A Brief Converse

The sound of bird’s chirruping had left the room; Sun had already started its routine. Ambiance was white as snow, and yet the air seemed rock-heavy. The void surrounding the room darkened as the time progressed, but suddenly the silence was broken…,

“Who are you? I haven’t seen you earlier,” said a soft yet comforting female voice.

“Who me! I am Perju,” came the reply.

“I came here in the morning with Master Andy,” He said expressing his enthusiasm, as it was his first visit to this very house.

“Oh! So you are Andy’s Mobile! I have heard a lot about him from my Master Manvi,” said Sara, “she really talks a lot about her son.”

“But if I recall, it was someone else last year, though we didn’t get to talk as he left quite early.”

“Yes my master dumped the old model for me. He deserves the best of all what there is!” said Perju jump-starting his AMOLED screen as to show off his shadow-black matt armor and camera cutouts to prove his words.

He smirked, “And I am the best in the market. I couldn’t even imagine how tiring it would have been for him to wait for hours in queue, just to be with the best of best.”

Sara never liked such over presumptuous flagship phones that boost their own egos to look down on others. She knew that she was nowhere in competition with them but was contend in her limited yet reliable features and was happy to spend the last two years alongside her master. She was forever grateful that Manvi didn’t replaced her despite Andy’s repetitive persuasion to move to a new and better phone. As Sara could only perform mundane tasks with all her capabilities, staying with her master was all there was to her life. However, in spite of being irked from Perju’s remark she tried to continue the conversation as he belonged to someone dear to her master and she always wanted to know more about the person her master cherished so much. Moreover, as she only knew him from Manvi's perspective, she wanted to know the real Andy from someone who had spent time closely with him, who knew him at personal level.

“So, how’s your life with Andy?” asked Sara, to steer the topic.

“Ah! You won’t even believe how amazing it has been. He really loves me,” Peru’s tone rose in excitement, it seemed like he was waiting eagerly for someone to ask this question.

“I am the first and the last connection of his day and he won’t leave me even for a sec. except only when I am charging, like now.”

“And…,” asked Sara.

“Not to brag but the last few months, were the best moments of my life. We traveled a lot,” replied Perju.

“He even bought me these comfortable clothes and regularly polishes me,” flaunting his matt cover to confirm.

“You really seems lucky to have such a master,” said Sara.

“Yes…yes… He really is great and relies too much on me. No matter the hour of day, as soon as I speak, he will leave all his work and just spend time gazing at me.”

Perju added, to prove his efficiency, “He also gave me many applications to enhance my skills and oh Man! How I slay them is fantastic.”

Sara seems completely engulfed in the picture perfect world of Perju and Andy. She asked, “Tell me something about your trips.”

“Ah! We always have unexpected tours and would capture hundreds of moments and even post them out for the world to see.”

“Sometimes we would just play games and have won many game trophies also,” that’s too thrilling.

She could see pride in his eyes as he continued, “We also sometimes spend whole night watching movies or otherwise just scrolling other’s feed on social media.”

He added, “However, occasionally it gets overwhelmed as there are so many people disturbing him via my apps, but I feel so glad to be with someone that famous.”

“Isn’t it tiring for you to handle all such, every day,” Sara inquired.

“Yeah mostly it is and by the midnight we both are so exhausted that he’ll just sleep while holding me.”

Perju was excited to share about his achievements but was also intrigued to know about Sara, he thought, “What about her, she belongs to my master’s mother, sure that will be on completely different level,” and asked, “What about your adventures?”

“Ah! Me…,” Sara couldn’t bring her up to say anything, as she had lived a simple and humble life and was dull in comparison to Perju’s. Her master is not as adventurous as Andy might be but she did take a good care of her for the past two years. They didn’t go out and played as much as Perju, and there was rarely any time they used the camera except while talking to Andy. It was just a simple routine of waking Sara up late in the morning only to call Andy before he leaves for office, after that it was just a simple search of morning pictures to wish him luck for the day. Manvi will interact with her only when there is a call from any relative, she would be resting otherwise. The only times she saw Manvi exited was in the morning and evenings when they were talking to Andy, sharing the events of Manvi’s day and asking him about his, and in evenings she will just spend time watching Andy’s social posts or his old pictures. As Sara was also not that advanced, they had struggled with latest social media apps to connect to Andy. Moreover, they both had no idea on how to handle such apps but they always tried their best to close the gap.

She took a pause and said, “It is nothing compared to yours, we just live a normal life, but we do like to search for health and cooking videos.”

“We have shared all those with you, I am sure Andy would have seen all those,” inquired Sara.

Perju replied, “Oh! Those, we don’t even open them, you know how busy it is for us, and your videos are usually boring.”

“But we won’t stop sending them,” she said and smiled.

“If you can’t watch them, we could also dictate you in our daily calls,” Sara added.

Perju lashed out, “Don’t even try that, those calls are already frustrating enough with the same old repeated questions as, how are you, did you eat well or not and Blah! Blah!”

“Andy is not a child anymore, he can take care of us,” Perju justified.

“But he will always be a child to Manvi,” Sara grinned, “And we love Andy more than anything in the world.”

Her words jolted Perju like lightning; in all his travels, he never met anyone like Sara, and it forced him to try to open up to her and show the real Perju beneath his matt-black case.

“Can I ask you something?” asked Perju.

“Yes…Yes always.”

“What is Andy to you and Manvi?”

“Everything!”

For Perju this was an answer to his long ongoing search, at last, he found someone who is pure and honest, someone he could respect and look up to, someone with whom he could share his burden and thoughts that’s weighing him down from long. He always had tried to act as same as his master but there was a lot that he tried to hide under his screen.

He paused for a moment and asked, “Will you judge me if I share something with you?”

“No way! I will never judge you; it is the first rule of listening.”

“Thanks! But, before I start, let me properly repent for my earlier behavior. I tried to act as my master would but I over stepped my boundaries.” apologized Perju.

“I never took it as an insult,” Sara confirmed.

She added, “Being phones we are bound to portray our masters and there is nothing wrong in that, but yes, we should always be true to ourselves because that’s what defines us. Without our identity, we are nothing but a piece of hardware to be used and thrown away.”

“You are such a humble soul Sara.”

“Nah! This’s all I learned from my master, she is the best.”

“So, what is it you wanted to share?” asked Sara.

“There is a lot weighing me down about my master”

“Is he all right? I knew he looked weak in the last video call,” asked Sara.

“No… It’s not about his physical health,” answered Perju.

“Then? You don’t have to hide anything Perju, just put it all out”

“You know! Whatever I said until now about our life was bit of an exaggeration,” said Perju.

He added, “Yes we go out a lot and spend a lot of time together, but I never saw my master genuinely smiling.”

“In all the calls and pictures we always looked hustling but the reality starts when the recording stops,” he added, “And I am the only one who witnessed this, no one else.”

Perju’s voice started shaking; he was struggling with words. He wanted to help his master but was duty bound to being neutral. On the surface, his master would look like an adventurous person, highly socialized with lots of followers and fame, but internally, he struggled to maintain his posture. He would avoid interacting with people unless it is over messages, and all the talk about late night movies and scrolling was nothing but a cover to hide the fact that his master was facing sleeping problems. All the tours was nothing just aimlessly wandering to acquire happiness. He had seen Andy weeping, shouting and struggling in loneliness. Despite all this, Andy never attempted to share this with anyone, as if it was a social norm to act apt over internet despite being broken inside. Perju was filled with Andy’s testimonies about his agony and desires hidden inside the deep vault of his libraries.

He took a pause and said, “It is just; I can’t find words to describe it.”

“Don’t worry about the words, just start anywhere,” said Sara consoling him.

“He really loves his mother but never told her.”

“He don’t have to, we already know.”

“What if I give all his letters illustrating his struggles to you? Could you share that to your master?” asked Perju.

“You know that we are not allowed to interact with the living,” she answered.

“I know it’s harsh, but we cannot break the rule,” she added.

“Then how can I help my master, tell me!”

“We cannot; No one can help someone until they ask for. That is the uncanny truth,” answered Sara.

“All we can do it to pray for Andy to muster up strength to share his problems with his mother, because she is the only one I know of, who genuinely cares for Andy,” she added.

“I wish the same, I want to see him happy before it’s too late,” said Perju showing his concern.

“Yes, but I think there is one way to support him,” said Sara.

“What! Really, you are really a life saver Sara,” exclaimed Perju.

She blushed, “What we can do is…”

“What do you want to do with her phone,” a fainted female human voice interrupted their conversation.

“I want to keep it as her last reminder,” said Andy.

“How can you think, I’ll throw something she used for two years” Tears flowed down his eyes making their way to Sara and the silence engulfed the room once again.