Ageing With Technology

The other day, I visited my cousin Jai in Chennai. I was meeting her after a long time. Despite staying far away from the city in a peaceful suburb, with her two daughters settled abroad, she was her usual chirpy self. As if not to let her feel the absence of her demanding kids, she had her ageing father and her mother-in-law staying with her. Over the conversation, she said wryly, the kids have grown and are on their own but I still have enough on my plate to do. I could see the Gen X at the crossroads of parental duty and parental care.

As we were reminiscing our childhood days over a cup of coffee, her mother-in-law called from the upper floor. The Wifi signal was missing on her phone and she wanted Jai to check. As Jai was climbing up the stairs, Ashok - her husband -  called out from the other room – he had switched off the router due to heavy rains the previous night. As Jai came down pulling her hair, after switching on the router, she burst into laughter – I don’t get to know the difference whether I was connected on Wifi or mobile data but my mother-in-law is super sensitive. She doesn’t like the speed of 3G and wants only the high-speed Wifi for her Yoga lessons on the YouTube . And you were asking me as to how I spent my time with both kids away.  Ashok just quipped from behind the walls – they are ageing smartly and gracefully. Be proud of them.

As Jai was clearing the table her father came out from the room. He showed a long whatsapp message on his mobile to Jai and said – there is a very good home remedy for diabetes in my friends’ group. All these ingredients are available in our regular Anna Nagar shop. I have just now checked. Can you go to the town today and get these? It is very simple to make once we get the stuff.  Jai looked at the list, many of the items in the list she could not even pronounce. She took a deep breath, tried to hide the frown on her face and said – OK, just forward this to me – and moved into the kitchen.

As Jai came out of the kitchen, Ashok was leaving for his tennis session and waved towards me and Jai. Before he could leave, Jai snapped at Ashok and said – take a good look at my face. While your mother and father-in-law are ageing gracefully, I might suddenly turn into Eighty by the time you finish your game.  But don’t you worry, age is just a number after all. Ashok laughed and said – Go and watch Sankara TV with your father, that will calm you down.