Fr Panampara Abraham and computers

This afternoon while remembering Fr Panampara Abraham, of happy memory, I recalled the time when I was in the Provincial house and he had come from Kollapur to spend sometime in the Provincial house. It was the time that some of students from Tirupattur had gifted him a new laptop and he was learning his ways with it.  By then he already knew how to put it on and shut it down.  He only had difficulty in opening a file, saving it (because he was busy writing his books then) and some editing skills in Word.  He had asked my help and I used to spend some time everyday helping him master some computer skills.

Fr Panampara Abraham with Fr T.D. John

During the course of this 'computer course' I suggested that he write down some of those instructions rather than leaving it to memory.  He immediately secured a A5 size diary and meticulously began to take notes.  However after two days he realized this was not working... he could not read his own handwriting!! Such was his writing!  He used to say, he secured his Ph.D. with high marks merely because of his handwriting - the professor could not read one bit and awarded him marks fast!!

Another amusing incident was when he was mastering the art of using e-mail.  I assisted him in creating an ID and showed him how to go about sending, replying mails.  For trial runs, I would send him mails from my office (across the corridor) and then assist him understand the logic and process of e-mailing.  A couple of days later, I suggested that he himself make known to the confreres his new mail ID. He gladly agreed and successfully managed it too... only that the mail he sent contained not only his mail ID but his password as well!