INSPIRATIONAL

Twelve years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small Chembur township. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and very soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science,he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to our first Cricket Test match (there were no ODI and 20/20 matches at that time). He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom and Dad would get up quietly while I was listening to what he had to say, and would go to the other room for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if they ever prayed for the stranger to leave.) Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home...Not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit very liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked suggestively and at times freely about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked...And NEVER asked to leave.

More than thirty five years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my house today, you would still find him sitting plonked in the middle of the room. Over time he has grown bigger but at the same time thinner. My kids love him a lot and are as spellbound by what he has to say as I was when I was twelve. They wait to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

About ten years back I was so sad to see him all alone I got my local pundit to find a suitable match for him and got him married. So today he has a wife and they are happily married. Off course his wife is much more smarter and can do a lot more things than the old idiot. The children are spending more time with her than with the old idiot as they call him.......but I still love him. He is damm good company when it comes to cricket, soccer and tennis matches or for that matter when I need to catch up on an old movie. The other day I heard the old man and his wife talking.....they were planning to do some drastic surgery and reinvent themselves as a single couple..........and at the same time planning kids.

His name?....
We just call him 'TV.'
And his wife .......We call her 'Computer'