Go fiddle it out!

If you mention the word "setting" in India, more so in North India, it usually refers to a makeshift arrangement to get something done. And on more instance than one, it often times refers to a dating couple.

"अरे! उस बन्दे ने तोह लड़की के साथ अपनी "Setting" करवा ली!" 

(Dude! That guy managed to get the girl to date him!)

But as usual, I am not going to talk about the aforementioned connotation of "Setting". What a waste of 100 words, right?

The "Setting" I want to discuss is the one we find on remote controls, and other common electronic devices, say phones, cameras, and other appliances we come across from day to day. 

I come from a technologically challenged household. It's not like there is financial trouble in my home. But despite using electronics from the time of their advent, my parents are still skeptical about even mistakenly pressing buttons on devices, whose functions are unknown to them. And just in case they do accidentally press something unknowingly on a remote, which brings about a change on the, say TV screen, they're like....

So that's what it does!

It is a problem with us as a species. We tend to simply avoid fiddling with things we don't completely understand. More so, we truly believe in the following...

"People have so *much*(read gadgets) to lose. This is a world we'll never understand. And you always fear what you don't understand."

To be honest, I am no tech geek. That said, I am definitely not averse to technology. Quite on the contrary, I love nifty pieces of technology, the ones that are actually functional. Not the ones that can do everything for namesake. For instance, I have fallen in love with the Kindle e-reader I got myself some time ago. Purely built for reading. Nothing else! No unnecessary dating applications, no Facebook, no distractions! It is purpose personified. The only thing better than a Kindle is the paperback of the book you're reading on your kindle. But hauling a lot of books around involves logistics of its own. With this device, all the books you could read in a lifetime weigh in at 180 grams. But that said, the Kindle does take away the joy of holding a book in your hand. Whoops! This post is turning into a Kindle advertisement. And so, moving on....

The day I got the kindle, I had to go out for some reason. My sister came home, while I was gone. Upon knowing that she was back home, I told her to check what was on my bed(my Kindle). She opened the box, saw the e-reader, and got all excited. That's the thing with younger siblings. They actually think that the elder one gets knows about the cool things. I say this despite that my sister uses a Nexus 5, and I use a 5 year old Nokia E-72. At this juncture, I'd like to add to my own credit that I was the one to suggest the Nexus 5 to my sister. I don't know how that bumps up my credibility. But nevertheless, the mere thought of someone getting excited by a Rs. 5000 device, specially if that same person uses a Rs. 25000 device to make a call, sounds utterly ludicrous to me. Eh! Kids are turning dumber by the day!

Any way, I was sitting next to my dad, as I broke the news to my sister about the new device at home. Just to make my sister at ease with the device, I told her something like "Go on! Try fiddling with it. Figure it inside out." My sister was happy now, after I had given her Carte Blanch to the device.

My father on the other hand, got all worked up the moment I mentioned the word "fiddle" to my sister. He believes that electronics are things one must not fiddle with. His beliefs stem from those of my grandfather, who is a strict adherent of User Manuals that come with electronic devices. So when two generations get used to reading User Manuals for fun, and the third generation(me) is repulsed by the idea of referring to user manuals to sort out issues with electronic devices, there are bound to be tense moments. I truly believe that User Manuals undermine the User's intelligence. There are as it is very few slot where a wire of a particular kind will fit into the appliance. 

Coming to the buttons  on the device/ device's remote, there is a very low chance that pressing them can cause any form of irreversible damage, if at all it can cause any damage. Just imagine! Why would the manufacturer put buttons on the device/appliance that would screw with the device's normal functioning?

On a bus trip, not too long ago, an old lady sitting next to me wanted to get a bottle of water. She had a problem with her leg, and for the amazingly good person I am, I volunteered to get her a water bottle from the shop outside.

The bus had electric doors, the ones you control from the driver's seat usually using a joystick, or some button. I saw a joystick on the dashboard of the bus, fiddled with it, and figured out how to open the door. 

A lady, presuming that I was up to no good, reprimanded me, telling me not to "fiddle" with things that I don't know about, as it might spoil the doors. To tell the truth, my ego took a big hit when this timid lady said that I didn't understand how the door worked, when I had just figured it out right in front of her eyes. I pretty much lost my cool, but stopped myself from doing/saying anything rash. 

I realized that the lady's apprehensions to my fiddling with the door was not exactly her fault. 

We have been brought up by being constantly told that the ways of the world are far too complicated for our simpleton minds, and hence, questioning the things that surround us, trying new ways around problems is a futile waste of time and energy. In the end, what we are handed is a User's Manual. And sadly, that's all we end up being left with.
Chuck the manual! Press all the buttons. I'm sure we'll eventually learn to press the right ones!
So Keep Calm and....