This morning I woke up to a situation. Ones that are never good to handle without an expert’s help. I could not dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Though I was paying attention, the keyboard refused to do as directed. No taps, hits or hard-hitting worked. With reluctance, I got the virtual keyboard up as I had to log in to the computer to check emails but it was a situation I would not want even my enemy to go through. Yes, it was that bad.
From what happened today, how can I not share some words of wisdom?
- There is just one ‘tab’ on the keyboard. It’s tough to toggle between pages without one. Have you ever thought why there are two shift keys, alt keys, and ctrl keys but just one tab? Like in life, some things have no substitute.
- I use the left Shift key and every time I wanted to capitalize a letter or use an exclamation mark, it wouldn’t work and it was hard to write emails or answer IMs. The right one worked but I kept forgetting. Unlearning was hard but important to move on in life.
- Have you ever realized that so many of the words we use on a day-to-day basis make use of a ‘t’ or a ‘y’? These were my impacted letters. Every key has a role to play like how every single person we meet is important. Some more and some less but each person we meet makes our life complete.
By the end of the day, to my good luck, I was handed over a sleek new one and I had to happily bid goodbye to the old one. Over last three and a half years, this old one helped me sailed through many presentations and a couple of promotions. It helped me write many emails and publish many blog posts. Not to forget, many Wikipedia edits went live during his lifetime.
But like they say, his time had come and that’s how transient ‘technical’ life is. As my fingers smoothly work on the new one still getting used to the delicate keys and oversensitive touchpad, I am looking forward to many more adventures on this pretty new lady on the block.
P.S:The old laptop was a ‘he’ cos he was hard to manage. This new one is a ‘she’ cos she is bright. And you know me. I don’t judge. The qualities matter the most to me.
This is Day 2 post for the Write Tribe Festival of Words.
happiness and food 
True, these deep thoughts and in depth observations of things occur only when they stop working! I never even wondered about the single Tab key. And I’ve never understood the logic of having a number keypad twice on the keyboard!
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It’s not twice on a laptop but yes, I get your point. Thanks, Mithila. 🙂
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Who would have thought one could process words of wisdom from a defective keyboard! If you distinguish the he and she that way then most of the new devices are turning out to be she’s, mind you :p . Loved this post 😀
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Ha ha! Thank you Darshana. So happy you liked the post 🙂
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Who would’ve thought one could process words of wisdom from a defective keyboard! And hey if you distinguish he and she that way then most of the latest devices today are she’s ! 😛 Loved this post 😀
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Hello, Parul .. Did you say , a “couple” of promotions? Lucky bee you are! and the words of wisdom were interesting to read. 🙂
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Hardworking bee, Ajay 🙂 Thank you.
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I completely get you. Few days back my son had banged so hard on the keyboard panel that half the letters were not showing up! But thankfully the laptop restored back on it’s own after sometime!
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Maybe it recovered on its own 😉 Poor little boy 😛
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Wow! Such life lessons from a defective keyboard. Good luck with the new lady in your life 🙂
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Thanks Shilpa. In moments like this, life lessons show up.
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Congrats on the new laptop. But yes these days laptops are extended self and have you guessed how much time we spend with the laptop?
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Ask me about it Anindya. Work and after work, on laptop. It’s on the higher side guess for most people.
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Loved your post though not your predicament because I’ve only recently gone through this keyboard issue with my desktop and had a tough time as it would stop working every now and then and I was not getting anywhere with the virtual one. Eventually, had to settle for a laptop so I totally get you on this one! And thanks for sharing those wise words of wisdom. Nuggets, rather. Did I tell you, your logic for naming them a ‘he’ and a ‘she’ was superb? 😀
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Interesting. The key to wisdom turned out to be a key that didn’t work? 🙂 Beautiful.
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I like that smart response, Vinay. Thank you!
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Haaa the lessons a damned keyboard can teach heyy 😀 Well imagine wat a good teacher a mobile can then be 😉
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Totally, Meena.
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Maybe you could have written your own Gadsby… A novel that doesn’t have letter e in it. Laptop trouble is always frustrating. But like all things in life, we learn to work around it.
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Wow! I have heard about the Gadsby. Yes, learning to work around is the key to move ahead.
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Who knew that all it would take to gain wisdom would be just one key…..loved the analogy drawn to life….:)
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Thanks much, Sunaina!
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I simply loved your takeaways, Parul. Classic example of looking at the glass half-full.
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Thank you, Shantala. So kind of you to say that.
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Looks like ur Monday got brighter with a new laptop.. We all sail through this annoying relationship with laptops and love the way you have articulated your experience..
Cheers,
Roopa
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Stop by my desk and I will show (off) Roopa! 😉 thank you!
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All the best with your new companion–may the keyboard sing to your fingers for a long long time. 🙂
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Exactly the wish I need, Damyanti. Thank you!
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Liked how you differentiated the keyboards as he and she ☺ I too had same problem recently and i wanted to break the defective keyboard with frustration. It was that bad to type with many keys not working.
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Oh! You got aggressive with that Ramya. Thank you!
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I know your pain. Going through the same with my laptop – p o w s d e all are playing up. Have to back up to an external drive and take out my new laptop.
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Yes, it’s a lot of painstaking stuff comes associated with all that.
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Let there be a shower of words with your new companion…..I guess sometimes we just have to let go of old ones.
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Thanks so much!
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Awesome analogy to life!!
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Thanks, Madhavi.
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I loved this post Parul! Nice analogies there. One of my old laptops had a couple of keys that stopped working and it was bloody hard. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a virtual keyboard! Back then, the letters n, s and t got stuck! Not a happy time as I had reports to write!
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Thank you, Sanch. I struggled with my old one with multiple crashes and data loss, battery issues and what not.
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Tech can always be a good teacher.
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Agree to that. In real or in analogies.
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Ha ha! Thanks, Esha!
I know these issues get too hard to handle.
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Congrats on the new ‘laptop’; Tech remains an important part…no wait…extension of our life.
Oh, and just spotted the ‘couple of promotions’ bit – nice 🙂
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The story of all our lives. We all get so used to the things we have that learning a new thing all over again becomes a chore….But one day this too will become old and you will need another gadget to get to know all over again…..plus ca change plus ca change pas.
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