Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Call Me

The other day my phone conked off and I spent an entire day without it.I have to say it was quite a revelation.I remember telling my husband that I felt helpless without my phone(For one I had to wear a watch ).
Now if you are getting any ideas about this being about how dependent we are on technology and all ,well It is.
Like I said not being without my phone was an eye opener.It made me realize how much time I spent using my phone.
To begin with I set my alarm on my phone everyday.So If I have an important early morning meeting or a thing to do my night is spent in checking the time on my phone (being the nervous wreck that I am ).I usually keep it under my pillow(In fact I may have started using a pillow only since I started using a cellphone).If god forbid my husband (who likes to play games on my phone) moves it somewhere else ,I have a bad morning.Cause the first thing I like to see in the morning is my phone (Yeah so much for romance in life ).
Later during the day I call people on my way to work,between breaks,on my way back home,once I am back home( I am sure you get the point)...
I am a busy girl though.I spend 10 hours at work and another 2 hours traveling (Much to my dismay) but the truth is that the moment I have free time I think about who all I have to call.
Now you may be wondering that this is a little over the top but I pride myself about being the kind of person who keeps in touch with everyone,how I always call people and how active I am on my social circuit.I do know a lot of people who are like that.
Come to think of it people who call me often are high on my friend meter.Because if you call more you care more.So I have these lists in my head which keep a track of who all called me and who all I need to call.So much so that these lists consume me.
So you see I have fallen into that trap.Surprisingly so considering I belong to the generation which has seen that best of both the worlds.We have enjoyed the walkman as much as the IPOD.But I cannot rest in peace till my husband sends me a message saying he has reached safely everyday. It took ages for me to get him to do so though cause unlike me he is not " hooked " yet(sigh).I have ensured (don't ask me how ) that he calls me between breaks,before he goes in for a meeting,before he starts off from office,in the middle of traffic on his way home if he is getting late and so on(Yeah yeah yeah I know what you are thinking ).This just makes my life simpler.Rather this is using technology to it's fullest.
I remember giving missed calls to my friends in the hostel while studying for the exam at night.(Now you can poke them on facebook).That was a lot of fun.How my roomie used to tell me to give her a missed call if I needed her to get vegetables on her way back home.Come to think of it we had this whole missed call code.One meaning this and two meaning that.I used to give a missed call home if I wanted my folks to call me.(I still do that)
I wonder though how we will survive without this object which has taken over our lives.
Imagine if you were supposed to go over to a friends place and instead ended up having guests at your own ,how would you let the friend who is expecting you know.How could you survive if you were not able to call to say that you couldn't make it today,that you were running late,that you were not coming to office today,to wish happy birthday or so many things..
I am not sure we would be just fine because I think something has changed ,something that cannot be undone.
When in the hostel we once saw this balloon guy walking past.All of us rushed downstairs but much to our disappointment he was not within earshot by the time we got there.
Very innocently my room mate said arrey balloon wale ko missed call dena.

I think this is close to some kind of evolution.. How do you undo this..Do we even want to ? Well if you have an answer to that CALL me.

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