Chapter 19: Viral Dreams and Virtual Nightmares
Delhi — March 5, 2009 — 8:00 AM
Shiva's phone buzzed non-stop on the wooden table beside his bed.
Bzzzz. Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
He squinted through half-closed eyes.
Facebook notifications.
Orkut scraps.
SMS pings.
His brain, foggy with sleep, needed a few seconds to catch up.
And then he realized:
Rickshaw Rush Championship had gone viral overnight.
---
8:30 AM – A Digital Explosion
Shiva stumbled to his laptop, heart pounding.
His Facebook page had exploded:
+430 new likes overnight
70+ comments tagging friends
Dozens of "Where can I download??" messages
Orkut was even crazier:
New group "Rickshaw Rush Official Tournament" — 300 members already
Multiple "challenger" threads ("I bet I'll score 10,000 points in one ride!")
Meme wars breaking out:
> Rickshaw = Death Machine
Turbo Rickshaw = Death + Speed Combo
On YouTube, small creators posted reaction videos:
"Practicing for Rickshaw Rush Tournament — I suck lol" (2K views)
"Rickshaw Drift Challenge — Epic Fail Compilation!" (1.8K views)
The hype was real.
The machine had been set in motion.
And Shiva wasn't just the driver.
He was the kingmaker.
---
9:30 AM – Problems Begin
Success never comes quietly.
By mid-morning, the problems started pouring in:
Players couldn't find the download link.
Some phones couldn't open the APK file.
The website — rickshawrushchampionship.site90.com — kept crashing.
Shiva refreshed the page desperately.
Error 503: Server Overloaded
He tried again.
Connection timed out.
His free hosting was buckling under the sudden flood of traffic.
Of course it was.
000webhost was built for hobby blogs, not viral Indian gaming tournaments.
---
10:00 AM – Crisis Control
He called Kunal immediately.
"Kunal bhai!" Shiva shouted into the phone. "Server's dying! People are screaming!"
Kunal, ever the hustler, said, "Bro, bro, relax. It's a good thing. Means they're hungry. We need a better solution."
"But I have no money!" Shiva groaned.
Kunal laughed.
"Who said anything about money? I know a guy."
---
11:30 AM – Enter: The Hacker
Through some shady hostel network, Kunal introduced Shiva to Abhishek Chauhan —
also known as ZeroDay, a teenage coding prodigy.
Abhishek looked barely sixteen on webcam — messy hair, hoodie, and a mischievous grin.
"Yo," he said. "Heard you need a real website, cheap?"
"Yes!" Shiva said. "My server's dying! It's chaos!"
"No problem, bro. I'll migrate you."
"In exchange for what?" Shiva asked cautiously.
Abhishek smirked.
"Put my gaming clan's logo on the Rickshaw Rush site. Small, bottom corner. That's it."
Shiva blinked.
That's it?
Done deal.
---
1:00 PM – Operation Rescue
Abhishek worked like magic.
He:
Set up a better server on a secret VPS (Virtual Private Server) he had access to.
Optimized Shiva's simple PHP scripts for faster loading.
Re-linked the download buttons.
Created a fallback mirror download link (on MediaFire).
By mid-afternoon, rickshawrushchampionship.com (yes, a full domain now!) was alive and screaming.
Fast.
Stable.
Glorious.
At the bottom corner of the site, a tiny red logo blinked:
> "Team ZeroDay | Underground Gamers"
---
3:00 PM – Official Announcement
Shiva posted everywhere:
> "New Website Live!
RickshawRushChampionship.com
Download Now — Crash Later!
March 25: Are you ready?"
Players roared back:
"Finallyyy it's working!"
"Bro this new site is lit!"
"Downloaded. Practicing. Pray for me lol."
Momentum was back.
Stronger than ever.
---
5:00 PM – Dark Clouds Appear
But not everyone was happy.
An angry Orkut post caught Shiva's eye:
> "This tournament is a scam! They just want our email IDs!
No prizes, no real company, just a kid fooling us."
Within an hour, the post had 87 likes.
Others chimed in:
"Yeah, why no proper sponsors?"
"Feels shady, bro."
"How do we know they won't steal our info?"
Shiva felt a sick pit in his stomach.
Public backlash.
Accusations.
He knew he was honest.
But online mobs didn't care.
Perception was everything.
---
6:30 PM – Preparing for Battle
Instead of panicking, Shiva took a deep breath.
He made a bold move:
Transparency Bomb.
He posted a massive, heartfelt message across all channels:
> "Hi everyone. I'm Shiva.
I'm 18 years old, from Delhi.
I made Rickshaw Rush from scratch on my laptop. No big company behind me. No rich uncle.
I'm organizing this championship because I love games, not because I want to steal your emails.
Winners will get public fame, immortalized in the game forever.
No scams. No hidden agenda. Just passion.
You can trust me — or not.
Either way, I promise to make this the craziest, funniest ride of 2009.
Thanks for playing. Thanks for believing.
— Shiva"
Simple.
Raw.
Unfiltered.
---
8:00 PM – Community Fights Back
To Shiva's shock and joy, players defended him fiercely:
"Respect, bro. Mad respect."
"I believe you. Playing right now!"
"People just hate when they see something awesome without corporate backing."
"This dude is the real Rickshaw King!"
Momentum shifted again.
The haters were drowned out by genuine fans.
The community Shiva built — tiny, messy, passionate —
stood up for him.
And that, he realized,
was more valuable than any money in the world.
---
10:00 PM – Quiet Victory
That night, Shiva leaned back on his chair, exhausted but happy.
He looked at the stats:
2,100+ tournament pre-registrations
5,000+ Rickshaw Rush downloads
30+ YouTubers making tournament practice videos
Website stable at 10K visits per day
He sipped a glass of water.
Smiled at the Delhi night.
And whispered to himself:
> "This is just the beginning."
He wasn't building a game anymore.
He was building a legend.
---
[End of Chapter 19]