- So where did all the money go?
“Last week we spent 22 thousand but I can account for only 20,” she said, very agitated. This happens every month if not more frequently. So we spent the next hour eliminating all the impossible spends so that we are left with only the improbable ones. And then finally there was light. “Oh! I bought this anklet, which seemed so nice,” she cooed. “Anklet? How am I supposed to know about it? And we wasted one hour because of your forgetfulness!” I said thinking I held the upper hand. “Give me a break. You didn’t listen to a word of what I said yesterday, did you?” she shot back.
I know when I am beaten. So I went back to reading the newspaper. But maintaining expenses is really bothersome. Who has the patience to come back from shopping and then boot a machine and fire a spreadsheet and enter the expenses? That is too nerdy even for a software professional like me. Besides, shopping is tiring. I get back and I want to rest for a few hours.
So we subscribed to AllTrack. It works off the mobile phone. Just uses SMS. No new software and no installation. Just plain old SMS.
Now we SMS Leela 1650 flowers 300 and that is it.
Whenever we find time or need to check, we log on to our dashboard or do a quick recall on SMS. It is so easy and convenient.
After all, it is a digital world.
Mondays are more peaceful. We now have an extra hour. Which I kill by playing sudoku. “In all this constant tracking, we seem to have saved 6K this month,” she announced. It made her feel guilty of spending! Now we are onto something.
- Look how he is growing up!
I am yet to see a house without a wall dedicated to marking a growing child’s height. We have such a wall too. Right from 2 feet! And it goes on and on with markings every six months, generously interspersed with the heights of competing cousins.
This is all very well for a few years. And then, one day, my mother suggested we get the house painted. It seemed the right thing to do. The paint was peeling off, what with all the moistness seeping through the roof. So we hired a painter who went about his job merely. And then it stuck us!
The wall of growth was cleaned up!!
We all peered at the wall. “ I can see a pencil mark,” shouted my wife. “ One more here,” said my mother. Quickly, we had the freshly painted wall back to its old form, with lines all over, and a few generous guesses on the dates.
That was five years back. It is now time to paint again. And this time, I decided to use AllTrack. It is quite simple to send off this track: Ht-- 168 Oct 2009. It is so easy and convenient.
After all, it is a digital world.
The walls are now clean, but I cannot help feeling we lost a bit of tradition while we gained a bit of convenience. My mother said the same thing happened when we got our first mixie.
- Did you see my keys anywhere?
I don’t know what it is with keys really. They seem to have a mind of their own. Sometime, it is at the kitchen counter. Sometime at the bathroom. And sometime at the office; that is once I realise I cannot open the front door of my house.
“ Did you see my keys?” I asked in desperation. Previously, my son would run around and attempt to find it. Now, grown up as he is, he just yawned and said, “Must be somewhere.”
Must be somewhere? Of course, it must be somewhere. But where?
All that has changed. Now, believe it or not, I use AllTrack. I SMS: Keys-- on top of fridge and if I forget, I sms Show note and there it is! It is so easy and convenient.
After all, it is a digital world.
Recently, my son asked, “How come you don’t ask me anymore where your keys are?” I smiled back.
- Anniversary!
I am terrible with dates. “When did we first meet?” my wife demanded to know.
“Some fifteen years back?”
“Yes, but when?”
“Uhh, feb?”
“Of course, feb, but which date?”
“Uhh, let us see, it was not 30th ...”
And all this just because we saw Jab we met. How cruel can life be?
There I was, trying to grab some lunch near the office and I froze. Today was our wedding anniversary. She gave no indication at all in the morning - everything was normal. Too normal. I should have sensed it.
A couple of years back I had remembered the anniversary. But then I got back to the office and got pulled into a meeting and I totally blanked out. Of course, I remembered as soon as I saw her that evening. But that was too late.
This time I sent an sms: Todo-- Buy! Buy! and behold, when I reached the office, AllTrack had sent in an email to my inbox to remind me. It is so easy and convenient.
After all, it is a digital world.
I cancelled my meetings and rushed off. Later in the evening, when she opened the door, I bellowed with affection, “Happy Anniversary!!” and gave her the diamond ring. “Thanks. But the anniversary is tomorrow,” she said camly, while looking at the ring.
“Wonder what you will get me tomorrow?” she said. How cruel can life be?
- Pressure!
How can you claim to live a modern life without a high blood pressure? “You seem to be under too much stress,” declared the doctor. “You should work less, take more holidays.” Yes. More spending. That is the antidote for blood pressure.
Anyway, I started maintaining a log of my BP. I took my notebook and started filling the last pages with systolic and diastolic values. But this morning, I found the pages were gone!!
“I made some paper planes. Besides, don’t you know that the last pages in a book are always for rough work?” my son said, owning up. My BP had become rough work, eh?
I decided I needed something more permanent. Like AllTrack. So now I sms Bp- hi 156 lo 90. And it keeps track. It is so easy and convenient.
After all, it is a digital world.
Now I log into my dashboard and find BP: 6954. Bizzare. It seems AllTrack adds up all the high and low values for the entire month! No perfect product this. I sometimes feel I should get out of this big fat job where nothing really happens and start a company of my own and build perfect products and services. But then I have to take vacations to keep myself healthy.