My mom’s first smart phone

 

Younger generation can’t think of a day, without their smart phone as it has become an integral part of their life. But the same is not the case with older generation especially our parents and grandparents. Since operation of smart phone need little bit of learning, parents are always reluctant to use it for themselves.

My mom was also no different from all other people in her age group, she thought handling smart phone is a herculean task and it is not her cup of coffee. Whenever I would bring the topic of purchasing a smart phone, she will say “I am happy with my keypad phone”.  But she also wanted to own smart phone,  so that she can watch her serials on it.

This time when I was at home, fortunately her phone went for a toss and she needed a new phone now. I somehow convinced her to buy a new smart phone with little reluctance she agreed to buy it. Since I know her well, I proposed, she take my phone and I will buy a new phone for myself. Reason if she is not comfortable with the usage of a commodity, she will either give it someone or won’t use it at all.  I didn’t want latter to happen but my mom insisted on buying a new phone for herself.

Next thing, I booked a phone for her through Amazon along with the cover and tamperproof glass. When the phone arrived, she was happy but its usage troubled her but with my presence around, she was little chilled. I installed all the necessary apps in her phone and made it usable for her use. I even transferred all her contacts from her previous phone to the new one.

That afternoon, I sat with her and taught her how to make and receive calls along with reading sms’s. I made her repeat each activity multiple times in my presence, so that she was through with it. Initially she was little furious and wanted to switch to her old phone or buy a similar phone. So, I lied to her that, one you put a sim in smart phone we can’t use in normal phones you need to get a new sim for it. She believed me and things turned in my favor again.

For a week every day, I used to sit with her and train her on the usage of smart phone. In a week’s time she was able to receive call and make calls by herself, even delete messages too. Then I introduced her to WhatsApp, the most happening app on her phone. Over period of time, she learned to read message on WhatsApp and view video files.  Till now she hasn’t learned to forward or send messages in WhatsApp because she doesn’t want to learn it and I can’t push her much.

One place where my efforts were minimal in terms of training her on smart phone usage was, to watch her favorite serials in Hotstar. I taught the entire process to her only twice and she grabbed it instantly. Next day onwards she was on hotstar watching her shows with no support from my end. It made wonder, how she learned it so soon, whereas for other things I was struggling with her.

The same happened, when I introduced her to YouTube and she learned it at a faster pace. She even asked me question about how to search for videos and I showed her the process but she was not interested to learn about it much. Due to artificial intelligence, YouTube suggested her videos based on her previous searches.

Now she plays bhajans both in morning and evening in YouTube and watches culinary videos. Early morning bhajans used to hamper my beauty sleeps so sometimes I used to turn off her phone net. Since she didn’t know about it, I told her network issue and she bought my statement. Her ignorance was a bliss for me in this case.

Within a month’s time she was comfortable with the phone and had mastered things which mattered to her the most, especially hotstar and YouTube. Since I was around, she would reach out to me when she goofed up things.

Now when I ask her “do you want to switch to your keypad phone”? and she jokingly says YES, then I ask her, how will you watch your serials then? Then she doesn’t say anything and brushes off the question with a smile. I strongly feel the main reason for our parents to use to smart phone is to watch serials. Because one of my cousin’s mom told her son, she just wants a smart phone now when her old phone got damaged. When I asked the purpose of smart phone to her, she told me “I want to watch serials without anyone’s disturbance and at my pace”. Finally, her son bought her a smart phone and now she is also a pro in watching serials on phone.

I had two selfish motives for getting a smart phone for my mom, firstly I wanted my phone to be with me, as she wanted to see her serials on my phone. Secondly, I wanted to do video calls with her anytime when I want. Because in the absence of smart phone, we both had to rely on others for video calls and it irritated me.

So, all you guys who are reading this, please get a smart phone to your parents and also train them in its usage with utmost care and patience. Their reluctance to the usage of smart phone is not because they don’t like it but because they aren’t confident about its usage by themselves. With us kids around I don’t think this should be a herculean task for our parents.

My first train trip during pandemic

 

Ever since the pandemic began in March 2020, I have usually confined myself to my house with restrictive travel, that too in personal vehicle or with my friends. No cabs, buses, train or flights was my mantra as I was and am scared of Corona, especially looking at the plight of people infected with the disease.

 When I decided to travel home to meet my parents after a year in 2021, I preferred to travel by car than train. (Had it not been the pandemic situation, I always prefer train journey for short distance). In the first quarter of 2021 I was not even vaccinated so had to extremely cautious about my travel.

I had to travel to Bangalore, just for a week for some work, since the duration was short, I ditched car for train, had it been a long stay, I would have preferred car. I was little confident now because I was partially vaccinated then and I was well aware about the SOPs adhered by Indian Railways.

Courtesy pandemic, now other than train tickets, one also need RT PCR negative report. Equipped with all these things, I entered the railway only to be informed that now only passengers can enter the platform and relatives will stay back at the entrance of station. This time luggage was less so no issue, I managed it by myself.

I booked myself in second AC expecting less people in the coach but it wasn’t the case, may be because of the day I travelled. First thing I did after reaching my birth was to sanitized the entire birth with wet tissue and sanitizer, for my own happiness, even though the coach was pretty neat and tidy. Till the next 5 stations, I was almost alone in the coach, it gave me a royal feeling. Never in my life till date, had I have travelled in a relatively empty coach, so it was relatively new experience for me.

Travelling in 2^nd AC is no fun these days, as we don’t get blankets and bedsheet from Indian Railways so we have to carry them ourselves. Due to this, luggage is increased a bit otherwise, it was like stepping into a hotel and moving out after using hotel amenities.

Over period of time, few passengers entered the train some became my co passengers it the journey ahead. There were few things which were common among us, firstly all of us used to sanitize our hand at regular interval and secondly our topic of discussion was whether we have covid negative certificate with us or not. As Karnataka government had made it mandatory only a day ago. Even the ticker collector also enquired about it while checking our tickets.

Conversations between passengers were very restrictive as it was difficult for people to speak much with the masks on, so people preferred to remain silent. I was glued to my phone, talking to friends, listening to music with my headset on, as I didn’t want to bother others.

One of the best thing, I have noticed while travelling by train all these years is, people wait for someone to open his/her dinner pack for others to follow. Earlier I used to wait for someone to open their food packets but not anymore. The moment I feel hungry, immediately wash my hands and have my dinner, don’t care much about the people around me then.

By 8 pm I opened my food pack and all people from my cabin as well from other cabin rushed to the wash basin to wash their hand and then the aroma of food dominated the coach for some time. Some people slept immediately after their dinner but I waited for an hour before sleeping.

I was carrying 4 N95 masks and 2 cloth masks for night. I changed the mask after 6 hours and for night while sleeping switched to cloth mask. It was too irritating to sleep with the mask on but when I turned around, saw people sleeping comfortability with N95 masks on. I had to no other option but to sleep with the mask. I hardly slept for 2-3 hours that night, as I was finding it difficult to sleep with mask.

I was awake from 4 am onwards but didn’t get up from my birth, rather laid back on seat as everyone was sleeping. By 5.30am few people started waking up and turned on the lights of the coach, I think they were about to get down at the next station. By 6 am all passengers in my cabin also got up and started packing their blankets.

I too climbed down and packed my blanket and took over my jacket as it was little cold. At night AC’s temperate was moderate so we didn’t feel much cold.

By 7 am I was at Bangalore and no sooner did the train stopped at platform, porters came inside the coach looking for people seeking assistance. Once porters left, I too stepped down of the train to get the feel of Bangalore’s air.

I was really scared to travel by train but after this trip, I can clearly say if we take all precaution set by the government, then we can keep the virus at bay and travel safely.