Cooped up in the house, as we were, due to Corona Virus Lockdown, we found it difficult to kill time. Of course, we had the TataSky connection to kill boredom. But, somehow after TataSky’s performance and popularity plummeted south, life was no longer ‘jhinga la la’. In effect, whenever we switched on the TV, the only thought that came to our mind was ‘frustration ala re ala’.
Obviously, it was not a conducive time to watch TV. With everyone having mobile phones, and internet charges getting cheaper by the day, TV was passé . In fact, much of my internet FUP was going waste, unused.
Eureka! A brilliant idea came to my mind. I could utilise the FUP to the full and at the same time bring new life to my TV, which had fallen from grace. I could hit two birds with one stone, why not order the Amazon Fire TV Stick, I thought.
“MBF, you genius! ” I patted myself on the back until it hurt.
Cut to Scene 1, Act 1:
With bursting pride and ego that expanded my chest to ’56 inches’, I announced to the family at dinnertime of my noble intentions.
“Nothing doing”, said my wife emphatically. “No more electronic items shall be brought into this house”. At the end of her brief outburst, my ’56 inches’ chest deflated to something close to 30 inches, and I was having trouble breathing.
“Jaan, it is for your entertainment I thought of ordering the Amazon Fire stick”, I proffered weakly, clearly feeling the effects of the sudden chest congestion.
“What, waste more money? In no time it will go the way of your ‘pesky’ TataSky”.
“No jaan, it will not! The Fire Stick will draw content from our internet connection, so we don’t have to pay monthly subscription for watching TV”. I was surprised to utter that many words in one breath.
My wife hates electronic gadgets like the plague, or the new bug in town, Corona Virus. “It looks like an oversized USB pen drive, who knows it might go kaput in 6 months”, she was adamant and behaving like some pot-bellied ‘sarkari karmachari’, always looking for negatives in the best of things.
“It may look like one, but it is made by Amazon, quality speaks for itself”, I put forward trying to gather the shreds of my tattered ego.
“But what if it damages the TV, or interferes with its functioning in some way"? If she wasn’t a homemaker, she would have made a good lawyer, not that good female lawyers aren’t good homemakers at the same time.
“Dear, it will not fail so easily and it will not damage the TV, I am certain”. I was mission bound and wasn’t going to back off so easily.
In the midst of this prolonged discussion, it occurred to me that my wife missed the point that I don’t watch TV. So, obviously, if I was rooting for the Fire Stick it was she who would benefit from the deal whereas my pocket would be lighter by Rs.4000. Scratch that point I made about good lawyers.
“Do I get to see my favourite channels? She pouted with a perceptible frown.
“Not only you get to see them but you can watch repeats too. You can also watch YouTube, as you know there’s a whole lot of stuff on the Net you can watch too.” Slowly, I was getting back my confidence and my chest was beginning to ease out.
“I don’t know if we really need it, it could turn out to be another white elephant that is of no use”. She was finding it difficult to step down from her high moral ground.
I had one last ace up my sleeve and decided this was the time to use it. “Jaan, it has also got a remote with voice control. All you have to do is press the voice button and say the name of the movie, song, serial or news, Alexa will search and fetch the stuff for you in a jiffy”.
“Who is this Alexa, is she the one pestering you to buy this stuff"? She asked looking suspiciously at me.
“Oh, it is the name of the AI search engine Amazon has created. It makes our life easy.” I was beginning to sneak into her defence slyly like the COVID 19 virus.
Cut to Scene 1, Act 2:
My wife is seated in the TV lounge with a cute little remote in her hand, and poised to utter the magic words.
“Alexa, play music ‘tumhi mere mandir”. Alexa responds, “searching for ‘tumhi mere mandir’ in YouTube…”
A few seconds later, Alexa comes up with the song.“Tumhi mere manzil, tumhi meri puja, tumhi devata ho, tumhi devata ho…Koyi meri aankhon se dekhe toh samjhe ke tum mere kya ho, ke tum mere kya ho…”
The song was playing loud enough and filtered in to my ears in the bedroom, where I was at my laptop writing this review. The lovely lyrics of the song, which my wife so lovingly played it for me, once again, expanded my chest back to “56 inches”.
Epilogue:
My wife is extremely happy with my decision to go for Amazon Fire Stick and she has become quite friendly with Alexa. Now, it is my turn to be suspicious.
If you want to make your dear ones happy and seek peace in the house, then, don’t vacillate. Amazon TV Fire Stick is just the Godsend for you.
Life may no longer be Jhinga la la… but, Amazon Fire TV Stick can surely take you to la la land.
mbfarookh ©