The obstinate ‘D’
My daughter calls me boring and predictable. One of the reasons is most of her growing life; she has seen me staring at screens similar to those below. I think it affected her so much that despite me begging her to take a path in STEM, she took precisely the opposite and wanted to make a career out of liberal arts. Just a few months away from moving from a teenager to a young adult, she possibly does not know the competitive advantage of being boring and predictable! A topic for another day!
I switched to a mac a few years back when one of my friends loaned me a mac, and I never bothered to repay the loan! Once you are used to the apple ecosystem, moving to any other ecosystem is something you would not desire.
The trouble started a week back when just one key ‘D’ in the mac began to have a mind of its own. I am a fast typist, thanks to my ultra-middle-class background. My mother had enrolled me in a typing class when I entered the tenth standard. (This is the standard operating procedure of a typical home those days. Get into a job, somewhere, somehow). I have retained that muscle memory. Both my kids, with their new-age techniques, tried to compete with me on typing, and so far, this is the only thing I can be faster than them! They are the fastest in ensuring my bank balance returns to nirvana every month’s end so that I begin every month with a specific goal!
Not that ‘D’ will not work, but its predictability of working matched my intention of preparing to finish a marathon.
I took it to the apple service centre as you have little choice with any apple product. The folks at the service centre examined it and came back to me saying that it would take Rs 48000 to fix the ‘D’, and they gave me some explanation. I would have fainted but for the continuous mindfulness practices that helped me remain calm. One part of my rational brain told ‘Z, your time is essential. Don’t fret about the 48000. Get it replaced’. But the rational brain was overridden by the reactive brain, which said, ‘Over my dead body, I will pay 48000. Think about it. One thousand masala dosas, ten months provision expenses, ad infinitum’.
I ran away from the service centre. If a dog had chased me, I would have retreated slower.
Next few days, I tried a few alternatives, being a victim of reading too many self-help books and applying too little. When ‘D’ did not respond, I waited and tried again. When ‘D’ responded with many ‘D’, I pressed backspace and cleared the additional ‘D’. When ‘D’ responded late in an inappropriate place went back and inserted it into the right place. I never once got upset with ‘D’.
After this, I tried reprogramming my muscle memory. I used to copy ‘D’ and paste whenever D was required for me to input. So wherever D was needed, it was ‘CTRL+V’ (paste), and I realized that I was good at reprogramming my muscle memory.
Sometimes during my workday, I take a walk and for me walking is dangerous, because those are the times I do something difficult called ‘thinking’. I asked myself why I was behaving like this. Why can’t I get this replaced? Then the toothpaste theory cropped up. From times immemorial, till the toothpaste cries, ‘you are done with me. Please let me go; I have applied all force theories of physics on it to extract and also excel in the art of holding the toothbrush at the correct angle to the toothpaste nozzle when the last portion jumps free!
I thought most complications in life were because ‘I cannot just let go’!
Walk stopped. Thinking stopped. Thinking is dangerous.
It is just a simple thing. I need not have done any circus. Just decide to pay the damned 48K and get over it. But I did not, and I still have not.
I am not sure now. If ‘D’ is obstinate or it is me, who is ‘obstinate’?
What do you think?
What would you have done?
Enjoy Maadi. Have Fun.
Zunder
PS: I found someone who sent me a replacement mac and told me he would fix the “D” at no or insignificant cost. The “D” has gone to someone who will not judge it!
