Teaching
my grandma to use a Smartphone and do grocery shopping online made her a fan of
YouTube! Yes, that’s what happened and I am happy for it because now I know
that she has something more to spend time with, at least for the time being,
when we are not home! Well, I lost my mom when I was 9 years old and since then
it’s only us, me, my dad and grandma.
Sometimes
older people can be utterly funny and they can come up with some of the most
hilarious excuses that even kids don’t even come up with! Recently her online
grocery shopping hype bought us a water purifier! Well, that was just the
beginning!
My Grandma Never Loved Traveling!
To
her, traveling is an unnecessary wastage of money! Did you ever hear something
like that? I’m sure you haven’t. But you can’t leave the possibilities out,
isn’t it! My grandma is a big fan of wine, operas and TV! That has always been
her life and she still does that. To her traveling means, going for a morning
walk or an evening walk! That’s her regular routine.
Now, coming to groceries, she either sends me or my dad to get the supplies. But her biggest concern was, we won’t get the right products. Now, who on earth will mistakenly purchase a brand that has never been bought before! But, my grandma had always new brands in mind and the TV advertisements were her greatest boost! She will watch an ad and then ask me to get it. If I am off to college, dad had to get it for her! If, by chance, we would ask her to join us to the super market, then it would be one heck of a chaos with her universal statement always coming through on our face, “You know, I do not want to travel!”
Oh, if by chance I said, that I once did, “come on grandma, this is not unnecessary traveling, she would just frown and say, “Do you want your poor old lady to take all the stress!”
Needed A Way Out Of It!
My
grandma is 56 years old and she is not fond of friends. She is a self taught
woman with deeper perception of things that probably you and I might not get!
My grandpa is still alive and living in France, but with another lady. After
that, my grandma shut herself off!
My
dad said one day, “Let’s gift grandma a Smartphone.” Well that was the biggest
achievement that our family ever experienced. The day my dad bought it, I took
a day off from college and taught her the basics. For the next month, I used to
skip my evening studies and make her used to the applications, the options and
how to find things online. Once I said, “Grandma, the TV ads you watch, they
are all available on the internet! She was eager to see and I turned on
YouTube! From that day, she became a big fan of it.
As
days went by, I made her aware of how to use web browsers. Slowly as her
interest grew, she asked me one day, “Can I do grocery shopping online?” “Wow!
Did she ask about it so fast?” – I told myself and said, YES, SURE!
Grandma’s Ways Of Finding Things
She
learnt to use Google and when she made her first search, I checked the browsing
history, and her search term was something like this, “Google, send me a can of
Coconut Milk at (she typed in our address). I will pay when you deliver it to
me!”
That
night, both I and dad burst out laughing reading that and we enjoyed every
moment of it. Later, I told her, simply searching ‘grocery shopping online’ can
help you get started. You check the results and click on the websites. There
you can find your desired products. Then click on the product page, mention the
quantity, add it to cart and pay the amount.
That
night, while showing her, I ordered a can of Coconut Milk and used my dad’s credit
card for paying it. After two days when the package was delivered, she got the
confidence and started taking things all by herself.
A Week’s Expense!
She
then visited YouTube just to check ads and then go on to Google and search the
product. She started well and only on the 6th day of the week, a
message came onto my dad’s cellphone “Payment of $2,395 at a grocery store was
successful!” My dad thought, she might be ordering a month’s grocery
altogether! So he didn’t bother much.
Later
on the 3rd day after receiving that message, when the delivery came,
I was home. It was a sports meet at college so I came back early. To my utter
surprise, the delivery boy came in with a large box wearing a nice big smile on
his face! I asked him “What’s that?” He said, “It’s a water ionizer,” and
simultaneously my grandma yelled from behind, “Jacky, may be the Alkaline Water
Bottles I ordered have arrived!”
Are
you in a dilly-dally just the way I was? Well, here’s the funniest part, she
searched for ionized water and one of the product images showed an ionizer
filling a bottle. She didn’t read much and thought that she is going to receive
Alkaline Water filled right from an ionizer. So she ordered it!
While
we were not planning to get one right that month, but her early purchase didn’t
do any harm at all. If thought on a broader perspective, it was actually a good
move! After all purchasing bottles every month would be much costlier in the
long run than having an ionizer itself! Our acceptance and encouraging her,
gave her a much-needed boost and she started doing grocery shopping online since
then without any second thoughts!
Concluding
Her
specific and featured brands were now available on the Smartphone’s screen and
it saved us from making mistakes! Slowly she is leaping into the digital era
and we are glad to find her happier than before. Well, this doesn’t end here.
There are more memorable incidents coming up. So,
Stay
Tuned, Stay Put And Follow
Stuart Green
