Harshika woke up and looked at the clock. It was almost 5pm on a saturday evening. She had promised her landlord, Anand uncle, to help understand his newly installed computer. According to the boomer generation, you are only fit to be called as a computer engineer if you help them fix their issues which mostly involve turning it off and on. She knew how punctual the former military man was so she just went in her nightie.
"Harshika!" Anand said, opening the door before she could go back home and change. "I am so glad you could make it."
"I am happy to help," she said, following him inside.
"Would you like a bite to eat?" he asked, gesturing to the kitchen. "Lakshmi has gone to the temple and would return only late evening"
"Thank you for the offer, uncle, but I ate before I came." she lied.
Anand led her to what he had dubbed his computer room. Harshika recognized the room as the one that used to belong to his son and there was still a bed sitting opposite the desk that held the room's namesake computer.
"It's a Dell," Anand said proudly.
"Is that so?" Harshika asked. "Did your son order it or you did?"
"He only ordered and paid for it" replied Anand "All I know is that a technician came and set it up for two hours. I want it to video chat with my grandson"
"So, what part do you need help with?" she asked.
Anand looked from the computer to Harshika and back again. "Everything."
"Okay," Harshika said. "Well, do you know how to turn it on?"
"You have to turn it on? The man from the computer store didn't say that when he installed it. "
Harshika suppressed a laugh. It was a generational thing that older people are having tough things with things a Gen Z toddler can do. And it was sweet that he not only wanted to learn more about technology, but also that he thought she was enough of an expert to help him.
"The power button is down here," she said, squatting down beside the computer.
"Wait, one second!" he said, hurrying from the room. When Anand returned he had a pen and a notebook in hand. "Okay, now I'm ready."
Harshika bent over once more to press the power button, but the moment she did, she realized that her nightie was fairly short and she should probably not do that. As she straightened up, however, she noticed that Anand was decidedly not looking at her and scribbling in his notebook.
The monitor lit up, to Harshika's and Anand's delight, and the Windows logo appeared on the screen.
"I think you can sit down,uncle" she said. "And I'll help you steer."
"Right. Steer. Okay." He held up his hands like he was driving a car.
This time Harshika couldn't hold it in. She laughed. "No, not that kind of steer. Sorry for the lingo. I meant, I'll give you directions."
Anand nodded before she watched him add, "steer: give directions," to his notes.
"First, you're going to click on the start button."
"Alright. How do I do that?"
"The start button. At the bottom left-hand corner of the screen." Anand touched the screen where Harshika was indicating with his finger. "No, with the mouse."
"What mouse?" he asked, looking around the room.
"Oh, no, sorry. The mouse is this thing." Harshika jostled the mouse against the mousepad. "You use it to navigate on the computer. See that arrow? That's the pointer. It shows you where you're about to click on the screen."