‘Smart’ birthday present

It seemed like just another birthday gift that my daughter presented to me on my sixtieth birthday. But when I unwrapped the gift, it contained a smart phone. My first reaction was only a mild snub to her. Though I was delighted that she had saved all the money from her paltry salary and bought this gift for me, but I politely showed my displeasure over her for wasting her hard-earned money.

I had always been averse to modern gadgets and was strongly of the opinion that this invasion of technology in our lives had damaged the fine fabric of human relations. Most of the times I would find many youngsters glued to their gadgets. It bothers me that youngsters don’t even spare some time to have a soft word or two with their siblings and parents.

I would often hold them in derision by calling them fool folks and their virtual world a proverbial fool’s paradise. On top of it, I was clung to the belief that these wonders of technology were in real sense not wonderful at all. Technology has enslaved an entire generation with its additive impact on them.

But, now willy-nilly I had accepted my daughter’s gift. In no time, she filled my smart phone with applications like WhatsApp and Facebook. Initially I had to struggle very hard to learn how to operate those apps.

My daughter had taken me under her tutelage and I was optimally trained by her to make use of these apps. I am marvelled that a great positive change had occurred in my otherwise bland and monotonous life with the arrival of this smart gift.

The boredom and ennui associated with my retried life had begun to take toll on my physical as well as mental health. Sitting idle at home all day long, I would worry about trivial things. But after receiving this smart phone I am experiencing a smart turn in my life.

At present many of my friends have added me to their various WhatsApp groups. Though some of the messages they post in these groups are just meaningless jokes and one liners but they give me a hearty laugh most of the times. Others shoot a volley of meaningful messages and share valuable inputs too.

Now, I too post images and texts, as taught by my tech- savvy daughter. Like on WhatsApp, I remain as busy as a bee on Facebook as well. This social media forum is indeed akin to a college reunion where I am in touch with most of my school and college friends. This gift has indeed added many new colours to my otherwise colourless and dull life.

But now whenever my wife catches me glued to the gadget, she teases me and says, “Mr Fool, you have also finally joined the world of fools”.