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Modern maid

One is often taken by surprise at the extent to which modern technology has made inroads. This is particularly true…

Modern maid

Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images)

One is often taken by surprise at the extent to which modern technology has made inroads. This is particularly true of Internet and the slew of electronic gadgets now readily available. With the latest advancements in technology, the world is now available at a click. This is perhaps why social media and the dense web of Internet have engaged billions of users around the world so that imagining a life without Internet is impossible. One can recall the advertisement of a popular telecom brand in which people can be seen finding ideas for daily chores on the Internet.

This advertisement turned real for a colleague recently, giving him a taste of how everyone has become tech-savvy now. Our colleague, who had recently moved home, was asked by his new maid what he wanted to have for dinner. Replying that he wanted to eat “dum aaloo”, our colleague then asked the maid what ingredients she would be requiring. To his amazement, the young lady took out her smart phone, opened YouTube and started surfing for recipes on the net. Surprised and impressed, our colleague thought that no matter how much one blamed these modern machines for making us lazy, at one point everyone would agree that science has indeed made our life easier.

Tables turned

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They say, never mess with old people. This was painfully brought home to a bookshop owner, who thought he could pull a fast one on an elderly customer. The senior citizen, perhaps in his 80s, sporting a Nehru topi, had asked for the latest biography of “Mrs Gandhi”. The amused bookshop keeper jokingly asked whether he wanted the biography of Kasturba Gandhi, wife of the Father of Nation. Curious onlookers, as well as the bookshop owner himself, were in for a surprise, when the gentleman firmly said, “No, I want the latest biography of Indira Gandhi.” The bookshop keeper had the grace to acknowledge the rap on his wrist and courteously informed the old man that the book was not in his stock at present. “But yes, I do know that a biography of Indira Gandhi has hit the book market recently,” he admitted.

Turning cold

The weather at present is a bit tricky ~ not cold enough to don woollen garments yet cool enough to need some protection. Looking around at several people, who had chosen to wear jackets, sweaters and shawls, a couple of young girls in the Metro commented how people had no tolerance for cold and were “needlessly over-dressed”.

However, they had to quickly eat their own words when they deboarded at a station in Gurgaon, where temperatures are a few notches lower than Delhi. Recoiling from the blast of cold as they emerged from the warmth of the Metro train, one of the girls admitted, “Now I can see why those people are all bundled up!”

Tailpiece

A veteran scribe quipped that just as researchers rush to London to study Indian history, one may now have to go there to watch a historical film as well!

 

(Contributed by: Samir Pal, R V Smith, Kunal Roy, Abhijeet Anand and Asha Ramachandran)

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