Those Nine Months & Genie

Internet is fun

You have got twins! Radiologist announced to me and my husband, the result of my first ultrasound. As glamorized in films, in real life, we didn’t dance and gifted the Radiologist with my necklace with joy immediately, but we were pleasantly surprised, bewildered, stunned for a moment. Mixed feelings of joy, surprise and apprehensions, of having two babies together flooded our inexperienced minds towards parenthood. This twins word spread in family through various Oooh Aahhs, wow, jackpot, OMG and all sorts of exclamatory comments.

At that point of time, me and my husband were working together on the same project in an IT company, my role was crucial as a technical architect. I had to put a hold to my work as our doctor prescribed me complete bed rest, leave the job and to remain in lying position 95% of the time, even sitting was not allowed except food time.

A 360 degrees transformation was needed to our lifestyle. A girl outdoor needed to be confined to total indoors. Before, I was hooked to web surfing in office, googling, reading, wanderings, mailing etc., facebook was not born then.  Me and my husband used to chat with each other while sitting next to each other, pretending working. Brisk walking, savoring various eateries in the city, catching up with new movies, all that enthralled was to put on hold.

With this complete bed rest, I bought some CDs, but prolonged TV and screen watching was banned by elders while expecting and prolonged reading too. Using a laptop meant carrying the weight in sitting posture and screen so that was completely out of question. It was difficult to stay silent and disconnected from the network which an IT girl is used to usually and to discover new ways to cope up with while on bed rest.

 While my husband used to go to office, I kept waiting for him, eagerly. Relatives visited occasionally and briefly. I called and scooped my all friends’ ears with my long duration calls. But this also got ineffective, as working friends can’t afford to invest time everyday just talking, occasional nice talking is fine. My poor beloved was working hard to keep me entertained. I used to ponder staring at wall sometimes, imagining my children’s faces etc. But this caged life used to get on my nerves at times and I used to nag, blame and crib with my husband, for he was a free bird and I was caged, huffing and puking.

He hunted for a genie to keep me engaged and genie appeared as my birthday gift under my pillow. A latest mobile phone with Internet, fully loaded with all the apps. Carrying laptop needed me sitting which was banned, so with mobile phone, all these clauses were not applicable.





I could play games, solve puzzles, play word games, watch videos, listen to songs and listen to calming Buddha chanting to let me sleep; all this was made possible in lying pose. I used to love getting high score in a game Bejeweled Deluxe and competing with online players. Also, I could check my mails and connect with my friends, which opened a new world for me to be social even after limitations.

The thrill of getting a high score in a game, kept me playful and games make you feel a child again, being in now and being happy. The internet aided mobile was a wonderful lease of happy life while expecting. I could check mails and discuss the project we were working on with my husband, thus enthused a sense of being worthy, significant and still in game. The thoughts of getting cut off suddenly from you world usually causes depression so this phone emerged as a savior friend. The caged bird got her wings to fly with joy.

 Today when I see my 5 years old twins solving puzzles, playing games themselves, squeezing all the uses of Internet exhilarate me. They are born geeks and I owe this to Internet for a joyous pregnancy. The caged bird got her wings with that little but special gift. Internet on mobile was my mate through those special and most important nine months of my life. So no other fun can beat that.

This post is my contribution to the Internet is Fun On Vodafone Contest. More details in here  www.vodafone.in/fun