My son and his son are riding a car on the freeway. It is rainy, stormy and getting dark. The car dashboard display suddenly projects a good-looking Cortana hologram in front of them even as it switches lanes. Cortana announces, looking towards my son "There has just been an accident up ahead 10 kms away and I expect there will be delays along this route as more vehicles ahead are diverted to this freeway. I have decided to bypass the next 6 exits. Do you still want to continue on this route?
"No, Thanks! That is fine. Change the route," says my son.
Cortana vanishes.
"Dad, you should get rid of her. She's so old fashioned! No one has that avatar anymore in their cars - except you old fuddy-duddies! It is embarrassing," says my grandson.
"Hmm.. I like her. It have known Cortana for a long time now, before she had such customizable avatars. She used to be a blue circle on the screen for a long time!" says my son smiling.
"That must have been historical old days," says the grandson mocking, with a smile and shaking his head.
"Yes, I remember when my father drove me along this very freeway in my younger days, when I was a teenager. He drove a big kludgy van that had its own personality in the transmission - its gears would not shift-down automatically after a spell of driving at over 80Km/hr. He would fiddle with the sequential-manual option trying to shift up or down one gear to slowly prevent a lock-up,' my son reminisces with a far-away look in his eyes.
"I don't know what exactly you are talking about - did it have those old fashioned steering wheels? Were you embarrassed?" asks the grandson, his interest perking up at knowing his father was once a kid too who was embarrassed about his own father!
"Yes, I used to think it was embarrassing too! That old van did not have a screen or Wi-Fi or Blutooth or power windows, doors or seats while most new cars then had them. My Dad felt happy driving his old fashioned clunk and refused to upgrade just for the sake of all the new gadgets or comforts. Grandad first learned to drive a manual stick-shift car, using both hands and legs. It was later he bought an automatic gear shifting car which were more expensive," replies my son remembering that actually with some fondness.
"That is funny! These days, cars wheel motors just get as much power as they need from the battery. There is no need for complicated gear mechanisms. Those are only used for the big trucks that still use petrol. It must have been primitive in your days. Have you driven a stick-shift car?" says the grandson with a pitying expression.
My son continues,"Yes, but they mostly made automatic transmission cars in my days. I too looked at my father the way you are looking at me about Cortana. My dad used to tell me about his childhood, when he was your age - he never imagined he would ever own or drive his own car, when he grew up in India. At that time, only the rich ever owned cars there and they usually hired someone to drive them around all the time. My father was of a lower middle-class background and he only dreamt in his fanciful dreams as a child that he would own a car or a fly in an airplane. Strangely enough, he actually flew in planes around the world, lived in many countries when he grew up. He learned to drive a car when he was 30 years old. Then he bought, owned and drove many cars in his lifetime! He was surprised at how fast things had changed even in his own lifetime."
"Did everyone have to drive their own cars back then. Did they HAVE to learn to drive?" asks the grandson, not very surprised at someone not learning to drive a car until they were 30 or ever. These days, only few ever learned to drive a car - it was considered an old fashioned hobby and a risky one at that!
"It was a different time then. Self-driving cars were only being tested. I learned to drive just like most people my age. It was a vital skill then, important to be able to get around - to work, to shop to go to school," my son tries to explain to the kid who thought they were all odd things for everyone or most to do.
"Why did everyone need a car to go shopping?!! Or to go to school far away?! I suppose they did not have drones or virtual travel and presence holograms then?" says the young kid with even more wonder.
He then ponders a little while, turned with a mischievous smile and asked my son,"Did you make fun of granddad?"
"Yes, I did," says my son with a guilty expression.
"What did Grandad do then? What did he tell you?" asks the grandson.
"Well, he told me, he thought he was privileged to have experienced so many things. His own father lived all his life without ever owning a car. He said I have grown up with such comforts and technology that I don't always appreciate how he had it, when he grew up. He wished one day, my own son would make me realize what he does when he sees and talks to me about cars and technology. My Dad's words have come true," says my son simply.
He then adds smiling, "I one day wish your child does the same to you and makes you feel old fashioned and out of date."
Copyright (c) Kannan Narayanamurthy 2017
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