Will wonders never cease??

Ma bought a laptop. For herself. I never really believed that she'd actually buy herself an expensive piece of equipment until I actually saw her writing out the check. Then not until we were walking out of the electronic showroom and hailing an auto did I realise she's taking it home with her! Okay, backtrack. My mother is a hard-worker-who-struggled-her-way-to-raise-her-seven-younger-siblings-on-her-own-passed-her-MA-with-a-first-class-first-and-refuses-to-take-an-auto-when-there's-a-bus-refuses-to-travel-in-a-rickshaw-when-she-can-walk-it-okay-you-get-the-general-idea. She once reprimanded me for going to GK everytime I had a free period and when I asked her what I'm supposed to do, she suggested the library as if it was the only sane place one could ever think of. She refuses to let me buy her a cord for her glasses and makes me make them out of wool for her. I've never thrown away a piece of crust because it's blasphemous to even want to do so. She will make me get her shoes mended and re-mended until they're held together only by the thread and nails the cobbler uses and then grudgingly buy new ones. She'll swear by her ancient floaters and wear them to the university, the local market, the party at the five star hotel her authoress friend shall throw and give you an extremely surprised look if you gently ask her if she wants a new pair. She will sew and darn her apron but not use the brand new one that has been forcefully bought for her. She will hum and haw a million times before getting a haircut just because it means spending a hundred bucks on herself. Meanwhile she'll buy me new clothes, new shoes, new memberships and increase my pocket money with only an appeal to spend it wisely. She'll exclaim how worn my brother's trackpants have become and secretly hand me money to go buy him new ones which he'll never wear. She'll suddenly buy my father new sweaters and explain to a very surprised baba, you dont have many. She'll exasperate everyone around and go on with her ideas about right and wrong and never, NEVER deem it necessary to buy herself anything. So now do you see the gravity of the matter?? She bought herself a laptop! Of her own accord!!

Sigh. Now she's working on it, typing nonsensically to 'increase her typing speed'. I was just called to explain to her the complex workings of the shift and caps lock keys. An excited ma wanted to show thakurma the new laptop. An apprehensive me waited for the anticipated digs at how much she had spent on herself and how things used to be different in thakurma's time. A very delighted me witnessed something completely different. Readying myself to start speaking vehemently on ma's defence about how she needs a laptop, and how she earns more than enough to deserve one, and so on, I came on a complete stop and had to take a double take when thakurma very timidly asked, Nandita, aamayo iktu dekhiye debe, aikdeen? (Would you teach me how to too, one day?). Ma grinned and thakurma grinned and now a Microsoft Word intermediate is teaching a computer-barely-beginner how to work the machine. Life is good.