Thursday, September 19, 2013

The bug in the Apple




The balding, white haired old man came and said “Hi! Didi”, I woke up from this nightmare with a jump. (You see, I think of myself as an eternal twenty one year old and this person referring to me as an older sister is like a nightmare!). Anyway I was now half awake; I opened the flap of my cell phone to check the time. It was one A.M. in the morning; it was all silent outside; the Ganesh Visarjan was either over or was too far away for us to hear the drums and songs.

I then noticed that my TT* was missing from the bed. I know she is not the kind who would stay up so late to study. I tumbled out of bed and padded barefoot to the living room to see madam sitting at the table with the mac opened and her I phone attached to it like a patient on life support! There were plenty of wires, all trailing over the table, chair and floor. Before I continue I must tell you what happened earlier in the night…….


The 18th of September was D day for my little Apple Fan! You see the new iOS7 was going to be released that day. From the morning itself, I had heard it almost a hundred times as to what an exciting day it was going to be. Though I tried to muster up the same enthusiasm I failed miserably! For once the bitten Apple fan did not notice my failure and she enumerated the many advantages of the new Operating System. There was a test at school but the only thing on her mind was the great OS! I wasn't expecting any great results in the test.

The ETA was 10 o’clock India time. Thankfully we had finished our dinner by then and most of the homework had been completed. The elder sister was trying to tutor her in math; of course the mind not being there, the inevitable argument ensued and both of them went their own way (the final outcome of all disagreements!)

“Oh My God! Oh My God!”

The scream that announced this was obviously to be noted and we both looked up to see an excited TT…

“It’s come, it’s come!”

It sounded as if “It’s a boy” by the nurse outside the delivery room!

“It’s installing, OMG! it started” all the while jumping around the room in excitement. For a moment I forgot she was sixteen- she seemed about five years old.

Older sister rolled her eyes and we both looked at each other and smiled indulgently.

We got busy with our nightly routine. She continued sitting at the table …..

At 11.30, I realized that she was nowhere near the bed and I asked her why she wasn’t coming.

There was frustration writ large on her face, “it didn’t install correctly, there is an error, and I have to do it again!”

Feeling sorry for her I left her to her devices and went to bed.


Coming back to my 1 A.M. sojourn……..

“Why aren't you in bed? Don’t you have school?” I mumbled half asleep.

“Oh! Ma! It’s installing; should get over in fifteen minutes; will come to bed after that...”

Too sleepy to argue I went back to sleep.

The alarm woke me up at six o’clock and what do I see??????

The bitten apple fan on the bed looking at her i-phone with stars in her eyes!

“It’s done, it’s done”, she whispered loudly as soon as she realized I was awake.

This followed a whole lot of “sort of” technical details and extolling of the virtues of the new OS! I was made to look at the new interface and the different colours and even Siri’s new human voice! Bleary eyed and with a muddled mind I absorbed all this to the best of my ability and got out of my bed totally apple blasted!

From that moment till she left for school it was …

“Have you seen how this looks?”

“Have you seen how smoothly this moves?”

Isn't this so much classier?”

As soon as I was fully awake I tried to dampen her a little by being wicked…

“Android already has this”

But no effect!

She went and updated my i-pad during this time and tried to update the elder sister’s too (It was being done when the bus arrived so she was not successful!)

As she constantly whatsapps during her bus ride, she sent one message to her father that he must update his i pad, complete with instructions in bold letters (in case he couldn't “hear” her!).

Her dad was amused at her enthusiasm and went on to update his tablet.

The evening after school, of course continued in this vein and I was deluged with repeat information about the GREAT OS! (She had forgotten that she had told me all and shown me all, in the early morning!)

The excitement continues even as I am writing this. The worm in the apple has not only bitten my little one….. My sister –in –law has already sent instruction to her brother that he must update his tablet, hence his amusement at the two ladies in the family going a little wonky at the birth of the i-OS 7!



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