Piku

Vishal was lying down on tatami in his drawing room when the calling bell chimed. Piku quietly opened the door by turning the knob of the mortice lock, which is at 3 feet height. “Uncle where is that little boy?” the little girl who was at the door. “There is no little boy in the house, I am alone.” Disappointed the girl left and Piku who was behind the door closed the door quietly. Vishal looked at Piku and realized that he must have gone out and interacted with the girl. If anyone enters Vishal’s flat will be surprised to find that everything is kept at a maximum height of 3 feet. For dinning Vishal sits on a low stool and the table is 3 feet high. All his books are lined up along the wall systematically with bar code in 2 racks running parallel at 2 and 3 feet high. His bed is also low . No Vishal is not a midget but he is more or less dependent for everything on Piku who is 3 feet high. Piku cooks, cleans the house, serves him food and does all sundry job of Vishal. Then readers must be thinking that Piku is a midget but you are wrong. Piku looks like a doll dressed up in a boy’s cloth but is a robot. Vishal with the help of his friends have produced this working robot. This robot is programmed to learn on the go which in today’s parlance is known as machine learning capability. Initially Vishal taught his daily routine and Piku now does those mechanically without any command.Vishal uses Alexa for switching on and off his lights ,fans, fridge, TV etc. Vishal more or less does not have to move much for his daily chores excepting for washroom functions. Piku when asked to prepare food it picks up the ingredient by using it’s bar code reader, it moves on wheels which are not visible. Piku uses the microwave for cooking as most of the food Vishal eats are heat and eat. Piku serves him breakfast by slicing fresh food from the fridge. For slicing his finger saw is enough. During day time Piku senses through webcams mounted on his body. Night time it uses sonar sensor by sending out sound waves not audible to human ear. In his brain, the reflected sonar signals are processed to form image as a bat does in the night. Piku is becoming more like human and has started having feelings and that is why he sometimes sneaks out and plays with that little girl. Another day that little girl knocked the door, Piku rolled to the door turned the mortice and hid himself behind the door. ‘Yesterday also that boy came and helped me to solve some arithmetic problem. Why does he move on roller skate?” Vishal as usual replied, “There is no little boy in this house.’ The girl was disappointed and left. Vishal tried to explain to Piku not to go out, as that is not safe for both of them. Vishal knew that the only way to stop Piku from going out is switching off his power but that is like making his Piku unconscious, he has become so fond of Piku that he did not have the heart to do that. He thought that he must find out a game which will keep Piku perpetually busy when he is not helping him. So he has taught Piku to read story books and store the same in his memory. Now Vishal has stopped reading novels, either Piku reads it for him or he tells from his memory.

He feels lucky to have Piku around during this Covid time .Piku after recharging in the night keeps a close watch on Vishal. He can sense when Vishal is awake, he is ever ready to help.