Cell Phone

Perhaps the great invention that linked people afar is telephony. Even greater technical advancement that linked almost everyone on earth is cell phones. With features getting elevated and prices falling down, these devices are a real blessing for everyone in general.

I remember those days when I used to write known land line numbers in a small pocket book of mine and used to look at it with glee and pride as it get inflated with so many names and numbers. It used to give me a feeling that I am important enough to those people who were dying to receive my calls though I never know if they are really interested.

I saw first cell phone somewhere in 1995 here in India. I used to gape at those VIP’s who flashed their cell phones out of their pockets (Out of their pockets!!! Unlike picking the same from a well appointed teakwood stool with a lacy cloth adorning the same). I am not sure if those rich and blessed people used to exhibit contemplation over a serious matter while lesser mortals like me gaped at them with my mouth wide open like Persian Gulf ogling at their ability to talk to someone with no wires attached.

My first direct contact with cell phone happened somewhere in 1998. I joined a sales and marketing job from industry shop floor job. It’s all together a different experience. A sudden and gut wrenching transformation from an extravert from being an introvert. My superior used to carry a cell and sometimes he allowed me to use his cell phone. Now the greatest paradox is I don’t know how to walk and speak at the same time. When I used to speak to someone on cell it invariably stamped me to the ground over which I am standing. And my boss used to look at me the way an alien looked at Neanderthal man. And man… it used to weigh like small dumbbell. Yet it was exhilarating experience to use it.

And then one day my boss forgot the cell at office and called me on land line to bring his hand set to a place where he was waiting. It was a day I could never forget… never ever in my life… Suddenly the cell phone tried squirming like a fish out of water inside my pocket. It made a Burr kind of nice and animated itself. I pulled it out of my pocket and scarcely believe what I was watching. God damn it… it was trying to escape my hands with monstrous force that’s possible to his small size. Then all of a sudden she went limp and died. For a moment I thought I was saved. At the same time I thought I must have done some damage to that cell phone and it squirmed in death throes.

I confronted and confessed to my boss that I spoiled his precious procession. He asked what happened and I told him what happened. To my utter surprise he exploded in to uncontrollable laughter that irked me after a while.

Then I came to know about VIBRATION mode.

The cell phone remained an enigma till I bought my own in the year 2003. A Nokia 3310… still considered the best piece of technology in utilitarian concept. I used to sleep till late night trying to understand whatever it offered. I used to type my SMS laboriously and it took almost two years to discover T9 dictionary. I am not sure if I must claim that I am a certified dumb ass as far as the adaptation of new technology is concerned, but surely I took longer time in so many things that are related to a cell phone.
Cell phone really became my companion in making me linked to so many friends of mine, though I was robbed in broad day light. Cell phone tariffs here in India started at astronomical height and started sliding every succeeding year. They used to rob us fro out going, in coming, message local, message national, message international and call line identification and… God knows hundred other things.

If today there are a few man made mysteries that I yet could not fathom, they are calculation of income taxes and comprehending cell phone tariffs. Whichever way I used to scratch my head, I used to end up paying more that actually looked like cheap.

Then I rewarded myself somewhere in 2005 with a Nokia N-Gage. I gave my old cell phone to my brother who is still happy with that handset. The new N-Gage still holds the status of most expensive procession I bought for myself. During that time, it was the first Symbian OS phone with its own MMC. I was so proud flashing the same though it looked like a leg less crab. For those who accepted to look foolish and get fascinated like simpletons, I used to tell them that my cell phone is equipped with most powerful processor that’s unknown to any cell phone of that era.

Then came a deluge of cell phones as the communication rates started falling. Day by day I was pushed back to reverie of mute admiration laced with a little envy, looking at other people buying flashier cell phones with loads of features. But somehow I could never hate my N-gage. It remained faithful to me though it harassed me sometimes with its display erratically and unpredictably disappear. I used to try ridiculous methods to make it listen to me. The most memorable method was to sit on the bonnet inside a truck with my cell phone in back pocket sandwiched between me and the vibrating hot engine. Believe me… it worked. The heat could have evaporated the unseen condensation and the vibrations could have jolted the circuits back in to life.

And suddenly to counter expensive phones a thunder storm of Chinese mobile handsets came. They are so humiliatingly cheap with no ultra modern feature excluded and instantly loved by so many. Encouraged by my mediocre greedy self I thought of owning a Chinese mobile handset. And as time passed by I started discovering that every Tom Dick and harry is flashing his brand new Chinese cell phone and to my utter disgust they play songs in public places with dictatorial impunity. I suffer this atrocity especially when I travel in crowded local trains. I feel like murdering all those philanthropists who play songs on their cell phone to the maximum volume and be content with the idea of serving public to get relived from their day long accumulated strain. No thank you… I will not be that cheap even in giving a remote impression to a likeminded guy who thinks the same way I thought.

And today I am most perplexed about becoming a fan of any particular cell phone model. Everything looks nice and bright till the other comes and pushes over. In any case I am neither motivated not have enough money to go for latest gizmo. I hug my good old faithful N-Gage and sleep in piece.

I have an undeniable gratitude to cell phone too. Through I was sleeping it never missed an opportunity to wake me up when I was remembered by someone at mid night. Most of those memories would remain… memories. For those words spoken by that special someone… is no more heard. I look at my cell phone and she looks back at me in mute pain. But… no words… no calls… from her… who used to call and accelerate the beats of my heart….