The year 1996
One of the questions I had to answer during my admission interviews
for a MBA college was "How do cell phones work"
It was not the era of
cell phones, they were a rare commodity.
Luckily for me, I had a friend who worked at one of the
leading cell phone companies in New Delhi who had patiently explained the
working to me, while talking to me over the cellphone only recently.
But, that used to be a big ,heavy, ugly box. It looked like
a walkie talkie
Yet, they were a prized possession, only found in the hands
of a privileged few.
My dad had one- a compact, highly expensive piece( we paid
to receive calls as well)
But definitely was a boon to a frequent traveler.
Then came the boom!
Year 2000- money, freedom and free markets!!!
I bought my very own cell phone in Hyderabad.
It was a small Motorola handset with a “rubber duck” antenna sticking out for better
connectivity! The cuteness factor was extremely high!
The freedom that came with it was invaluable.
Very soon, I received a gift- not so nice looking, but
amazing features those days- a Nokia
Highly durable and heavy, it could withstand all the falls
it took. It could get drenched with me in the Mumbai monsoon and yet perform
without even a slightest sniffle!
Constant companion of my calls between US and India.
But that is all I could do with a cell phone- call, receive
calls, send a message to friends.
But it made life more easy in a city like Mumbai where time and travel are
always on the go.
I carried it around for a few years till I left the country,
when I passed it on to my brother.
Being home bound in the US of A, I never used a cell phone.
Loved the Ericsson that my husband carried around.
A flip model!! It was
small, pocket friendly and had color!!!
Camera, who would have thought it possible in a phone!
We could take pictures on the go!
We could see it in color!
Year 2005, not only had I evolved over the years, so had the
cellphone market in India.
We had choice, we had stores dedicated to selling cell phones.
We had salesmen trying to explain features!
No more bulky phones, no more ugly phones,
Sleek, small, sexy- these were words used to describe phones.
Motorola had the slimmest phones which were the craze among
men.
It was the pinnacle of cell phone evolution.
I bought my first Samsung- a clam-shell model, so compact,
none would know I had it in my hand, I could take amazing pictures thanks to
Samsung’s strength in the graphics domain AND play games!!
Preloaded with a whole lot of games to keep you occupied and
out of trouble!
It was the era of style.
I paid more for that phone than I would have for 10 grams of
gold!!!
The phone you carried
made a style statement.
You flaunted it! You placed it proudly on the table when you
sat with company.
You took pictures whenever you could!
Had never heard of Bluetooth before- whoever revolutionized
it was a genius.
No more carrying around cables- Bluetooth on, share pictures
, update, load.
You could do so much more with just a tiny instrument.
No more just talking and messaging with it!
We all wanted more from our phones!
They became smarter, we could touch them, we danced to their
tunes! and they were highly sensitive to falls and crashes! We took care of
them, we protected them, spent a fortune on keeping them safe!
Very quickly my phone was being displaced as a symbol of
style.
There were phones which could slide!! Phones which were
better than a Mp3 player and then came iPhone!
That was the ultimate status symbol.
It said you were not just someone, you were the ONE. Having
an iPhone became a source of pride.
A smartphone!
OS was no more restricted to laptops and desktops!
Android came with such fancy features as well!
So I caved in and got myself a touch phone, an object of
pride!
I would not allow anyone to touch it, fearing scratches,
falls and marks!
I lost track of the phones and technology available in the
market,
I stopped purchasing a phone for its sexiness. I looked at
durability, usability and purchasibility.
I could not compete with those who bought a phone as a status
symbol anymore.
I understood my needs and usage and stuck to a “basic” model,
with which I could check e-mails, chat on the go, talk, message and listen to
the radio, record songs, watch videos, capture funny images while on the road. Navigate
on the road, find places to eat, have coffee! The wow factor just kept increasing!
You could never get lost anymore!
And you could do it all, for so little!
But paid a heavy price at the end! I had to charge the phone
everyday! You couldn’t go far without your
charger! This did not serve me long.
And the health risks you faced with all the radiation
zooming across the skies.
The death of the sparrow has been a big loss for the sake of
connectivity.
Road accidents and death due to distraction while driving became
a major cause for concern in most developed countries.
Circa 2013
Not only do I have a cell phone, all 5 of us at home have
one of our own . All Samsung! All compact! All Smart!
Manufacturers made sure the life of a phone did not last
long and they brought in factors like lust, greed, EMI purchases.
They sold to man’s ultimate ego!
In a mere 17 years, mobile phones have made the leap from just being the
alternative to landlines to becoming a computer, GPS, radio and our lifeline to
the Internet.
Today, the bigger the better.
You see everyone on the road carrying one. Fingers constantly
playing on it.
And they flaunt it.
The auto driver, the vegetable vendor, the conductor, the couple
walking together, talking on their phones, the college kid listening to songs
on the way back home, folks at work at lunch time fiddling with phones instead
of enjoying the company!
Who doesn’t own one? A day without a phone, makes you
agitated and fidgety!
Growing up, we watched movies and television serials, where
they predicted robots would rule our
lives and walk the world!
It is happening. In the form of cell phones.
From “good things come in small packages”, we have
progressed to “mine is bigger than yours”!
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