A day without my mobile....

I knew I was missing something, when I set out to work yesterday morning, but could not guess it just then. When I got a comfortable seat, I recalled a pending phone call and in a reflex action, reached for my mobile inside my hand bag, only to find that it was not there.

First reaction was a shock, then a confusion, then clarity that I had missed it at home. All I could do was smile and wait till the end of the day to reach my phone.

In the short span of a minute, my mind imagined that the phone might have been lost, meaning I would have lost all the numbers of all contacts, meaning I will have to send a mail to get all the numbers, and then... it went on and on... I resolved to make a paper copy of all the numbers I had with me, so even if I lose my device, I don't miss the contact numbers.

I reached office and made one notification call home from a friend's mobile, saying I wont be reachable for ten long hours, for the first time in the five plus years of my going mobile. Then, sent emails to people, who need to know.

When I sat back to work, I realized that there was also a time in my life when I did not hold a mobile phone. It was never a problem when your folks couldn't reach you for sometime in a day. Any message that had to be conveyed could wait till the end of the day. All telephonic emergencies were managed with the nearest STD booth in whichever part of the town/city I was at that moment. I could wait to go to the bank in the weekend to check my balance. I could take time to go to the travel agent's office to check for a ticket. I also remembered every phone number before I had a mobile. My brain's database of phone numbers was better and more efficient back then [ My friend also shared the same opinion yesterday, in the same context.. one consolation, I am not the only person who is thinking this way..].

Today, we reach for mobile phones for just about everything : Phone calls, addresses, email ids, music, emails, videos, contact numbers, photos... and we use it all the time, most of which is pointless. As seen, heard and experienced, these are some of the thoughts on top of my list of pointless usage of the mobile phone:

An sms stating, 'I reached office'. - Trust me, I know people who do this.
A call in the bus saying, ' Yeah, I am right now crossing the KR Puram bridge... yeah, the traffic is bad as usual, now almost crossed the bridge, reached the stop, where are you?' - A fellow passenger last week in the bus.
A call saying, ' I'll call you in a while' - Fixing appointment as you would want to term it.
A call saying, ' Are you at home now?? Can I come over??' - Right outside the house, just before entering. Calling bells will soon be out of trend, I am sure.
A call asking ' So, what did you cook?' to a neighbour or a resident in the same complex. - Just go across to the neighbour's house is no longer welcome.
A call from the tele-marketing executive, for the tenth time, in ten days, from the same company, asking " Mr. So n So' ( They say Mr. even if you are a Ms.!!! believe me), would you like a personal loan?" . This is when you are in the middle of something that can be very important or pointless or just a little more irritating than the call itself.
A score of SMS from Marketing teams world wide stating the same thing in different terms. I got 18 SMS from a certain Marketing group in an interval of 18 minutes and my service provider promises it is not a message- spam virus attack.

I can continue with the list, but this is all I could think of immediately.. Its amazing that this is all not needed, and we know it, and still we cannot live without these. I missed my mobile so much yesterday. I don't have a count of how many times I reached out for my mobile only to realize I had not brought it along. After ten long hours, when I reached home, the first thing I looked for, was my precious mobile phone, to return all the phone calls.. I did realize that a day without mobile is possible and actually needed to know the value of how much we take things for granted. This was a very important lesson for me, next to my precious hand bag.

Comments

Videhi said…
Good one and am amazed at how self-aware you are about almost everything arnd you and turn these into interesting reads! perhaps, this is termed as "Attention to Detail"..

..surely cant imagine myself without this miniature electronic wonder.

I like the flow of thoughts when you realized that you have forgotten it and the calling bells trend..hehe
Anonymous said…
It agree, it is a remarkable piece

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