Farewell Speech

Today, at this proud moment of completing StreetRace Rivals in Facebook, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the influential people in my life. No, this speech was not inspired from Sachin Tendulkar's! And I am not carrying a list, so if I miss out anyone, I hope you will understand. 

Friends, please settle down, I will get more and more despair! My life between 1/4 miles for 1 and half months, it's hard to believe my wonderful journey is coming to an end. But I would like to take this opportunity to thank people who have played an important role in my life.

The most important person in my life, my father. Without his ‘pushing’ I wouldn't be standing in front of you, I never wanted to be here! -.-  He gave me PlayStation at the age of 11 and told me: 'If you study hard, you'll get your rewards.' Every time I have done something special and raised my grades, it was for PlayStation. But I never got another one.

My mother, I don't know how she dealt with such a drowsy guy like me. I was not easy to be woken up. I almost missed my 10^th CBSE social exam for that reason. She must be extremely patient.

In my high school days, for two years, I used to stay in hostel, as my school was far away. They treated me like a robot. After the hard day at school, I would be half asleep and the professors at entrance coaching centre would be feeding me more craps, so that I could go all desperate and be a chronically depressed man tomorrow. I can't forget those moments.

My elder sisters, they don't like to inspire me much but they would say, 'whatever you do, you have to come up with 100 percent'. And my family, was no different. I always had this burden on my shoulders. I was first forced to Facebook by my friends. That is where the journey began. They continues to enjoy their life while I got addicted to Facebook.

Vineesh, my friend, what do I talk about him. We have lived in this hostel together. It all started when he got addicted to Candy Crush, he kept on sending me requests to send him ‘lives’, he inspired me and I knew I too need an addiction, and that's how I got into Street Race Rivals. You will find this hard to believe but even last night at 2 AM he send me a request, knowing that there was a remote chance of me being online, it’s the habit we had developed, the rapport we had developed. Various things we agreed upon and disagreed upon. We have had a lot of arguments over my choice of game. Even last night he called my game silly and stupid for it was all about hitting accelerator and shifting gears. If I had not done that, I would have never won a race.

I'll simply skip the 'wife' and the 'best partnership of my life' part. 

The two misfortunes in my life, Binil and Rohit. They have grown up too much. They are both 22 now, still single. Time has flown by. I've missed kicking their bum on several birthdays. Thanks for understanding, I'm more of a benign person. I've not spent enough time with you in FarcCry and Candy Crush but I promise you the next years of my life, everything is for you.

My roommates, Shahin and Biju, have been always supportive. I discuss various things with them, like if Modi was a better candidate, or where the best chicken fries were available in Vijayawada.  We are a strong family. The most important thing they did was allowing me to play Street Race Rivals, so thank you very much.

In the last 2 and half years that I have been stuck in SPAV, I have made new friends, and before that I have had friends from my school. They have all had a terrific contribution at making me a desperate gamer. Muzammil and Fadil, we would exchange game CD's at school, and would hardly escape those raids from teachers. Later at high school, I would skip my entrance coaching classes with the guys there and spent our evenings at the nearby game centre. Even after when they were caught by the professors.

My gamer career started when I was 11. The turning point of my career was when my my father gifted me the PlayStation and that is the best thing to have happened to me. I would be playing games whole day and night I would play Fighting Force one day and Tenchu 2 the next day to ensure that I got enough practice. On a lighter note, dad has never said well played to me so that I don't get complacent. Maybe he can push his luck and wish me now, because there are no more Street Race Rivals, in my life. I will be watching others play the game, and the game will always stay in my heart. 

My career at street race rivals started with Volkswagen Polo, at Los Angeles. I remember beating boss from Berlin at 4 a.m. and racing with Miami boss the next day because I wanted to finish the game desperately, and not that somebody forced me. I have had a great time competing with the bosses from Tokyo, and finally Rio. Of all the cars I have bought, Ferrari 458 Italia had been my favourite. They were all painted black on yellow or the other way around, definitely not inspired from Transformers.

Ayush, Bipul, Naina, Uzma, and my other desperate gamer batch-mates here. You are like my family away from home. I have had some wonderful times with you. It is going to be difficult to not be part of the Facebook games, sharing those special moments and bragging those victories.

I will be failing in my duty if I didn't thank the college who provided us internet. Given the injuries my wallet has suffered from recharging for net packs, Vodafone and Docomo have helped me in odd hours. Iris communication has backed me a lot, since when the college blocked Facebook. Even today. Thank you. Thanks to the faculties who didn't change their default password, providing us unrestricted Facebooking.

I know my speech has become long. I want to thank people who have flown in from different parts of the world racing with me. And thank you everyone for bearing with me, all those requests I have sent you, I know it's very annoying, but I had no choice, those requests meant tank full of  petrol to me, to keep me going! I want to thank my fans from the bottom of my heart. 'Mukhthar, Mukhthar' will reverberate in my ears till I go to sleep. 

Goodbye.