And the Love Affair continues .
I hold you close to my heart. And never wish to leave you for a moment. I cherish every moment spent with you and look forward to doing the same for the rest of my life.
I listened in rapt attention to every word you said and the sweet nothings that you purred gently into my ears. I have obeyed your every beck and call..(ok, sometimes I dint, ok?).
I tended to you when you were sick and weak. And nurtured you back to good health.
You may reinvent yourself in different forms, but your soul shall remain the same. I have shared all my happiness, joys, sorrows etc. with you all these years. You touch and tickle me at all the right places. Sometimes you catch my attention even while remaining silent.
And I sincerely pray to God that we remain together till death do us apart.
Guys, before you start thinking something, let me clarify, I am writing about my first wife - my mobile and not Her.
Flash back .
Ironically, my first mobile was bought not for me to stay in touch when out, but to be used as a landline at home. Those BSNL guys (DoT in those days.) did not transfer my landline to my new residence citing technical reason (lines not free) at the new address. And no commitment as to when they will do so. BPL had just launched its service in Tamil Nadu at that time. I decided to go for it to be kept at home till I get my landline. Our house was located in a new suburb and I dint want my wife to feel afraid / lonely. First Handset? Motorola ' Amio. But it was as big as a brick. Could be doubled up as a self-defense tool, I mused. Only one Nokia model at that time ' 5110, a big black handset not much smaller that the Motorola set. I had even shelled out 2K to be network unlocked so that I could use it in other networks. In those early days, handsets were usually bundled along with subscriptions. Anyways there were not many shops selling h/s.
So for about a couple of months the mobile was immobile. I was given free talk time of 100mins beyond which I would be charged Rs.8.40 per minute. So strict instructions to my better half - phone to be used only in emergencies or for making short / curt calls. No gossiping. Not even with me. Nahin to zindagi beet jaayegi, sirf bill bharne mein. And it continued for a couple of months, after which the landline connection was provided. So now I used to keep the mobile with me. There was no particular use of mobile for me at point of time, but I used to keep it jus' for the sake of it. The specifications of the Motorola h/s were two line scrolling text display. Total of 8 mono ringer tones. Green backlit display. External Antenna. Weight ' 135gms approx. Man, am I laughing even as I type this here.
Once I had been to Karur (a town abt 120kms from Madurai). The bus tyre got punctured about 12kms before Karur. So all the passengers alighted, and waited for the driver to mend it. At that time, my mobile rang. Should have seen the surprise on most of the people's faces. We are in the middle of nowhere. And this guy is talking away to glory. Man, was I enjoying this.
Similarly, in another town called Tirunelveli, this funny incident happened. I used to have food there at a non-descript hotel, which used to serve very homely food. I was having breakfast. A phone rings. The owner picks up his landline and frantically punches the hang button. Nothing. I pull out my mobile and start talking. Should have seen that person's face. Quite wonderstruck. He just watched in amazement. Actually the BPL guys had just soft-launched their service there. So no one knew about mobiles much.
BPL was a very dynamic company. I used to admire their entire approach and pro-activeness. In fact in those early days, Airtel was just a minnow and BPL was considered a heavy-weight, a reputation which it justified for some years.
My next h/s was a Nokia 6110. That was quite compact compared to my first model. It came in handy, coz it could store up to 30sms in total. BPL had just launched the sms service (If I am not mistaken I think it was the first to do so in India). In fact we had to configure the message center no. manually in the message settings so as to enable to send and receive messages. We were offered this service free for couple of months initially. So my friends and me used to sms constantly. Much cheaper than talking. And it was fun too. Forget T9. You had to manually type out each and every letter. But still that didn't deter us crazy guys. We used to sms first in English. After that we also did so in Tamil, Gujju (typing out the same in English only.) that time there were not much sms fwds. We actually used to chat since it was free.
BPL then made outgoing calls 77paise and incoming free. All this when rest of the country used to pay about Rs.3-4 for both i/c and o/g. Our smsing did go down a bit because we now used to chat due to lower rates. But then slowly sms fwds used to come more and more. Among our circle of friends, we used to exchange any sms which we received from outside. Even after going paid, sms was just 25paise then. We used to send abt 100-200 sms every month so it used to cost between 25-50rs.
The growth got stunted at BPL after some time. So I surrendered my BPL and got a Airtel connection. That too lasted only for less than a year. BSNL launched its mobile services in a big way. I went for it. I used to travel to remote places and BSNL gave the maximum coverage in the shortest possible time at the most affordable rates. Their only sore point was laid back customer service.
I had a Nokia 6210 by then. I bought it solely because it had a gigantic capacity of 200sms. That was quite huge in those days. In fact the max. any mobile had. We could transfer the messages from our inbox to "My Folders". Wow wasn't that great? So I created separate folders to store them in groups. I was quite hooked to Nokia phones by now.
And the biggest mobile launch happened in India with the entry of Reliance. I was quite reluctant to subscribe to it in the beginning, but somehow found the scheme quite appealing. 400 STD minutes, free sms, great h/s (smallest at that point of time, with blue display ' the LG piece) etc. etc. So went for the Reliance connection.
It was the best package in terms of tariffs and services etc. Apart from very low voice charges, sms was almost free. From hence on, smsing was like a ritual followed everyday.
Day by day, smsing grew along with the no. of friends with mobiles and the content etc. So much so that, since the last year or two I clock around 2000+ sms sent every month. Sometimes 1500, sometimes 2500, but on an average 2000 every month. All sorts of messages make up my repertoire. Fun, friendship, motivational, ethnic, sardar, men-women, shairies etc. etc.
I am still fascinated by mobiles as I was when I bought my first h/s.
Actually, mobiles have become indispensable in our fast paced lives of today. Using it rationally will minimize the risks that we get exposed to while using a mobile phone. I actually spend about 15 days every year without my cell phone, when I go to my native place.
My wife enjoys those days. Blissful for her. For once she gets undivided attention from me, without competition from any innate object. Currently I find my 6230i a great companion. Very compact but has all the features of its bigger brothers.
Aspiring to upgrade to N91 / N93 as soon as I get a World Bank loan to fund the acquisition. But the latest news from there is that, they told they wont fund such small amounts.. so I told them that you may add half a dozen zeroes to that amount . You see, nowadays it's the season of giving out charity … so I too shall give out the remaining amount of my loan to charity .. wot say guys ?
(p.s: i shall continue with my observation series after one week only… guys i need a break…. one week into this, staying up till 2am was not what i had bargained for…but, i had an enjoyable and thrillin’ adventure at all the iLands… no doubt…. but now i need a break…. so no new posts for the next few days…. everybody have a nice and happy weekend…. and god bless me after he had finished blessing you all…. :) )
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