Interview [Issue 57] Behind the Tank: MagisToR

[Vikingsrallentando 3,058]

 

As promised, new "Behind the Tank" interviews are shooting off the shelves at a faster rate than you're used to. I understand if its a little much for you, I'd suggest leaving your thoughts in the comments to help ease the weight. Folks, I have a good one for you this month. He is a veteran of the game with an inclusive heart that is guaranteed to inspire. Here is MagisToR!

 

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Player Profile

Game Name: MagisToR

Nickname(s): Mag, Magis

Real Name: Arjun Pradeep alias Antroo

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Country: Born in Russia and grew up in India

Preferred Combo(s): "Most favourite would be Railgun/Hornet/Wasp & all-time combo is Thunder/Viking"

 

Viking: Hey MagisToR, how are you?

 

Magis: I'm doing well, thank you for this honor and how are you doing?

 

Viking: I am doing well, thank you for asking. Speaking of asking questions, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

 

Magis: Sure, I am 27 years old and I'm currently living in Adelaide trying to complete my higher studies as my area of study is Engineering. I have two siblings - one sister & one brother along with 4 cousins. My sister Lakshmi Pradeep is an excellent singer who's currently participating in Airtel Super Singer which is an Indian reality singing show and she has participated in other singing shows as well & won too.

 

My family and I enjoy outdoor activities such as fishing, family picnics to spend time with our cousins & relatives, trekking and rarely mountain climbing with my siblings and cousins. All of us love pet animals and I have two pet birds. My family is the greatest gift that I've ever received in my life and I'm very much affectionate towards my sister & brother listening to their advises. In short, it's like the picture perfect family with loads of happiness.

 

My hobbies are reading books, singing, photography, listening to songs, playing games and now I'm learning to play piano, guitar, flute, etc. I'm a national level champion in Football, volleyball, and basketball and pretty much good in college when it comes to kick-boxing and rest of the sports. And I also spend my time playing Tanki and visiting my friends whenever I have the time.

 

Viking: Well, you certainly have a lot to be proud of when it comes to family, good for you. We'll get to them in a moment. What experience or influence lead you to the field of Engineering? Is there any specific sector of the field you're interested in?

 

Magis: Yes, certainly I am a lot more than proud when it comes to family and sure we get can to that later. Everyone around me including my family, friends and teachers pointed me that I have the determination, skills and a lot of interest in learning everything about computer as I have spent half of my time in that.

 

There's another reason for my pursuant - each and everyone in my family is working in different fields, so I thought of pursuing Engineering as it gives me new experience, increase my skills and yes, makes me look unique in my family. This influence lead me to this field. Yes, I'm interested in the field of Software Engineering.

 

Viking: If you take to working on computers, it only makes sense to go into Software Engineering; good choice. I also have a sister who enjoys dancing and I'm proud of what she has done. What moment during Lakshmi's appearance on the show did it hit you that she has really accomplished something?

 

Magis: The day when she was selected for the Grand Finale was the happiest day of my life. It was the first time actually where she gets to perform before a lot of people in the grandest stage of them all. Both of her final performances were absolutely amazing & melodious. As a result she received lot of great comments for her performances by the judges and the contestants from Season 1-4 who are now playback singers. This is one of the reason & the other reason is that she had a warm wholehearted welcome by the people.

 

I was left in awestruck by the support she had by her fans. It was so special for both of us and it was the moment during her appearance on the show which had showed me that she had accomplished far more in her musical journey including filling everyone's heart with a sweet joyful music. That's what I thought. Wow, it's really good to hear about your sister's dancing skills and I wish her good luck in everything mate.

 

Viking: Thanks for that, I appreciate it. To focus more on your family, you said you were born in Russia and grew up in India; could you explain that dynamic of your life?

 

Magis: Sure. My parents had been living in Moscow along with my grandparents and most of our family relatives stayed in India as they preferred to live there. At first, everyone in my family had thought of making us complete our studies in Russia. Later everything changed as my father had been transferred to India due to promotion and to be honest when I joined schooling [in Russia], it just didn't feel good for me. That's the reason which led me to come with my parents to India and complete my studies, otherwise I would've been staying with my grandparents & would be working right now. I have completed my schooling and B.E in India. Then one of my cousins suggested me to take UniSA in Australia and I asked permission from my family. Everything turned out to be good and now I'm on my way to completing my M.E.

 

Viking: How often do you visit with family? Are you still close with your grandparents back in Russia?

 

Magis: I visit my family much often whenever I have the time. When I'm in college and much precious day approaches like my sister's birthday, then I'll try somehow to visit them giving them a surprise visit. I could say I'm lucky to visit them even during college days. Yes, I am still close. We are thinking of visiting them again when I get holidays and who knows, maybe we'll convince our grandparents to come along with us to India and stay there.

 

Viking: That would be a great revelation and an exciting one for the family. Now lets talk a bit about your hobbies, as you've mentioned you sing and are learning to play several instruments, could you walk us through that experience? And what kind of music do you enjoy playing or listening to?

 

Magis: Yep, I did.. Like everyone, I just started singing just for entertainment purpose when I feel bored/much happy. Later on, it became one of my hobby/I could say passion. Even my sister and myself will sing duet songs when she prepares for her performances. I can sing well but not like my sister as she's the best. In learning music it was another wonderful experience for me amidst my busy schedule with school. Piano was my first instrument that I learned to play and we would be having choir in schools & colleges. I used to be the guy playing piano with my friends. It took me almost 2 years to complete it and I moved on to flute, mouth organ, violin. I'm trying to learn new things after I complete one and this time it's Guitar. I like to play and listen to classic but I love instrumental, pop and rock genres more as it's pretty much easy to remember the lyrics and sing/play them. Music will come out of us much pure when we understand the soul of the song & sing it from our heart with a feel along with emotions needed and that I learned from my sister.

 

Viking: Music is also a very important part in my life and music played from the soul is the best kind of music, no matter what genre it is. As a guitar player myself, I'm sure you'll enjoy playing it. Could you name a popular song you play for fun?

 

Magis: Well said,Viking. If I visit you one day, maybe you should teach me some of your guitar skills. It's pretty hard to choose for me as I love to play & hear every song I can. Anyway my most favourite songs which i used to play are Justin Bieber's Baby & Never say never, Michael Jackson's thriller & Don't stop till you get enough, and Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Those songs would mark the start of the day for me & if I'm free my practice continues with a list of 8-10 songs a day.When it comes to Tamil songs ,there's no limit and I always used to play & sing with my sister. In tamil songs the lyrics are easy to remember and music is much melodious.

 

Viking: I don't know if I would be a very effective teacher of guitar, but I can teach you from more of a hard rock perspective. I do love me some MJ though. For those that don't know, could you explain what you can hear in tamil music?

 

Magis: Sure, I guess all I need to do is to visit you when the time comes. Well, the songs I hear are mostly classical, instrumental, pop and rock genres.

 

About the instruments [in tamil music] it'll be piano, guitar, violin, veena [classic Indian guitar], drums and flute according to the songs I heard. Tamil music is made up of a Ragam Talam Pallavi (Raga, Tala, Pallavi). They are the equivalent to chorus, bridge and verses as in English songs. Pallavi is like the sprout or bud of a song which is the first section and it sets the mood. It is followed by Anupallavi which is the second section which enhances the mood. Lastly, its Charanam, the foot of the song is the ending portion.

 

Now, the lyric part is much easier as most of the lyrics consists of the tamil words everyone uses and we can sing it with the flow without any chance of forgetting. I'm sure that once you hear them, you would just keep singing it all day long. I love every singers and music composers but my most favourite would be A.R.Rahman.

 

Viking: Wow, you covered everything pretty well. I could go on and on about this stuff, but I gotta wind this down. To get this on the record, how did you come up with your nickname?

 

Magis: Hmm,well I've been asking myself the same question.It all happened when I was playing a Russian game called "call of gods" with my friends and during an alliance war I mistakenly typed the name in our ally chat & it sounded good giving quite a proud feeling,so I've been sticking with that name ever since.

 

Viking: I feel the same way. I said "Vikingsrall" one day when I was younger and thought it was a good nickname. Why? I have no clue. Of course I've expanded it to give it actual meaning. Yours looks and sounds good so, you made a good choice. It's getting to be an old one too, you joined the forum in 2009. We've both seen a lot of people come and go.. what is your view on that?

 

Magis: Exactly,it looks like we both had the same thought at that time. Thank you for the compliment and yours looks more "Viking". Yes,maybe it might be old but it's still a very precious name for me.

 

Well, first of all, I'm much grateful that I've met and made so many friends in here. You can feel the difference in our forums, it looks like a bit peaceful environment and it happened because of every admin and people in here. Like everyone I've had good days & bad days. With Bruce as our CM,that was the start of our golden age and I've seen everyone much happy and eagerly waiting for everything. At that time, there was much harmony even in little forum posts and not much rule breaking. My view is that everyone I met in TO had been a great friend, a brother and a sister to me. They are like my mentor helping me in every part of the game and even in my life giving great advice.

 

In that way I've found a very special person. Her name is Mikaela Habgood and her nickname is Athena/Alexandra. She had been like a sister to me, taking care of me and like the wise "Yoda" she taught me everything she knows, kept encouraging me to reach great heights in life, stop being lazy and asked me to listen to my heart & family during the sad times. Her patience and caring is what I love most & she's the main reason am around in forum.

 

Totally, I would say there's much more to than just simply playing. This is a great environment to make good friends and cherish every good moments like a family. We all got each other and when we all accept it, there's only happiness everywhere. I'm sure that at least once everyone would've thought that the people here had been like a family to them helping them till the end. This is my view about my TO life.

 

Viking: That is such a unique view, and I love it. Its only fitting that you view the people you come across in the Tanki world is also considered a relative. Mikaela is a lucky girl. I could keep going on this subject all day; unfortunately, I have to wind this down. What would you like to say to the people who have read through this, who have got to know you?

 

Magis: Yep, I do and the truth is I'm the lucky one to have found so many good friends, bros & sis. This is the place where I made so many good memories and learned many great things. We can make this game better by supporting and helping each other instead of saying any kind of words which would hurt them. Even if the player seems to be inexperienced, you can maybe try to teach him everything. Sometime we might not love certain things, so we must learn to overcome them without losing our hope.

 

Totally, what I would like to say to the people is to enjoy the game and with our friends in the side even the so called "boring" battle will turn entertaining in an instant. Finally, I would like to thank Viking for giving me this opportunity to share about myself with the TO community. Like everything else, this game teaches things which are related to our life like strategic planning,tactics, learn to never surrender and history knowledge too. Take care and I wish good luck to every bros & sis. See you out on the battlefield! Your beloved brother, Magis :)

[Completed 17 July, 2016]

 

Much love and thanks to MagisToR for partaking in the interview. You have morals to be modeled after; Good luck at the University of South Australia and enjoy your time with family and tankers alike.

Season 3

RustyNail

Season 2

splitterpoint

dogm45

Season 1

conanthedestroyer

MadDog21

 

Keep tuning in each month to learn more about the people Behind the Tank.

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed.

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by Vikingsrallentando

[Homs 1,287]

interesting , nice :)

[NewbieCake 3,067]

Not sure if you guys knew this, but "magister" is Latin for "teacher," so it made me think he was possibly trying to name himself "teacher or master."

[tankerkuldeep 739]

Nice.

Good to see Indians being featured. :)

[Cpt.Mad 21]

+1

[Ninja 10,468]

Interesting guy, I'm into photography myself.