Upgrade by Manjula Padmanabhan
The short story “Upgrade” by Manjula Padmanabhan was published for the first time in 2020 by Future Fiction within the anthology “Avatar. Contemporary Indian Science Fiction”.
Sameera bought her grandmother, Mrs Ganapathy, a robot servant that cooks, cleans and washes her clothes, all of which the elderly woman can no longer do on her own because it’s hard for her to get out of her wheelchair. Mrs Ganapathy would like a human servant and her daughters tried to send several women but none of her lived up to her demands. The beginning is difficult with the robot too but after some time Mrs Ganapathy finds the best setup.