Disturbing devil

Mobile phones are incarnations of the devil. These small sleek devices can ruin your peace, your relationships and even your language. Regular use of these can even damage your health, your concentration and your memory . Look around you , especially when travelling by road and play this little game. Hold your breath till you can see someone who is talking on mobile …then exhale. Believe me you’ll not die . It is almost impossible to pass one full minute without sound of the devil- called ring tone. For someone who is married to a person who receives about 250 calls a day- I am rather mild with my criticism of these evil devices. Of course, these were not intended to be such a nuisance. They were meant to connect you with your world - 24X7 .or as an old mobile ad famously said ( to prove) “…फासलों का मतलब दूरियां नहीं होता “.

But the way this disease of talking incessantly on phones has spread, I wonder how many of us actually wish to be connected for anyone and everyone on a 24/7 basis? What do I mean? A celebrity once said that the additional available you make yourself; the more available everybody can expect you to be. Individuals can really be aggravated if you’re not instantly and constantly out there instead of being happy when you do call. Folks expecting you to be obtainable all the time could be annoying. Cellular phone calls follow you everywhere you’re including your bathroom. Even throughout nighttime when you want to rest, cell phones still ring and annoy you. If it’s vital, no downside however if it’s terribly menial, why you need to be bothered that late!!

Cell phone have become a necessity today, that is why most people use it and mobile phone makers have continuously develop totally different usage and functions for this terribly little gadget…With new and newer ideas (which can change our lives!) these tiny devils are bound to replace our wallet, our Laptop, our alarm clocks, our games and a lot other things. Now a days people do not use the memory given by nature but rely on reminders to remember birthdays and anniversaries.
I am fine with the use of cellphones- but it takes only two seconds to turn into abuse of it. On the excuse of a 24 X 7 organization, people from his office call my hubby in the wee hours of morning and late in the night for such trivial things that at times I wonder if they have any perspective of life at all.These days guests converse with him in between calls. I have forgotten when I had our uninterrupted dinner time conversation, our peaceful weekend TV matinee or even a unbroken eating out. I mean with every second sentence, he will have to halt his life to attend a call. I blame him for not shouting at people who disturb his sleep and mine for absolutely no reason. Mostly such callers call to get out of an assignment given to them. Had I been their boss, I would have given them such a piece of my mind that they would have regretted calling me to narrate their tale of woes. Well, he is too much of a gentleman to do that . So he'd listen politely...and they will call again and again .

Cellular phone etiquette is getting to be a forgotten concept. You may see individuals talking on the phone loudly ( and proudly) and disturbing people nearby in restaurants and offices. People no longer seek permission to take a call....no longer feel apolegetic to attend one during a function . Many people rather feel disappointed if they do not get a call for few minutes in continuity . Many times in a meeting you may notice that when a cell phone rings, nearly everybody around will immediately look for their cell phones. If you were the one talking, and then the person in front of you talks on his phone, how would you feel? I am certain you may feel belittled and ignored. I have faced it so many times that I am in the middle of serious discussion in a meeting/conference/class and suddenly a raunchy ring tone breaks the solemnity of the room and it just spoils the mood. Perhaps it can’t be helped . Like all things devilish, these cell phones make you addicted. You start thinking that you just can’t switch it off. Though we have very strict instructions against it in my office, not a single meeting goes without anyone violating the instructions. But why alone office, I find people disturbing co-passengers in trains by talking loudly on mobiles…..and if you notice, they usually talk very mundane, everyday issues. It’s not an important matter – but the habit forces them to use the phone all the same. Have you not seen people fiddling with their phones all the time…to set a new theme, to play a game , to listen to a new song, texting to friends or forwarding some SMS joke ….? How many of us fail to notice the lovely new flowers on the trees because our eyes are glued to the tiny screens of our phone.

Then there is a menace called SMS. The corruptor of our language skills , this freaking monster can come in the shape of a promotional message, a mechanical greeting or just about anything. Even after having a DND registry for calls- you just cannot ignore this SMS devil. It bothers me at most inappropriate times . These days banks, service providers and almost every other shops wants to update you about your service requests or about their new products via SMS. Even unknown telemarketeers call you all the time and usually whenever you are in boss's chamber or in a meeting - following Murphy's law someone will call to sell you an insurance, a credit card...even an apartment.

I learnt how this tiny device can ruin your holiday when on our last trip to Shimla, hubby was almost all the time on phones from his office . So much so that it was difficult for me to click his pictures without his phone. And he insists that this cannot be helped. To top it, the fancy mobile ads promise (read threaten) us that their network will follow us wherever we go. As a result we do not talk with people who are with us, we rather talk on phone – all the time, everywhere.

To add insult to injury, someone devised the thing called ring tones. No longer the boring “trin trin…”-- you can have almost anything else as you ring tone or caller tune. So while calling someone you can listen to Gurbani , quwallli, peppy songs from movies, ghazals , Beethoven’s compositions, cooing of their girlfriend and even gibberish spoken by their newborn. I wonder why people love to subject their callers with such forced sounds of music. Ring tones are no better – they can be funny, musical or may be even offensive. I still remember that in a very serious exit conference meeting with the top management of an organisation suddenly a chief engineer’s mobile rang with a very suggestive item number. Some smiled, others made faces and I just burst out in giggles. And now that we are in the age of life changing ideas about mobile phones – I just come up with an idea that my hubby’s ring tone should be language lessons for some foreign language. With such frequent revisions , I am very sure very soon I will be proficient in that language.