The response for the last blog post was indeed terrific. Mail boxes were flooding. The phone was running out of memory with short messages. WhatsApp bleeding. Facebook likes were piercing the sky.
In all, 4 liked and 2 commented (I have graciously excluded my daughter).
I thought of calling my friend Karan Tandon in Kuala Lumpur to seek his thoughts on increasing the attention rate in social media without spending money. I took my phone and searched for his name. It was an IPhone 6. His photo showed up with the name and connected me in the next 3 seconds. 4G. Phone was just ringing. Karan is a disciple and slave of Kishore Da. His ring tone is Kishore, FB, WhatsApp profile pictures, screen savers all Kishore. ‘’Pyaar Deewana Hota Hai….” must be on the ring-tone and he would rather listen to Kishore than talk to me.
I disconnected after prolonged ringing and looked at the phone thinking how to reach him. I had a choice across FaceTime, WhatsApp, SMS, Voicemail and Email. I got threatened by the diversity of options rather than getting thrilled. It was confusing, because each person has his own preferred app and you are never sure through which he would respond quick. I have friends who look at only WhatsApp but never check their mail accounts for weeks and I have friends who respond to mails like a ball hitting the wall but don’t even have WhatsApp since their corporate security would not bless the app. I was wondering why there is no one single Aggregator App which integrates all the communication apps and keeps showing notifications if messages are arriving in any of those applications. Single sign-in? May be it is already there and as usual, I am lagging behind.
While waiting for Karan to call me back, I looked at my voluptuous IPhone 6 and mentally benchmarked that with my first phone. That was an Ericsson 320 or 330 or some weird number. The year was 1996 when cell phones (It is never hand phone in India) first arrived in Bombay (It is never Mumbai for me). There was an intense discussion within the company as to who is entitled to a cell phone. It was indeed a luxury. Client focused roles versus hierarchy for entitlement was discussed – why all that politics now? – finally, I got approval to get a cell phone.
One coffee to the admin guy in the evening did the magic. In a week’s time my angel arrived. Colorful (blue colorful), rectangular box. Did not feel like opening the divine package. Bright blue phone, one charger and a battery – all were lying on a thermocol bed. Cool. Caffeine still worked. The admin guy (Now-a-days IT guys do this) quickly assembled the phone. The phone came to life showing “ERICSSON” on the face. There was an ‘’Avatar-ear’’ like antenna. I thought it was too trendy to hold the phone by its antenna. Now, I think of it….. that phone looked more like a mini tun tun with a bulging butt. The phone searched and connected to some network. Must have been Orange. There were gradually growing bars on the top left side of the half inch, mono color forehead of the phone indicating the strength of the signal. Weak. I dialed (you have to prefix 9122 (or 022?) even though it was a local number) my Accounting Head’s landline (sitting in the next room) and Vivek picked up and said ‘’Hello’’. While it sounded as if Bollywood Rajkumar was talking to me from inside a well, I felt as if I had actually landed on Moon and was talking to the American President. I got up from my seat and walked inside my room, continued the conversation, to establish the phone indeed was wireless.
Ericsson would not go into the pocket – it was more like a walkie-talkie. I was happy that it did not. How else, would others, then know that you have a cell phone if you were to put it inside your pocket. The phone had protruding buttons (hmm.. don’t press hard – it can get stuck and you can’t dial that number again). It had only 7 or 8 ring tone choices (mechanically made) all made with one keyboard. In comparison to a conventional land line ‘’Kiring, Kiring” this sounded close to four seasons of Vivaldi. Charge of the battery would last for 30 minutes only, if you keep talking. The marketing guys will pitch saying 24 hours lasting battery without adding the last part – ‘’if you keep it switched off’’.
What is your question? Touchscreen, SMS, MMS? Oops – don’t be so trendy. Of course, you can touch the screen, out of love but not for any functionality. I had an option of only typing messages (yes, it was like typing on a Remington Rand) with limitation of 30 or so characters and it will be stored and displayed like a machine code output with a black background. If you don’t know how a machine code output looks, you can visualize the initial title credits for a B&W 1948 Indian movie. No camera. No apps. No calendar. No notes. It is easy to say what it had than to say what it did not.
It is very interesting to introspect how my own life changed after arrival of the cell phone. Generally, we all would leave office around 7 pm each day only to reconnect with the office next day at 9 am. Post Ericsson, my boss or senior folks would call me on my way back home (90 minutes’ drive) and call after dinner (‘’main araamse dus baje phone karoonga!’’). Now I think, what ‘’Araam’’ were we talking about at 10 pm? Phone signals were not divine and hence not omni-present. You need to look for a suitable place to make a meaningful conversation – In my case, inside the loo of my house had the best signal. God – How long you can hold a conversation from there? Of course! That helps sometimes- ‘’Boss, the line was so bad that it was getting frequently disconnected and hence I could not be on the conference call’’- Since emails were parallelly getting popular, my boss would send an email marking ‘’Urgent’’ and text me “Have sent a mail, just take a quick look and revert ASAP’’. If there were any emergencies (perceived or real) you will be either called over phone or summoned even on a holiday. In that sense, the corporates started stealing more time of mine with the arrival of cell phones.
It was a 2G era. License Raj. Bidding, auctioning air. Frequencies were allocated frequently to frequenters with long hands to reach under the table. First come (with cash), first serve basis. The litigation on 2G is still sub judice but technology has leaped forward. Some companies announced speaking from Kashmir to Kanyakumari at Re.1 (Yes, you are free to speak; there is no guarantee the other party will hear). From 2G we moved to 3G. Recently 4G. Bluetooth. The phones slowly started becoming sleeker. Tun Tun to Tamanna Bhatia. Less in weight, smaller in size, more colorful, hidden antenna (holding was ‘’so cool’’ with the Avatar ears!!) high resolution front and back camera (built with honest intentions). Now, the entire world has shrunk into your hands. Social Networking, Music, Banking, Traffic watch, Real Estate, Shopping, Books, Camera, GPS, Movies, Financial tools- as conventional lawyers in D.N. Road, Bombay say, the list is more inclusive than exhaustive. Truck-loads of information on the Wi-Fi milky way. Thanks to Google-eswaran.
Today, for a family of four there are six phones. Blackberry and IPads not included. We have more online friends than actual. Phone is closer than the spouse. It is with you both in the bedroom and the bathroom. We check our blackberry for any crisis mails 3 times in the night and get up with burning eyes in the morning. We have FB groups instead of the historical street groups. FB is the new upgraded, endless, global, gossip wall. In the next decade online virtual marriages is a strong possibility through 3D Hologram conferencing. Musicians in Pune, Groom in Palo Alto, Bride in Mumbai and guests all over the world.
My nostalgia and crystal ball gazing was disturbed by phone beeping for a WhatsApp message. Maybe, finally Karan realized that life has more things than Kishore Kumar and messaged seeing my missed call? But oops, I was wrong! My daughter messaged me from her room (3 seconds away) – ‘’Dad, please check with the kitchen if the dinner is ready, I am hungry lol’’. I wondered if should go and check or send another WhatsApp message to the kitchen.
One of the famous American Psychologists, Rollo May once said “Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing’’.
Has it?
Leave it to you to decide
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Write-in your thoughts and comments to swami@wordsaretools.in
