Autobiography of a Computer Mouse

“Ouch”, “Ouch”, “Ouch”, careful my dear careful. It pains when you rub me against this old, not so smooth mouse pad. Can you see how many bruises I have got as a result of your manhandling? I wish you could! I wish so many other things too!! So good were the days when I was your father’s asset. He used to keep me so well. And why would he not. He had shed 500 bucks to own me.

Are you aware that we were the most in demand mouse in our community, as we belonged to the prestigious I-ball family? Moreover I looked so classy with my black glossy body and my red colored hunch that anybody would fall in love with me.
I got a warm welcome in your family. Your mother had applied turmeric and rice on my hunch and a marigold flower was presented to me. I was delighted by their hospitality. They also distributed sweets amongst themselves. All were happy with my arrival in your house. They covered me with cloth in order to protect me from dust. I simply enjoyed being used by your father. He handled me with so much care and affection. But look at my fate. After 3 years I have been handed to you as your father got a laptop for himself. And you got me to play your brainless, useless games. And now poor me, have to quietly bear all your atrocities. The way you keep pressing my left and right hands when you are about to dash your opponent and how you throw me in the air when you loose a game. And the other day you just held me by my tail and kept swinging me in the air for about 5 min and you know why he did so because he needs some thing or the other in his hand when he’s thinking. And just don’t ask the scene when his friends are at home. And they fight for their chance to play in which my tail gets stretched by an inch.

Days kept passing and my little master kept finding new ways to harass me. But now he had turned to be a big boy so the number of hours he used me had increased gradually. At times he would do some constructive work when he concentrated on his work which also means he handled me gently. But most of the time he did useless stuff like surfing the net, chatting with god knows whom and that too for hours. Mostly it was late night hours. I often dozed off to sleep but he would again wake me up as needed my company. Sometime he would smile and at times got angry. And it was obvious that he would take out his anger on me by hitting his fist hard on my head. After which my head would spin and spin and spin.

This continued for several years till he grew older and started going to office. So now we met each other only on weekend, but yet again he kept me awake till midnight. Reason being his old habit of chatting. Rest of the weekdays I would just be alone in my room thinking about my life, my relatives who were living in the big offices and spent time in A.C. and lived a content life. And here I was crying on my luck.

But finally my prayers were answered and my master who was now “The Man” treated me well. Actually he got a new laptop from his office so even on weekends he would sit with it to complete his pending work. So now I was rarely used and often laid in dust.

One fine day I came to know that my master was getting married to the girl he used to chat with. I was also happy like the other family members. Now I thought that at least she would take care of me and treat me as I always wanted too. When she came home my master did introduce her to me saying that I was his childhood friend but also said that now I have become old. But he didn’t forget to mention the fact that it was because of me that they could keep in touch with each other and now have become one. Both looked at each other and smiled. And my heart gave them bets wishes for their future.

Days passed and now we had a small member in our family who was my master’s junior. Ohh! I was so happy to see him. But least I knew that his arrival would mean my departure. The family members decide that due to space crunch they need to dump me as I was of no use anymore. My master protested but had to give up in front of others. So the very next day I was given to the waste-man and that too free of cost. I could see the disappointment on my master’s face but he was helpless. My days in this house were over. Now I had few days of my life. The waste-man would send me to the recycling factory and I would be crushed till death.

By : Swati Sharma