Happy in the world of ‘fools’

Raj Kumar

It was just another birthday gift that my daughter presented me on my sixth birthday. But when I unwrapped the packet, it had a smart phone inside. My first reaction was a mild snub to my daughter. Though I was happy inside that my child had saved money from her paltry salary and brought this gift for me, I politely showed a slight displeasure over the waste of her hard-earned money.

I had always been averse to modern gadgets and was of the strong opinion that this invasion of technology in our life had damaged the fine fabric of human relations. Most of the times, I would find youngsters glued to their gadgets all the time. They would not even spare some moments to have a word or two with their siblings and parents. This was one of my prime gripes against these modern day technology users. I would often hold them in derision by calling them foolish folks and their virtual world a proverbial fool's paradise. On top of it, I also clung to the belief that these wonders of technology were in a real sense not that wonderful at all. They had enslaved our generation with their addictive impact. 

But now willy-nilly I had accepted the gift of my daughter. In no time, she filled my smart phone with applications like WhatsApp and Facebook. Like a nursery kid, I had to initially struggle hard to learn their operational mechanism. My daughter took me under her tutelage and she optimally trained me to make use of these applications. 

Now I marvel at the great positive change that 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 their toll on my physical as well as mantle health. Sitting idle at home all day long various worries would lick me inside out. But after receiving this smart phone I was experiencing a smart turn in my life.  At present many of my friends have added me to their 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. The others shoot a volley of meaningful messages and share valuable inputs too. Now I too keep participating as I have skillfully learnt to post the images and the texts from my techno- savvy daughter. Like 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 have almost met all my school and college friends. A few of the friends now living abroad have come as near as my friends in my home town. Really the gift of my daughter has added many new colors to my otherwise dull life. But now whenever my wife catches me glued to the gadget, she lovingly teases me and says," Mr Fool, you have also finally joined the world of fools".