My relationship with the keyboard began in my teens. 😊

The keyboard was the first witness to our blooming romance!! I believed in earning and learning, so during my graduation, I took up a part-time job as an office assistant in a private firm as I’d learned typing. A year later, I started getting closer to Shirish, one of the eligible bosses. One morning, I reached the office as usual at 9 A.M. I entered the room, and Shirish walked out. I saw a paper sitting on the typewriter roll. The whole page screamed I love you! I blushed, smiled, and stood still. Thus, our romance blossomed and eventually led to marriage. 

After a few years, I moved to education, worked as a school teacher and my relationship with the chalk and duster continued for 15 years. Towards the end, computers were introduced in schools. I was delighted to see the familiar keyboard. Designed in a flat sleek board, the letters were feather lite and a gentle touch made an impression on the screen. Wow! The keyboard design was the same as that of a typewriter. I was overjoyed with the light touch of the keys. I didn’t have to press the keys, no typebars pushed onto the paper, and no sound of the carriage release lever. 

I refreshed my knowledge of typing in a few minutes. My colleagues struggled with the qwerty keypad and searched for the letters. I helped them place their fingers on the keyboard correctly and made them practice the keyboard. My “experience” of typing came in handy.

In 2004, I did a course in technical writing, and I was bowled over by technology. Writing reached new heights because the keyboard was easy to use. Microsoft Word has hundreds of features to make writing and formatting easy. I changed careers. Writing tools gave me a thrill because of the ease of storing content and erasing a line or paragraph. It allowed me to make mistakes and rethink the matter multiple times. Organizing content became easy. My writing style changed to crisp, concise, and well-organized. Thrilled with the dynamic growth in technology and publishing tools, I created hundreds of documents. 

When I worked as an office assistant I was called a typist. When I worked as a technical writer, I had to explain to end users how to use the software. Then people said I was doing a data entry job. Today, I’m having the last laugh as everyone is busy “typing”. Now, mobiles have the same qwerty keyboard but we use it differently. We don’t use all fingers. We hold a mobile and type with a finger or thumb of both hands. The thumb that used to press the space bar on the typewriter now rules the keyboard. 😊

P.S. – Link to my earlier blog Rendezvous with Technical Writing.