My Dad, just like some of your dads I’m sure, is mindlessly challenged when it comes to using the Internet. Will not bring Ma into this discussion at all…she is just a sweet lady who whips up kick-ass recipes, and has taken to sending me everything from Bengali mustard paste to Fabindia Kutras through DHL. Does have a vague idea that Dad regularly goofs up when it comes to chatting with me over Skype. But generally does not feel that the computer is her domain at all. So does not interfere with Dad’s Internet-handling skills.
Coming back to Dad…he learnt the words ‘upload’ and ‘download’ in the late nineties, and till date uses these two words randomly…he quite snugly thinks, these two words are all that the over-hyped ‘World Wide Web’ is about. Dad’s discomfort with the net has become quite a joke in the family, and I think (thought...past tense really) he is well and truly unique.
I was jolted from my misconception last week, when I sat talking over the phone to a young doctor in a high-profile medical insurance firm.
Sample the conversation:
Doctor: So…what is it exactly?
Me: Nothing much doctor. Only the insurance fellow asked me to call you up and ask if I could claim my allotted sum by presenting the bills from the optician.
Doctor: No, you cannot. Bills from the optician are not covered in our policy.
Me: Oh (jaw-dropping…it was an 8K bill) But isn’t there something you can do about it?
Doctor: Ummm… (thinking hard…scratching body parts I’m sure)…maybe you can send me a mail with a formal request (unalloyed bullshit). I’ll see what I can do about it.
Me: Are you sure? (positively irritated) May I have your mail ID?
Doctor: It’s http://www.himavan@gmail.com/
Me: (Himavan??? His name is Himavan? A 2009 doctor called Himavan???) Errr…www? Are you sure there is a ‘www’?
Doctor: Oh definitely!
Me: But it can’t be…www is a website…it cannot be the beginning of an email ID!
Doctor: But I have ‘www’ written on my visiting card. Do something, you send it to both.
Me: #@&%#$@
Dad, you are really much better. At least you can differentiate between a ‘www’ and an ‘@’…errr…can’t you? Love you anyway.
Coming back to Dad…he learnt the words ‘upload’ and ‘download’ in the late nineties, and till date uses these two words randomly…he quite snugly thinks, these two words are all that the over-hyped ‘World Wide Web’ is about. Dad’s discomfort with the net has become quite a joke in the family, and I think (thought...past tense really) he is well and truly unique.
I was jolted from my misconception last week, when I sat talking over the phone to a young doctor in a high-profile medical insurance firm.
Sample the conversation:
Doctor: So…what is it exactly?
Me: Nothing much doctor. Only the insurance fellow asked me to call you up and ask if I could claim my allotted sum by presenting the bills from the optician.
Doctor: No, you cannot. Bills from the optician are not covered in our policy.
Me: Oh (jaw-dropping…it was an 8K bill) But isn’t there something you can do about it?
Doctor: Ummm… (thinking hard…scratching body parts I’m sure)…maybe you can send me a mail with a formal request (unalloyed bullshit). I’ll see what I can do about it.
Me: Are you sure? (positively irritated) May I have your mail ID?
Doctor: It’s http://www.himavan@gmail.com/
Me: (Himavan??? His name is Himavan? A 2009 doctor called Himavan???) Errr…www? Are you sure there is a ‘www’?
Doctor: Oh definitely!
Me: But it can’t be…www is a website…it cannot be the beginning of an email ID!
Doctor: But I have ‘www’ written on my visiting card. Do something, you send it to both.
Me: #@&%#$@
Dad, you are really much better. At least you can differentiate between a ‘www’ and an ‘@’…errr…can’t you? Love you anyway.
8 comments:
hahah!.. Older people are so cute when it comes to these.
For the longest, my dad thought that he wont be able to receive my email when his computer is shutdown and would go into panic when i said, i will send an email with details (someone's address etc.) - and said "please let me know when you send it, i will switch on my laptop."
I thought it was so adorable - i did not have the heart to tell him, it wont matter. :-D
Seriously...they are cute....but new-age doctors who believe email addresses begin with 'www' are not cute at all!
Gives me some relief to think that at least I dont panic thinking about unreceived emails when my computer is switched off.The rest of the blog has a lot of truth in it.I am afraid this sort of ignorance with the newer technologies will be handed down through the ages and will never cease to be a perennial source of unalloyed fun to the younger generation.
@Dee's Dad - "Pranaam"! But how cool is that you read your daughter's blog and comment on it -
Dads like you will make all the difference :-).
This is such an utterly wonderful post, Debanjana. I laughed till tears rolled down...My dad is similar, and my pa-in-law cuter with such things....the later kept compaining that a file was not getting copied into a folder because he copied 5 pages into the folder and only 2 pages 'flew' into it, as he saw it :D. Adorable people. Oh the doc is such a sample case- u must give him a little talk on this- he might just clear all those bills :)
thanks for the advice KG...and really, thanks for patronising my blog :)
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