, and random shows.
That was the moment I first encountered the internet, even though I didn’t fully grasp what it was. I thought YouTube was just a site to watch movies, nothing more.
Falling In
I started exploring. I watched more. I learned more. The computer stayed even after Uncle left.
During one week I spent at my mother’s house, everyone else had gotten an eye infection, except me. I would come home from school, drop my bag, and dive into that digital world.
I didn’t realize it then, but I was slowly being reborn this time, through the screen.
The internet became my second home.
The Magic of a Smartphone
Then came my first encounter with a smartphone, a touch phone gifted to my second uncle. It felt like holding the future in my hand.
When I discovered WhatsApp, it blew my mind. The ticks, the blue ticks, voice messages, the ability to send texts instantly… it felt magical.
At first, I thought WhatsApp was just like the regular SMS app. I had no idea what the Play Store was or how apps worked. But curiosity became my fuel. And that fuel burned brighter with every new gadget I touched.
A Destiny Found in Circuits and Code
I didn’t chase technology. It found me.
And I welcomed it with everything I had.
Looking back, I realize those moments were the early signals,
The call of a destiny waiting for me in circuits and code.
And now, here I am.
What started as fascination… has become my mission.