Technically speaking..

Computers. Bane or boon ? At that moment ? Definitely the former.

There i lay amidst the debris. Spreadeagled beside me, knocked out completely was the technician. So you see, i brooded darkly, how are computers supposed to make life easy ?

The day had started well. Blithely unaware of what lay ahead, i sailed thru the day, waiting impatiently for the technician who would install the wifi and enable me to start the computer. After all, i was expecting an important mail from my friends. We had a holiday to plan, we were old chums, meeting up after years, at the exotic resort of Alleppy, Kerala.

 The door bell rang. I flew to the door. I beamed at the fellow standing outside, even as he beamed back at me. " Are you.... ?" I asked tentatively. "Yes, Ma'am !" he replied. " I'm here for the computer." Having let him in, I looked at him doubtfully,  all signs of the aforementioned beam erased from my face. Grimy shirt, bedraggled jeans, thinning greasy hair. All of five foot nothing. I asked him to sit, while I retreated to my bedroom, to surruptiously call the better half and confirm the said person was indeed who he claimed to be.

"Uh, huh.." was the better half's confirmation. So long as he gets the job done, I thought. Shrugging my shoulders, i led him to the box fitted outside my bedroom. He looked up, craning his neck. High up. So did i. We both looked up. Then at him. "Trifle high, huh ? " he tapped a finger to his forehead, then said, "No problem. You have a ladder ? "  Shaking my head, i replied in the negative. An awkward silence later, i suggested, " Stool chalega ?" The beam returned to his face. "Yes, of course, ma'am." I got the stool. Breezily, he whizzed up. Then looked down sorrowfully. His hand was still inches away from the box. "These electricians ! " he mumbled. " They attach very short wires. See! Even i can't reach." I agreed mournfully. "There goes the mail." We both stood observing a one minute silence. He was still strung up on the stool.

As he made to get down, my furiously racing mind came up with a solution. "I know !  Let's put  my small stool on top of that one. Then you'll reach it. " i rushed and got the small six inches high stool that stood in my bathroom. Perching one on the other, i  beamed at him, expectantly. Alarm writ large on his face, he looked at me almost beseechingly, then having a eureka moment of his own, he said."I'll do it, but ma'am, you  will have to hold on to the stool." Reluctantly, i went down on my haunches. Even more reluctantly, he climbed up tentatively. Both our lips moving in prayer, he inched up the stool, reached the box, and slowly, very. very slowly he fixed the wires in the box. Then it happened. He snuffled, he sniffed, then raising his head, he sneezed. People sneeze in different ways. Some do it almost apologetically. some merely grunt. Some let out the day's frustrations in that one uninhibited moment. Yes, dear reader, you hit the nail on the head. As He did. The guy sneezed. Humpty Dumpty would have been jealous of what happened next. He landed on the floor, even as i deftly ducked. But as luck would have it, the stools tumbled over my poor unsuspecting head.

So it was that the neighbours, the security, my half- dead laughing teen and my aged mother in law, hauled me up from the debris of stools and tools that had clattered down and dunked water on the poor guy's head. Once he spluttered to life, he took one look at the room full of people, grabbed his bag and fled the scene, muttering darkly under his breath.

The wi fi was still dead. That is until my teen climbed up and  switched it on. "Duh, mum. You write blogs, but you don't know how to switch on the wifi ???." I stood guilty as charged. 

The Role Reversal.

Both their eyes filled with tears. Hurriedly brushing off hers, she helped her father to sit. The once strong frame that had easily lifted both her and her sister on his shoulders, trembled slightly. She could see the pain in his eyes, his was physical, hers was emotional. Adjusting the pillows below his head, she set the tray before him. As he  made to lean forward, she took the spoon and started feeding him, coaxing each mouthful into his mouth. In between, he coughed. Hurriedly she bent and proffered the spitoon. A few flecks of the phlegm fell on her fingers, but she did not flinch, or react even. Dinner over, she wiped his mouth,tenderly, as if tending a child. Next came the sleep routine, when she brought his brush, helped him with his ablutions. Washing the toothpaste from his beard, she then dried him, lowered the hospital bed, adjusted his pillows and talked softly, reminiscising, telling him how his entire family was waiting to have him home again, until he drifted off to sleep. Curling up on the couch alongside his bed, she slept too, though fitfully, waking up each time he coughed and needed the spitoon.

They watched in wonderment, the couple in the adjoining bed. They watched her devotion to him, the love that shone from both their eyes as they talked. The aura of dignity around the old man, even at his most vulnerable, was almost tangible. They watched as she bent to make him wear his slippers, her slight frame bracing to hold him as she and the wardboy helped him to stand, to walk with the help of the walker. The adoration in her demeanour was plain to see, as she gently helped him to stand straight. What a handsome man he was! So tall, so friendly.. He smiled and nodded at them, greeting the man, the patient, with a "Hello, brother. How are you today? " as he slowly walked out of their shared room.

" You are an amazing daughter, " burst out the lady. "Don't you ever get angry, waking up at night ? Such devotion !" Then turning to him she said, " You are very lucky to have such a daughter, sir."

Turning to the couple, she looked at the lady and retorted, "No Ma'am. I was the lucky one. Think what an amazing father he must have been. He is. If i manage to repay his debt even by one percent, i will count myself lucky."

"Indeed," she thought to herself. " Those childhood days, were the best of my life, because of him. I was blessed that he was my dad. He tended me for twenty years, now it's my turn. Now it's my turn."