The first lady of the VSR family has set the trail ablaze with her usage of the iPad ! She is in line for making it into the records books for the fastest metamorphosis and the oldest septuagenarian to do so! She is now the "iPad Queen" of the family - putting to shame her children and grand-children. All her sons and grandchildren who hold senior positions in corporate multinationals are slowly but surely heading for an inferiority complex - they can't hold a candle to her online presence - the lady who never sleeps - paati's is simply a 24x7 online presence these days !
Lalli paati who has always loved talking on the phone, nowadays refuses to take calls on the landline and mobile phones - she handles only skype calls, which leaves her husband to attend to the landline and mobile calls at home! She skypes regularly with friends and relatives all over the world - she not only skypes with a relative in Australia but also chats up with his guests during his Friday Indian get-togethers. Recently she even participated in his birthday celebration via skype! She is simply thrilled at the prospect of her virtual presence 24x7 and in the remotest parts of the world. Her circle of "online friends" is now growing exponentially !
Of course the other things patti nowadays does regularly is send jaadakams of prospective maapilais for her grand daughters through mails. She gets her US based grand daughters to complete their tasks through online reminder services via mail and skype !! And during the remaining time she does sudoku! She is of course completely upto-date with the happenings in each of her children's and grand children's lives.
Her husband is probably keen to use the iPad, but he feels completely left out of this exclusive iPad club ! Sources say that he would love to view the Income tax related acts online on youtube but he has a long way to go, as he is yet to lay his hands on the iPad !
iPad Support Services
If on someday, the iPad doesn't work for some reason (which happens every once in a while) - paati goes through withdrawal symptoms without her pet iPad and skype :-( - she actively tries to revive it through instant online help, readily offered from Bangalore/ Chennai/ Noida. And sometimes from even Germany- from her son who may be either sleeping or in the middle of board meetings when he receives the emergency calls to either set right her skype or to hear how smart he looks in his newly uploaded profile photo in Skype! Apart from online help, she also gets instant onsite support through her two faithful grandsons, who are instantly summoned and are promptly by her side to set right the iPad, ensuring zero downtime!
New offerings in VSR Services
In view of the visibility that the iPad has provided, the VSR services proposes to add a couple more to its range of offerings: travel logistics and courier services, esp between Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi - all of which can be effectively handled in a timely manner, due to the real time information now being made available! Other services that could be soon introduced include matchmaking, job and internship hunting etc.
Tech-y conversation between paati and tanvi
Patti: Tanvi you must see this website about your cousin Lallluu . Write it down, i will read it out for you.
Tanvi - yes paati tell me
paati - w
Tanvi - yes
paati - w
tanvi - yes paati, go on
paati - w
tanvi - yes patti i know, you can go ahead
paati - dot
Tanvi - paati i know , you can read the whole thing fully
Patti tried to read letter by letter and each time pausing for tanvi's acknowledgement that she has written the correct letter. But Tanvi just couldn't take it beyond 'www.columbia' !
tanvi - (yawn) - paati i give up !
Lalanti's home page was yet to be read out : http://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/student-data/lalanti-venkatasubramanian/student.html -but poor tanvi just couldn't take it any more - she said she will take it from Shyam chithappa ! Wonder if she finally got down to actually reading it :-)
iPad for Senior citizens ! as seen by Paati
The tech/iPad terminology - as seen from the eyes of a senior citizen !
the home button (the most important button in the iPad)- aka "thoppill" (the navel) !!
underscore - the dash that comes 'down'
the mike icon on skype - candle (mike appears like a candle)
video/camera icon on skype - toffee (camera icon looks like a toffee apparently)
Earnest Request
We solicit contributions related to this article from all the readers - in the form of more posts on the blog! Since Patti has inspired has eldest daughter-in-law to do a publication (with paati as the protagonist) that is soon expected to hit the stands !
Acknowledgements: Heartfelt acknowledgements to the visionary STEVE JOBS, without whom this transformation could never have been possible !!
