Kshitij knew his
parents too well to anticipate their actions and when, almost an hour after
they had dropped Kshitij at the airport and returned back home, he was proved
right. His mother went straight to the kitchen to down herself in her chores
and his father went to his study where he'd pick up a book to distract himself.
Both of them found an envelope addressed to "MOM" and "DAD"
respectively.
His mother picked up
the envelope that said MOM, teared it open and started reading.
"I won't be
surprised if you were wondering if IOT was short for a domestic help that I had
arranged for you, or a girlfriend who I had asked to take care of you when I
wasn’t here. Sorry to disappoint you, Maa, but, it'll still be me doing that.
Just that my reach now is global *wink*. Confused? Allow me to elaborate. Why
don't you ease up on your knees and grab a chair?
I did some of my
techie thing at home that you hate so much. For starters, the whole house now
has temperature control, 21 degrees, all the time, just how you like it. If you
still feel cold or hot, just say the words 'It's too cold' or 'it's too hot'
and it will readjust. And just for the record, yes, I hated getting up every
time to adjust it. The next time you want to order groceries, just
tell the digital assistant on your phone. Yes, it's the same well-mannered
female voice I taught you to play with. She can order vegetables for you and do
a lot more, but sorry, I can't marry her. Your foot massager is now connected
to your phone and I have set the programs in your phone for your routine
massages, the directions to use them, I will share on Skype. That way, you'll
still need me for something, right? *wink*. I've set a notification for you to
take your medicines and also when you need to buy them again provided you keep
having them as prescribed, which I know you will, won't you? *raised eyebrows*
I know it's not
exactly having me there, but, this will at least keep you in my shell - if only
virtually - till I come back. Another thing, you can now check if you've left
the gas stove on from your phone from anywhere. You don't have to rush to the
kitchen every time you suspect you've left it on. When I'm back, I know you'll
have all this removed because you love bossing me around too much. To tell you
the truth, I love being bossed around by you. Love you, Maa! Now, go to my
room, there's a little surprise for you at the printer. I'm sure you'll like
it".
She rushed to
Kshitij's room, turned the lights on and headed straight to the printer, where
she found a lone piece of paper lying. She picked it up and seeing what it was,
she couldn't help her eyes welling up again.
His father found the
envelope between the book that he was presently reading. He fumbled around the
desk to find his reading glasses but eventually found them tucked in his own
shirt. He tore open the envelope and started reading:
"Hey Dad, I
know and you know that you're a tough a guy on the outside, but in the inside,
you're nowhere close to it. I'm sure you understood when I mentioned IOT, but
I'll give you the details now. Now that I won't be around for a while to drive
you around, I've saved some of your most visited locations on the GPS in the
car. Just scroll and select the place and hit the engine. Please
please please use it because it took me 2 days to have that in place. I've
setup your phone to track you daily morning walk and the status notification
comes to me regularly. Yes, I'll haunt you until you lose another 6kgs. I've
setup additional notifications for all your insurance policy renewals and
domestic bills. You don't need to worry about them, I will, but you'll get
notifications nonetheless. I've told mom too, but, even you should know, you'll
get alerts for taking your medicines and when you need a re-fill, on your mobile.
Most importantly, you can now check if any switch in the house is left on from
your mobile and switch it on/off from your phone from anywhere. And that remote
of yours that you keep losing so often, you won't need that. All from the
phone. One thing I won’t be able to do is charge your mobile, that my dear
father will need to be taken care of by you. Now, for the last thing, turn on
your laptop, I have a surprise for you."
He leapt up and
stretched to get the laptop from the far end of the table and switched it on.
The superficial tough-guy cover melted instantaneously as soon as he saw the
desktop wallpaper.
His mother had found the same picture in print that his father saw on his laptop. The similar 3 pairs of eyes glaring back. A certain sadness of being so far away for so long rendering as tears in the eyes of his mother. His father's vain attempt to still look stern, yet happy, but completely defied by his teary eyes and slight drooping face. Only Kshitij managed to hold on to the storm inside and brighten up the picture with his handsome smile.
____________________
Kshitij gulped a
couple of quick sips of water to ease the knot that refused to surrender and
took a deep breath before he flicked open his phone. He found his father online
on Skype, which, he guessed would've meant they had reached home and probably
read their letters. He placed the video call.
____________________
The speaker of the
laptop started beeping. The similar Skype ringtone. He straightened himself and
accepted the call. It was his son, no surprise. Kshitij noticed the red eyes
and said, "Dude, not you! It's difficult to contain one. I can't manage two,
please!", and his father too managed a chuckle.
"Security check
done?", asked his father.
"Yes, I'm in
the lounge, thought I'd check on you. Where's mom?"
"Let me
check".
"Check in my
room", Kshitij said with a coy
smile.
His father called
out for his mother and both of them sat in front of the laptop. Kshitij noticed
both of them holding the envelopes and his mother holding a paper, which must be the print of the picture, and said, "I see you've both read it,
right?"
Both nodded a yes.
"So you know
how blessed you are to have a son like me", he joked and all three of them
shared a laugh.
"How did you
manage to have all this setup?", asked the father.
"Do you really
think that you got that 3-day stay at Jaipur because you filled out a survey in
the mall?" Kshitij said mocking them.
Kshitij's parents
had received a courier one morning informing them that they had been picked out
in a lucky draw after they had filled out a survey in a mall. When his father
told him about it, he did his best to create a scene by telling them to not trust
and asked him to give the details and he'd call the hotel personally to check
if the reservations were authentic and if the travel tickets were real. Of
course they were. Kshitij had made all the arrangements himself for a couple of
reasons. One, his parents hadn't been on a vacation in a long time and the
3-day trip would allow him to rig the house. He took one of his friends along,
obviously a geek himself. The two nerds worked round the clock for three days
and electrified the house upside down. They managed to sneak out before his
parents returned.
"That was
you?", asked his father and his mother found her jaw drop a little.
"Yes. Well, not
all me, I had Raman help me, but, yeah, largely me."
"At least tell
us how to get it all working", said his mother.
"One by one,
Maa, one by one. I don’t want you to get too comfortable without me. Okay, I've
got to go now. I'll text you ASAP. Love you"
"Bye, take
care", both of them said waving their hands at the screen.
............ To Be Continued
