I was teaching dad about emailing for the fifteenth time. He read emails but sometimes would wonder how to get to ‘compose' or download the attachment. I was settling down to check my own email, when I had heard dad's familiar voice. I hurried and found dad stuck to the computer with at least 15 other windows all showing different things. "What did you do?" I asked accusingly. "Nothing," he said, "I just clicked on something and all these things came up. I cannot find my mail anymore," and he looked up helplessly.

I did this almost on a daily basis. So, it was only natural that I was plain upset. I mean, why couldn't he see the ‘x' in the windows and exit from them? All that he had to do after that was to just navigate his arrow to the ‘compose' button. Dad has this strange look on his face, whenever he is confused.

"It is so simple dad." I said a little annoyed.

Dad was quiet. Surely, he understood my predicament. He had told me many times, how much of a slow learner he is which is why, he has to bother me all the time.

I really can't tell, if dad has been a slow learner all his life. Years ago, when I was in middle school, I had many learning difficulties. For one, I could never understand the nitty gritties of Maths. I was particularly, confused about finding the square roots of numbers. My teacher had explained at least a dozen times but I just didn't get it. Ashamed to ask him again, I had gone home oblivious that, very soon, I would be tested. After a couple of weeks, when the teacher warned us of an impending test, I was petrified. I couldn't ask the teacher for help. I still remember sitting on the dinner table that night, wondering how I could learn up the skill.

False alarm

After dinner, for some reason, dad had walked up to me and had looked into my Maths book. That moment, without any thought, I burst out in tears. Dad held my book for a while. I also remember my mum standing right next to him. I can't really tell, what happened then, but I do know that, mum and dad had sat me down and taught me square roots. It is a no brainer that I aced the test. But, what is wonderful about that moment is that, I know how to find the square root of any given number to its nth decimal point to this day.

Strangely, I found my dad's mental ability a tad bit dull. His boyish smile had been replaced by some lines around the corners of his mouth and many a grey hair adorned his head. A loud noise brought me back from my reverie. My new mobile phone with its fancy looks was beeping.

The alarms had been set at a wrong time. I was yet to figure out how to cancel the alarm and reset it.

"Still giving you trouble?" asked dad innocently about the phone.

Something remarkably tender touched my heart. "Will figure it out", I gave him a pregnant smile, "right now, it is emailing lesson", I signalled. I pulled out a chair. I sat next to him and we spent the rest of the evening together. I still do get an occasional call from dad to help him figure out emailing or the more popular Facebook, now that, all his friends stay connected through social networking. But, hey, I know, that is the best way I can stay connected to him and also to a part of my childhood.

 

Sudha Subramanian is an independent journalist based in Dubai.