The Cell Phone Shunners
What does it take for you to get away from this world? Withdraw into anonymity and solitude? The Himalayan expedition comes immediately to mind. Maybe Tuscan fields someone would say. For someone who hasn't yet seen the northern part of our country, it’s as distant as Mars. I have a quick fix solution. Conveniently forget your cell phone at home and go out with no idea of where you plan to go. This brings us to our second installment of Cell phone Casualities.
I guess Cell phones have come a full circle. I remember the days when owning a cell phone was a luxury you could ill afford. Incoming calls were Rs.6 per minute. And you would be filthily rich or insane to make outgoing calls. Not owning a cell phone is a luxury you can ill afford now. Let’s play a ‘ruled out’ game. Working professionals are ruled out immediately. How can you be a working professional and not own a cell phone? How will your boss breathe down your neck 24 hours a day? Young adults with boyfriends and girlfriends. All that canoodling and sweet nothings over cell phones. How can your relationship survive without a cell phone? How about singles who are ready to mingle? How can you shut yourself from the immense possibilities that a cell phone throws open for you? How will you ever make the shift to a different status message if not for the cell phone ? Students living away from families, people on the move, the ones who want to be connected to the world every single second, the likes who access gtalk over cell phones, how can you live without a cell phone? We can play this 'rule out' game a little longer and come to a conclusion. It’s like you have tasted the forbidden fruit and you will have to live with the sin for the rest of your life.
In all fairness, I have to admit that life without cell phones is hard to conceive now. Imagine going to a mall with a group of friends. How could you accomplish the task of coordinating if not for the cell phone? How could you shop in different shops and still be confident that you have not lost your way? Cell phones have also changed the definitions of emergencies. Earlier, only two things were considered as emergencies. Medical conditions and relieving oneself. These days everything is an emergency. You are travelling? You should call up dear ones and immediately tell them that you have reached safely. You have written an exam? You should call up friends and family the moment you came out of the examination hall. You feel the urge to talk to your loved one? Its a classic emergency. You need to call him/her up immediately. It just can't be otherwise. Who are you? An anti-social recluse?
Along with all this connectivity comes a lot of stress. Stress which you would hardly realise unless you are subjected to it. Let me administer this stress quiz.
1) How do you feel when you are running late to office and you suddenly get a call from an office colleague.
2) How do you feel when you look at your cell phone to see if someone has called or there is a message and realise there are none.
3) How many times have you called up people not because you wanted to talk to them but because you have nothing else to do?
4) Are there times when you don’t want to receive a call but some obscure person calls you up?
5) Are there times when you get this feeling, I wish I didn't have to give my number to him/her.
6) How about the times when you get phone calls from marketing executives, promotion calls, loans, credit cards so on and so forth?
7) How about the time when you get your cell phone bill
See the stress I am talking about? I guess that’s the reason why a new breed of people are shaping up. The brave ones who have shunned cell phones. Rajat Kapoor,the guy from Bheja Fry is one such guy. There are others too. The protagonist in the movie Perfect pitch, Imran Khan in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. All have shunned cell phones. Although in movies, it’s more for storyline flexibilities that heroes, heroines do not carry cel phones. How can a classic 'Can't reach him' be played out in this new age. The maddening run to airports, trains, marriage halls how could all this be possible if everyone starts carrying a cell phone. There was a friend of mine in engineering, and he is a very non-regular reader of my blog,so we can conveniently take potshots at him, had this weird habit of changing the topic whenever I would ask him for his phone number. He would suddenly talk about his career or more pressing issues. Then he started coming out with excuses, of how he carries an office number and how the phone is with different people at different times. Or the classic excuse of ' will be changing number soon'. I used to think he was weird. Now, I see him as this pioneer, a forerunner to a breed I call the cell phone shunners. A classmate of mine has taken the plunge. She doesn't carry a cell phone anymore. It helps though that she is always accesible on gtalk.
I too have wanted to take the plunge for long. But lacked the courage to do the unthinkable. I did make a start in this regard. I made a conscious effort to not to remember anyone’s number. The idea was simple. If I wanted to get away or just wanted to become inaccessible, I would forget the phone in the room and venture out. No urge to call up anyone. Even if I get the urge, I wouldn't be able to call them, I don’t know anyone’s number. Then I realised I had a last straw to be taken care of. My own number. A chance came when I changed my number. I made a conscious attempt to not to remember it. I don't remember my cell phone number. It’s true. Its a fact. Why, I don't remember a single phone number of anybody. The only ones i remember now are my old defunct numbers. There are some practical problems with this fixation of mine though. That completes my circle of anonymity. It’s a blissful feeling at times. Go out on a leisurely outing to a movie or the mall with the assurance that no one can contact you and you too can not contact anyone in this world.
My fixation with not remembering my number has its embarrassing moments though. Especially when someone asks for my number. I instinctively ask them for their number and give them a missed call. If I am in one of those 'not-carrying-cell phone-right now' mode, I have no way out. I have to admit that I don't remember my number. I am subjected to dirty looks ranging from friendly disbelief to hostile 'I will never see your face again’ looks. There times when I have to make entry of my cell phone at parking areas, application forms, et al. I inscribe my old defunct numbers. Makes a lot of sense. Who wants to give cell phone numbers to security guards at parking lots anyway.
Will I be taking the complete plunge and shun the cell phone? I don't know. An year from now, and I will be back to professional life. Maybe somewhere in this one year, I will join the clan. The clan of the Cell phone Shunners. Will Keep you posted.
Tailpiece: Sometimes I wonder, how will my life be like, if i was in Abishekh Bachans 'Idea' village where everyone is known by their cell phone numbers only.
Whom did you come to meet? I don't know. Whom do you know in this village? None. What is your name? I don't know. You can’t belong to this village. Get outta here.
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