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IT WASN'T MY INTENTION to spend another long spell on the phone this afternoon, but that's exactly what I did...all in the interest of getting things moving again!

Kartik, a friend of Rajah, surprised me by calling from India to see if I'd gotten things worked out with my brand new HP computer. Had I taken it to a computer shop?
"Well, no," I told him. "Are you calling with the tech support for which there is a charge?"
"No, no, I'm calling for Rajah," he said. "He asked me to call you and help you with the problem."
"For free?" I asked.
"Oh, yes, ma'am. For free!"

Thus began my two-hour visit with Kartik, and the exciting unclogging of my backlog of video clips. We had plenty of opportunity for chatting as we waited for his expert manipulation of my computer to ease its peculiar obstinacy. He's twenty-two, and this young Indian man is a computer genius, let me tell you! I learned a few more things about him, as well. It was mid-afternoon here when he called, but Kartik was already five hours into his eight-thirty to six a.m. shift at work, which is an hour's drive from his home. He doesn't have a lot of free time. He likes cars. And he is twenty-five days into an "eat-no-meat" challenge.

"Have you eaten your lunch?" Kartik asks me. We are waiting for some software to adhere. "What do you like to eat? Do you eat healthy food?" Clearly, food was on his mind.
I had to tell him I didn't eat lunch...only a late breakfast. But yes, yes, I like to eat food that is good for me.
"I eat like a hog," he said. "You should see my desk right now!" It was one-thirty in the morning by his clock.
"Kartik, you eat like a hog?! Is it junk food?"
"Oh, no!" he assured me. "I am not eating meat now. I used to eat lots of meat! Meat for breakfast, meat for lunch, meat for dinner. But I have a friend who said 'You should not eat so much meat.' She said, 'See how long you can go without eating meat.' "
"Ah, your girlfriend?"
"No, no. She is just a good friend. But she tells me it will be good for me. And my mother, too. She says 'You must eat more vegetables! Not so much meat.' So I am trying to see how long I can do this. We are at January 29 here and I began on January 4!" He sends me a photo of a plate of food...chapati, Indian-style vegetables and a hard-boiled egg.


Now he is opening my photos. I have given him control of my computer and it is odd to be looking at the screen as he flips through my files."I am sorry about some of those photos," I say, "Those photos of stains on carpet and the ugly stove top..." I try to explain my bad tenants. "But see the birthday cake? That is for my daughter. She is twenty-five."
"Oh," he clicks through the photos, sees a picture of her. "She is twenty-five? She is young."




"But you are younger, Kartik."
"She looks young," Kartik says.


He has finished his software patch-up now. He must test his work. Do I have a video clip? Oh, yes! There is one that I woefully could not bring to life on New Year's Day. He opens it and...



They play!


This is a triumph. But it's not an altogether adequate test. Kartik asks if I can take a video with my camera right now. I run to find it.

Let's see. What will it be? Everything is so motionless, the sofa with its little orange pillows snoozing in the crooks of its arms, the antique pie safe with its punched-tin doors folded quietly shut. Even the peace lily on the table is excessively peaceful. I know. Outdoors it is snowing! Out the door I go and do a quick little scan of the white landscape.



"Look," I say to Kartik. "We have snow!" My enthusiasm possibly sounds genuine. But he does not seem all that interested in the white stuff.
"Is that your car?" he immediately wants to know.
"Yes. It's a Toyota. It's old, a 2001."
"But it's very nice."
"Oh, yes. It's a nice car. It has lots of dings (does he know this word?) and bumps, but it is a nice car."
"What is the model? Do you like the ride?" He would be happy to go on discussing cars, I'm sure. My interest and knowledge is so slight. Besides, he's completed his original task and I'm thrilled. Before he says goodbye, he gives me instructions on deleting junk files. "Do this once a week!" he advises. He types up a list of instructions and puts them in a document for me.

"Label them 'Kartik's Instructions,' " I request.

So now, once a week, for the life of this computer anyway, I'll be remembering Kartik, the computer marvel who gave back to me my moving pictures!


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