Trin Trin!

YOUR PHONE’S RINGING! TRIN TRIN!!

No, I’m not talking about the dying landline. It’s about the thing that every one now has – the venerable mobile phone. Much has already been written about the way mobile phones have changed our lives and how everyone from the maid to auto drivers to school kids having one. I’m not going to beat about that again but this one’s about how people behave when a cell phone rings. Here are few observations I made when I was sitting at a doctor’s clinic waiting for my turn:

I too have a phone! – His phone’s not ringing but as soon as he hears someone else’s phone ringing, he promptly picks up his phone and starts pressing some buttons, makes some calls and speaks loudly to tell everyone that he too has a phone.

Sad, my phone’s not ringing – when he sees someone answer their cell, he takes out his phone, and looks at it longingly. He turns it over in his hand and wonders why his phone’s not ringing. It’s like as if someone just died! Someone please call him!

Oh I just remembered! – As soon as he hears a phone ringing, this guy decides he has to make a call. He quickly makes many calls, one after another to people who might be wondering at the other end why he called out of the blue! ;-) Once I even heard a lady, maybe his wife or mother, shouting at the other end. He must have forgotten a chore!

I have great ringtones – This guy wants to tell others that his phone may not be ringing but he has great ringtones and he starts playing them one by one before an irritated elderly neighbor tells him to shut his phone up! Spoilsport old man!

QWERTY guy – This one is all the time texting on his QWERTY phone. And that too really long texts. It is not that he was waiting for a phone to ring to start texting but if he wasn’t texting earlier, the ring acts like a reminder and he starts texting. The receiver must have a lot of patience to get so many messages.

What’s all the fuss about? These are mostly the elderly who wonder what’s wrong with the whole generation and why they have to fuss over their phones so much. They have eyes of contempt.

I’ll get one soon too and you watch me then! The ones, who don’t have a cell phone yet, young kids, are lapping up the scenes unfolding before them fast. They are the ones who are waiting to get their hands on the cell phone. And they’ll be distracted by it too, forever. (Let’s just hope that they do not decide to talk and drive as most other elders do!)