Week 2 - Day 6 - You Need Bluetooth!

 


Out of the blue, Sangeeta said matter of factly: "You need a Bluetooth!"  

Sangeetha? Bluetooth? 

Why so much incredulity? Can't she possess a Bluetooth? Just because she is a construction worker, is it too much to hear her talking about such modern gadgets? 

My challenge was: that the laptop speaker was not audible to the assembled children wanting to hear their favorite rhyme: Found A Peanut...

I tried to increase the laptop speaker volume in vain. Still low sound. 

That's when the early-thirties Sangeeta broached the subject of Bluetooth.

"You have one?" I asked.

She nodded. 

She was seated on the wooden plank in the open hall where I hold my daily classes for the construction workers' kids. Significantly, she was instrumental in my decision to do this bit of "useful" work: educating the construction workers' children, who are missing school back home because their parents are migrant workers. 

Daily she pays a visit to the class to see what's happening.

"Can you bring it tomorrow?"

Why tomorrow? Now I can," she responded.

I opted for tomorrow because I was under the impression her house was maybe 200 meters away from the class where she might be staying.

So, her "Now I can," floored me again.

Why not?

She got up, walked 10 steps, opened a door, and returned with a Bluetooth. 

It was dusty and had no knobs, but holes where once the buttons were. She used a pencil to switch on the Bluetooth. 

I searched her Bluetooth on my laptop and bingo, A004 it displayed. It ought to be hers. 

Soon, it got connected and the audio was high and children freaked out.

Sangeeta waited for 10 minutes, seeing the excitement among the children.

I am sure, she was glad that she was able to do something for the children in her own way.

"I am going to work. When you are finished with the classes, please keep the Bluetooth there," she pointed to a corner near her door: Her home incidentally.

I nodded. She left.

The children had a blast listening to a few rhymes, Human body parts explained in Hindi.

Before leaving, I switched off her Bluetooth and left where she asked me to deposit. It was a mini-open kitchen. Rural oven over which they cook food using firewood. I safely kept the Bluetooth in a plastic bag in the same area, hoping she gets it on her return.

I could not glimpse her as I exited.

Bluetooth is not an urban and elite item. Aam Janata stuff, it is I realized today.

Tomorrow, I will carry my own Bluetooth.

Anyhow, thanks, Sangeeta! 





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