Technoli

Year 2052:

“Mumma, I’m hungry!”  Technoli calls out, as she makes a swoosh sign with her finger and her wall sized computer shuts close. She’s been virtual trekking all round the Himalayan ranges all morning, and now she’s cold and tired yet exhilarated by the whole experience.

Mumma rushes in a nano second, as if she was always there besides Technoli and not in the attic, dusting and cleaning vintage things like laptops and iPads, once owned by the family ancestors. She produces a mini tab, as small as a cell phone (A cell phone was a device used to connect with people some fifty odd years ago) and hands it over to Technoli. Technoli snatches it and presses a few buttons. A warm, tasty sandwich manifests itself on the tab. She grabs it and hands the tab back to Mumma and starts eating ignorantly.

“Your biological mother just ‘telepathy messaged’ me saying you also need to drink juice along with that sandwich,” mutters Mumma in her robotic accent and hands back the tab to Technoli.

‘I made humans and they seem to have taken over me. Humans made robots and robots will soon take over these humans. What goes around, comes around,’ guffaws God, who’s watching from above.

All Things Old and Pretty

Peek-a-boo in a world infested with antiquity.

Vintage things are fascinating! Be it a tattered old book with its yellowed pages and doggy eared cover or an old Bajaj scooter the Uncle next door owns, each has a story of its own; a history; an owner. Once upon a time these things used to be revered. They used to be considered the ultimate manifestation of technology and human capability but in the present they stand at an even exalted position, for it is a matter of great status and prestige to own an antique!

Personally, for me it doesn't really end there- at pride. I love digging deeper and finding out the underlying history and stories of that object and the owner. Some of the stories are really amusing; the quilt of emotions and memories attached to the objects make you travel time. It gives you a peek in to the world when everything seemed very simple but was not quite so.

I love collecting old things; especially the one's that have been in my family are of utmost importance to me. They help me know my grandparents, my ancestors better. Family history kind of spreads itself in front of me like a map, and these small details and memoirs evoked by the antiques, mark it.

I hate it when something old, memorable and valuable is given away. My Grandpa owned this car, a Fiat! MVL512. It was later inherited by my dad, and I remember going on drives in it as a kid. When everyone showed off their Maruti 800s, I drove in a glorifying white Fiat! Then we bought a new car and they sent the old one to our farm for rough terrain use; and later sold it. It made me gloomy. My grandmother later told me that she and Granddad and her children went on many road trips across the country in it. Old Gold got Sold. *pursed lips*

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I  have posted below some pictures of vintage objects I possess/came across.

When Bajaj and Yellow become the new 'Cool'. Since the past four years, I see this scooter everyday in college. A guy rides it all around the place and girls gather around him, requesting him to lend them this old geezer once, just for a cool ride.

 

Leafless Not Lifeless

I took this photo yesterday just after the rains. This beautiful tree stands in front of my house and I see it daily in different incarnations, as per the weather and ever changing sky colours. I've even spotted a few beautiful birds on this very tree.

I recently had this epiphany moment. I love leafless trees I realized. Every time I pass by them, I look at them and stop. A sense of awe takes over me. If I am walking along with a friend and I came across one of these, I stop mid-sentence and breathe out, 'How pretty!' And trust me this happens every single time.

There is something very powerful about leafless trees. Most of them are huge, gigantic and ancient just like your Grandfather. They've stood in that same single place for years and at times its the same tree your Dad and Granddad have grown up with, just like you!

Sure that once upon a time, they were all green, bearing flowers and fruits but now without that, and with just intricate attractive patterns formed with a trunk and branches, they still are indeed very charmful! Withered as they are like wrinkles on an old man's face, they withhold a lot of wisdom too. For, they've stood firm through thick and thin, summers and winters, heat and storm.

Such trees are a lot of birds' favourite perch, also at times an ideal place to build nests. The way one's Grandfather would embrace one, they embrace the birds. Smiling down, invitingly at you they seem to say something; the few remaining leaves, desperately holding on, rustle and whisper something...probably tell you a story, just like your Grandpa did!

This one stands tall and mighty in Fergusson College nursery and is visible from the road. I see it daily and trust me, every time I see it I experience the same sense of gratification. I also love the symmetrical design it creates.