Saturday, July 02, 2011

What is the world coming to?

I'm sitting in the verandah at my grandmother's house, immersed in my laptop as I try to get some work done. Coffee on my right, music in my ears, smartphone on my left.

The neighbour's kids drop by, inquisitively checking me out as young kids are wont to do. The boy is ten, the girl five.

We share a shy hello, wide smiles and not much more, given the language barrier (they speak Kannada, I don't).

The ice broken, they clamber around me. I humour them as I continue to work.

And that's when they see my mobile phone.

The ten year old boy: Haiyya, Blackberry!
He picks it up.
The five year old girl: Touchscreen?
The boy: No, silly! Normal phone
She looks disappointed, as though she expected better of me.
The boy, turning to me: Does this have Facebook?

Bloody hell. I'm not yet thirty, and I'm already beginning to feel like a dinosaur.