"Okay, old friend," he muttered, tapping the YouTube app. It took eleven seconds to open. The video was there, a green "Download" button gleaming like a taunt. He tapped it. A pop-up appeared: "Download requires YouTube Premium. Also, your device is not supported."
"It's not the phone," he said. "It's knowing how to talk to the ghost in the machine."
Arjun’s Samsung Note 3 was a relic, a slab of dark glass and faux leather back that had seen better days. Its screen was spider-webbed with fine cracks, and the S-Pen stylus was held in its slot with a bit of rolled-up tape. But to Arjun, it was a time machine.
He was about to board a seventeen-hour flight from Melbourne to Dubai, then onward to a remote part of India where his grandmother had no Wi-Fi and the cellular signal was a myth whispered by passing crows. His mission was simple: download a specific YouTube video—a grainy, hour-long documentary about the Western Ghats monsoon—to keep her company.
There was the download button again. Greyed out.
He exhaled. He opened the file. The documentary played—the rumble of monsoon clouds, the drip of wet leaves, the call of a distant hornbill. Perfect.