Gadgets and women are not what you’d call “bosom pals”. Gizmos seem to possess a mind of their own which only men seem to understand. How apt, considering they don’t understand women! Sudipta Mahapatra, a software engineer based in Bonn, elaborates on her favorite gizmos. With this view I spent twenty seven happy years of my life avoiding devices of any sort until one day my technically savvy husband decided to gift me a Smartphone while I was travelling to Paris.  Before this day I had dismissed it as another useless, expensive gadget made only to cater to the taste of a certain strata of society or brand crazy teenagers! Its true nature was revealed only when I had to tour Paris alone and, to my astonishment, it opened up a whole new world before me. I could find directions, taxis, restaurants, book tickets, read books, see movies and what not! I could even keep a tab on my work. It has been my faithful companion ever since.

After this eye opener I transformed my bag into a sort of survival kit. All the smart inhabitants of my world are known among my friends as “The famous five” after Enid Blyton’s characters from the series with the same name.

Apart from the phone, another companion is a computer bug detector. In this world of MMS scandals one can never be sure. And I love the Sherlock Holmes feeling associated with it whenever I go on camera detecting mode, at a hotel or in a trial room of a cloth store or in public washrooms.

The third companion is a flashlight that doubles up as a self defense unit. It can be used to stun a person when you focus the light on his face. More stuff to add on to my Sherlock persona.

My fourth friend is a rechargeable battery case for my phone. After umpteen cases of me being stranded somewhere or not being able to keep an appointment simply because my phone died of low battery, I decided to invest in this product. And I have not been disappointed ever since.

My fifth comrade is a mini UV water purifier. My work takes me to the choicest as well as the remotest of places. I can never be sure of drinking water. And not everywhere bottled water can be vouched for. So this comes to rescue.

The latest gadget I want to check is the Walk and Run tracker my sister bought yesterday, then I can tell you about its latest features in my next blog!
Sudipta Mahapatra