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![[Mahesh Bhupathi]](25lead.jpg)
![[Mahesh Bhupathi]](25lead.gif)
Nidhi Taparia
He bought himself a fancy laptop six years ago and was hooked. "I think it is an easy and cheap way to keep in touch with family and friends, considering I'm always on the move," says Mahesh Bhupathi. "I usually cannot get through the day without checking mail. I log on in the mornings, write off my replies, and log on again in the evenings to send and receive some more."
And he has no problems logging on from anywhere. "I have an AOL server using numbers that one can easily hook up to anywhere in the world. In India, however, logging on is a very frustrating experience. Line speeds are slow and one gets disconnected all the time. I enjoy chatting on the AOL and MSN messenger with friends and family… But chatting with strangers is not something I have tried."
Mahesh is the same, be it online or offline. Short crisp sentences and emails are volleyed back almost immediately, he confesses. Favourite sites? "Samachar for news, Indiafm to listen to Hindi film music which I am very fond of. I also pick up a lot of DVDs, mostly of Hindi films, which I then watch on my laptop."
And he has yet to recover from the technology involved. "I still can't get over how quick communication is, today. I am just happy emailing, surfing and chatting once in a while. I'm not into downloading pictures unless a friend mails them in, neither am I a huge game freak unlike most others I know. Ecards help though, especially for birthdays one is likely to forget."
Not much into auctions, the star would be willing to auction a racquet or T-shirt for charity. "Can't think of what else one would want to bid for..."
What about the Internet in terms of how it can help players like him? "There is a lot one can find for beginners, but not otherwise." It also comes in handy keeping in touch with his doubles partner: "Leander and I use messengers and email to keep in touch when we are in India and not playing together, to chalk out schedules, etc. But he is hooked as well and carries his own laptop around when we are touring too."
And did you know that Mahesh Bhupathi was also a web columnist? "I write for Indya.com, mostly just answering a bunch of questions people put across to me. In fact, I do a lot of my interviews and replying to fan letters through email."
Quiz him about whether he thought about creating his own web site and he replies, "There is a fan site that hosts all the information about us and our schedule, so I didn't think it would help."
There's one incident that makes him wary of being online. "I was chatting with a friend on an instant messenger for 20 minutes. An hour later, he was online again and wanted to chat. I was taken aback and said, 'Well, we just did.' And we both realised that it wasn't him I was chatting with. His account had been hacked into. Luckily, mine has never been."
Last question: Is he into ego surfing? "Yes," he admits, readily. "Finding a huge number of pages is exciting. Old interviews and match records also make for interesting reading." He adds, dryly, "Not to miss realising that one has been misquoted pretty much all the time!"
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