Indoors

It was 8:15 AM and like every day, Maanvi was relaxing on her recliner. It had been her ritual from the past few years now. To order Flex to do all the household chores and relax with her coffee, exactly at the same time. Flex was steam ironing the clothes and hanging one garment beside the other, just as instructed.

“Flex did you iron my blue dress?”
“Yes, Maanvi it has been done.”
“Where is it?” inquired Maanvi.
“You wanted it on the table.”
“You are so sweet Flex,” she expressed with a smile as her eyes spotted the creaseless blue gown.

The gown looked perfect. She looked at the cup in her hand, the fine froth over the coffee made her admire the perfection of the moment. “Technology has made life so much better. If it wouldn’t have been for technology, life would have been so difficult,” she thought as she took another sip from her cup.

The recliner where she was sitting, was facing the smart wall in the living room. The living room had that serene feel with walls decked up in soothing shades of greens and blues. What added to the cosiness of the space was the wall behind the recliner. That was bedecked with pictures of holidays, long drives, dinner dates and much more. Facing the wall was her work station where she would spend a large chunk of her time every day.

“Flex, has the package arrived?” She asked.
“Not yet, Maanvi.”

“Cas…,” she was about to say something but was interrupted by a beep on the screen in front.
Looking at it she pointed out, “Oh, that’s Casey.”

Flex opened the door and Casey glided a bit forward to handover the package.

 “Greetings…
Thank you for shopping with us. We hope we made you happy today. Please use the product only after proper sanitization.” That was a script Casey repeated with every delivery.

Kay came running from his room. While Flex sanitized the package, Kay kept jumping in euphoria. “My new Bluu-tuuth shoes!” said Kay as his tiny fingers grabbed the package from Flex. He moved ahead to hug Flex in his excitement.

“See, Flex learned how to hug me back, mom. I trained him!”
“Yeah,” uttered Maanvi with a smile.
“But Casey hasn’t got this feature yet.”

“How can she, she is built like a drone.”
“Bye Casey,” shouted Kay as Casey glided towards the door.

It was already time for breakfast and Flex’s timer mentioned “the breakfast will be served in 15 minutes.”

“Thank you,” said Maanvi.

# Incoming call from ma#

# Incoming call from ma#

 
The words flashed on the screen of the smart wall and Maanvi gestured to answer.

“Hi ma. Yes, I took my medicines. You can breathe now.”
“I am so happy, thank you.”
“So happy? Why? Because I took my medicines? Ma you are impossible.”
“No. no. Because you are going out,” said her mother.
“One minute…. How…. on earth, do… you know that?”
“Vanshika told me yesterday.”
“Oh, so you two are conspiring against me.”
“No…. we are not. See you need real human connection. AI can’t replace humans. I will suggest, take Kay along.”
“No.” Maanvi gasped out.

Maanvi raised her hand in the signature gesture to disconnect the call, folding her right hand’s fingers one by one and then bringing them together to form a fist. The wall went blank instantly. There was already a lot on her plate that day. And she didn’t want to tax herself with unnecessary chaos.
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Outdoors

Maanvi and Vanshika were in the driveway, waiting for the cab. Vanshika dressed in a white button-down shirt and a floral skirt. While Maanvi chose to wear her blue gown pairing it with a sleek necklace.

Soon the car arrived. And they were both seated comfortably in the self driven car. Maanvi felt the coolness of the AC on her face. She closed her eyes, in an attempt to take it all in. It was after so many days she was feeling a bit relaxed. Last she went out was 6 months ago for her vaccine booster. But today she was going out only to spend some good time with her friend. Moreover, she knew that no one will be able to reach Kay in her absence.

The car moved swiftly, the music in it seemed to be in sync with the flow of its movements. Maanvi looked at Vanshika and smiled. Vanshika smiled back feeling contended for her efforts to make Maanvi happy. “Maybe it won’t be that bad if I decide to go out once a month…” Maanvi tried to convince her own idea to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a voice from the car’s stereo. Unable to make sense of those words she looked at Vanshika inquiringly.
The system repeated, “There is a stoppage of 30 minutes on this route, shall I redirect you to the next best route?”
“Yes,” replied both friends in unison.

It was a ten-minute ride and the car stopped just at the front of the mall.

“This is the end of your journey. Your destination is at the right. Please scan your smart device against the car lock to make the payment.”

“Let’s go,” said Maanvi.

 

 

Read the rest of the story here

 

 

 

Picture Credits: Freepik.com, Artist: Rawpixel