Gymming brought me happiness and helped me a lot
What happens when parents put their frail skinny boy in a boarding school with tasty food? He eats. He eats without a worry in the world, enjoying every bite of the potentially unlimited food and like there is no tomorrow. As did I. By the end of the session, I was mostly in the kitchen with the nicest and sweetest chefs during any free time, learning this art of cuisine. After coming home everyday, I taught my mother all the secrets there were to the tastiest Chole, Rajma, Cutlets, Home-made bread, Butter Paneer and more than enough dishes to make a cookbook by then. And I on the other hand had gained 30 kgs.
My fitness freak of a father was bewildered by my growth and started teasing and pulling my leg all the time. I did not like being fat too, I couldn't play anything very well, I wasn't able to keep up with my dog and did not love how I looked. It was around this time that I started to get bullied in school. I really wanted to get slimmer. I fasted only to come back at it with twice the hunger and fulfilling my midnight cravings was my guilty pleasure , nothing seemed to work. I decided to talk to my dad and he gave me the best advice ever. " In order to put your passion and focus away from food, you need to get passionately focused on something else." I knew what I needed to do but it was difficult to find such a thing. And after a few day instead of searching for it, I thought to myself. "What was it that has always piqued my interest? What is the one thing which absorbs me completely?" And looking back into my childhood, I got my answer. Video games and Computers.
Computers are probably the best thing since naan bread. But computers cost an arm and a leg. I decided to beg my father for a computer but decided to tell him it was for learning new things . Rejection didn't faze me after my cheesy letter to Avni.
My father finally gave in after a month of begging, prostrations and kowtowing. To save money, I had asked my father to buy the components separately for me which I had researched for rigorously during the last month on his office laptop. And that I would assemble them myself. After 8 tutorials, 2 reassembles and 100 scoldings later (apparently the PSU wasn't connected as tight and in the jungle of wires I had lost sight of an unplugged CPU cable) there it stood, 'The DOMINATOR', with Amd Ryzen 5 5500 CPU, Hyperx RGB 8GB RAM, MSI B550 Pro Motherboard with a Max frequency of up to 5333+MHz and a 650 W bronze power supply. What a sight it was to behold for the first time. Its breathing RGB lights looked like every gamer's dream in the dark. What followed my greatest sigh of relief was a loud shriek of excitement and happiness. Now, one might ask how did I plan on losing weight using a computer? Well, what I needed was to divert my mind from my cravings, not actual physical fitness, or at least that's what I thought. I studied in the afternoon after school. Once finished with all my assignments, I played video games. I enjoyed playing them very much. The more I played, the more I began to recognize technical tricks used by game devs to make these kinds of experiences fun and possible. Sooner or later, I began to have ideas on how I could improve on my favorite game or even how I would make my own game.
A little down the line, I began learning programming languages, solving coding puzzles, and ultimately attempted to make rudimentary video games. At this point, with my basic knowledge, I sought out softwares to create games (ex: Unity), and also began modifying (modding) existing games by adding my own characters, maps, color schemes, digital models, or sound effects. I was also deeply interested in creating photorealistic animations which I tried on Blender. Then, I got hit by the hardest and highest roadblock ever, 'Rendering'. Since THE DOMINATOR had no graphics card, it couldn't fully render my projects. Heartbroken, I went crying to my sweet mother. She comforted me and told me that she would save up money for me, so that we could buy a good laptop which will only be given to me if I studied hard and got into a good college to study something related to computers. My heart was filled with extreme joy, and a little worry for my mom. Studying had never seemed more appealing. But I had gotten tired of just sitting in one place, playing video games and wanted something new now.
My dad introduced me to the manliest place then, THE GYM. Gymming brought me happiness and helped me a lot in reducing my stress. And during all these moments, I learned to stay consistent and got the strength to persist through everything from my mom, who worked and still works very hard for my sake.
Avni asked me out a few days back, I ran away with my face flushed and thought about my career first.