I first started going online, quite infrequently when I was 21 back in 1997. Oh it was in the infancy stage in India back then and the net connections were all dialup and slower than an arthritic old turtle. I was marketing modems on a part time basis for a month or two and hence needed to know about getting online and the company that was selling the modems showed it to me.
For the next year whenever possible I would try and go to an internet cafe but it was so bloody expensive back then – Rs.200 for an hour. In 1998 it became Rs.100 an hour and I would go twice a week for a couple of hours each time and browse to my heart’s content. I discovered online chatting via MiRC and was hooked. In 1999-2000 I would manage a small internet cafe and by then it was a daily usage for me. Once I left that cafe it became a weekly 2 or 3 time affair once again until, especially during my 8 month work stint in Calicut city. By then the rates had dropped significantly t0 30 bucks or so and I would sit in a cafe for hours on end especially during the weekends.
However it wouldn’t be until 2006 September that I bought a new computer, my old pc having died out on me back in 2003, and then I took a broadband connection – the same as the one I have now – at home. Since then I sold my pc and bought my current laptop and my internet speeds have increased as my plans have changed and I pretty much spend all of my free time online.