Automatic Upgrade by Maggie Robb

Automatic Upgrade

1. Summary

The short story Automatic Upgrade, written by Maggie Robb, is a story about a young, Indian man named Ramesh. He is a 26 year old man who chose to work in the mobile phone business instead of pursuing his career as a doctor, even though he had been studying for five years and his family had paid his fees throughout these five years.
Ramesh and his grandmother Nani were on a plane heading towards Surrey, which is a county in the South East of England, where they would visit Ramesh's sister and her husband (his brother-in-law).
After being told that Ramesh had stopped pursuing his career as a doctor, his grandmother started complaining and telling him how wrong it is. She keeps comparing him to his sister, because he is 26 years old and doesn't have a job or a family of his own. After a while Ramesh fell asleep and woke up later and noticed how the lights in the plane had been dimmed and the people around him were mostly asleep. He looked over at his grandmother and guessed straight away that she was dead, but had to make sure. As he found out that his grandmother had died, and it was supposedly his fault, he started panicking but tried to remain as calm as possible. He went and talked with the flight attendants about it and they gave him and his grandmother a place in first class.

2. Characteristic of Ramesh

Ramesh is a 26 year old Indian man. He is unemployed and his family has very high expectations of him. He knows what is best for him, but struggles to make his family, mostly his grandmother, understand. As it's written on the first page of this short story, Ramesh claims that he will make much more money in the mobile phone business and he calls it progress. He respects and keeps his family close, but at times it's just too hard for him.

3. Comment on the grandmother and her expectations of Ramesh

Ramesh's grandmother, Nani, is a stubborn old Indian lady who cares too much about her grandson's career. She has a bit of an attitude and an old fashioned behavior. She doesn't really care what other people think about her, but Ramesh finds her embarrassing at times. She seems to talk a lot about her family and she wants people to agree with her opinions. A good example of this could be when she talked to a stranger about Ramesh's education and future and comparing him to his sister who seems to be more successful.
Her expectations of Ramesh are high and she wants him to be a doctor so she can be proud of him. But when Ramesh told her about his decision she was so disappointed and stubborn that she had a heart attack.

4. Essay in which I discuss to what extent young people today are free to choose how to lead their lives

The majority of young people nowadays choose their own profession and way of leading their own lives. School and education plays a big role in this decision on how young people choose to lead their own lives. It might also be based on social heritage; a person's acquisition of knowledge, attitudes and personality traits from parents through their childhood. Back in the days children would follow their parents' footsteps; have the same profession throughout generations. This might not be the case anymore. Individualism is slowly taking over and children are becoming more independent and choose how to lead their own lives.
In Ramesh's case it's the same, in a way. Ramesh's family wanted him to become a doctor and even paid his fees. Ramesh studied for five years and finally made the decision not to pursue his career as a doctor, but instead work in the mobile phone business. Ramesh obviously didn't want to become a doctor, but his family chose his life and profession for him beforehand and yet he decided not to become one. Ramesh could be considered a "pattern breaker" in a way because he chose not to become a doctor, even though his parents probably were doctors too.