I am slow to technological or for that matter any change whatsoever. Be it net surfing, cyber networking or cellular communication, I have taken to them when everyone else has galloped across to the next gizmo wonder. I was introduced to blog and twitter by my computer savvy colleagues who thought I needed a massive make over in terms of being up to date in every sense of the phrase. My Face Book account was created by my nephew after many pleadings on my side and much hesitation on his side being confident that his aunt would scarcely have any use of the same having the least knowledge of how to maneuver on the electronic page. But I take pride in saying that I have proved him and others wrong and graduated to being quite a site marauder considering my late and diffident beginning, more due to lack of awareness than interest. But the one that I was really, really averse to was the mobile phone which I generally considered a nuisance. When cell phones came to India, I was saddled with a demanding job requiring twenty four hours attendance, be it office or residence. Our organization, in a bid to leverage the latest technology, decided to allocate a mobile phone to each department for official purpose which meant whosoever was allotted the same would have to be available at the beck and call of his/her boss on the buzz of the ringtone. While today it is the need of the hour, at that point of time, it was akin to punishment, more so in a government job. My cunning boss, in order to save his own skin, tried to shove it down my throat. I dodged and parried as I knew it would be a major intrusion in my privacy.
My pet hate was heightened by the misuse which I witnessed of the smart phone. One actually experiences what one wants to. I would often overhear users shamelessly dishing out lies, by the dozen, to the invisible one on the other end. The subordinate would glibly inform his boss that he was late due to a traffic jam while comfortably journeying by the Metro. Once I heard a middle aged business man convincingly assuaging his annoyed customer by announcing that the delay in the promised supplies was due to the fact that he was somewhere in Bijnaur while he happily shopped with his wife very much within the periphery of the city. But the one thing that irked me the most was the loud conversation that the novice mobile users (the experienced ones are no better) resorted to in the busiest of public places while the ogling eavesdroppers slurped over family feuds, neighbourhood scandals, saans- bahus skirmishes, girlie secrets, lovers’ squabbles, lecturers’ notes, business conspiracies, office politics, et al. Who wanted soapy serials? Today I can candidly confess that the plots, themes, sub-plots, sub-themes, scenes, characters etc. of most of my short stories, novellas, future novels have been highly “inspired” by these eavesdropping. In fact, I did not have to exert much as "the loudspeakers" blared right into my ears so that ideas could just silkily float into my cerebrum like butter melts on a scalding saucepan.
It is only after my sister narrated to me how some of the victims of the World Trade terrorist attack, stranded for days under the debris could be traced by their mobile signals, and ultimately rescued, that I, at last, realized the importance of the equipment. It is human tendency to malign the most beautiful invention by overriding convenience than actual conscientious utilization of the facility. It is our inability to give priority to our conscience and civic sense that invariably derogates and defeats the inherent purpose of a prospect – be it scientific advancement or corporate emoluments (read perks), we always manage to mismanage it, at our own expense. But coming back to my induction to the cellular world……….. I did buy one, the most reasonably priced and stout of health, which I dashed savagely to the ground several times, in my incorrigible clumsiness, and replaced only when its demise could not be forestalled any longer. But my sluggishness would always leave it safely ensconced in my satchel, as a result of which, most of the calls went unanswered (to the obvious ire of the caller), as its ring would never reach my hearing organs on time, being not attuned to it either.
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