31aug08technology
Who are you.. Bill Gates?
If you remember your high school biology, you’d know that there are 206 bones in the body. Well that’s not true anymore, not, at least, for approximately 300 million Indians.
There is a 207th bone that they have – the CELL PHONE.
This bone can be seen dangling next to the ear at all times – while driving a car, riding a motorbike, watching a movie in a cinema hall, shitting, bathing, eating, and if surveys are to be believed, while making love as well.
My question to these people is:
Who are you.. Bill Gates? Do you make a gazillion dollars a second that you can’t afford to postpone a phone call by a few minutes?
Is it so important to take a phone call that you can risk your life and the lives of those around you by riding a motorcycle as if you have half paralysis?
Is it so important to take a phone call that you cannot let others enjoy a movie in silence?
Is it so important to take a phone call that you are willing to sacrifice your privacy of having a bath, taking a leak or making love?
Unless this is a call from Amisha Patel who might just propose to you over the phone, I think it can wait another 10 minutes, can’t it?
Now don’t tell me you don’t do this. I have seen people talking on the phone at public restrooms while taking a leak. I feel sorry for the person on the other side.. but then I think he himself is probably sitting in some cinema hall, disturbing others, and deserves this.
On the topic of etiquette, I think it is high time that our schools added a cellphone etiquette to the Moral Science class. To prevent students from sleeping/talking during class, the class could be conducted over the cell phone, a la Idea TV commercial. I am sure the kids will be wide awake. They just love the phone, don’t they.
Why I say so is because even the most courteous among us become a tramp when it comes to cellphones. Seriously guys, it sucks to find out after a 5 minute monologue with a friend that he was texting his girlfriend while you were talking. Worse feeling than watching Rakhi Sawant host that stupid show of hers.
I have observed that the moment the phone rings, people just scamper to take their cellphone out of the pocket/bag. They might be in the middle of a conversation, but they don’t care. Sometimes I wonder if cellphones in India are a time-bomb in disguise. If you don’t pick the phone up within 2 rings .. BANG [All right you budding terrorists out there, now don't get ideas].
So people, just try and realize that your lack of cellphone etiquette can be really annoying. Show some respect, some courtesy for others around you. If the other person on phone is really that important, go be with him/her. Don’t insult the people around you.
Also, please switch off your cellphone in places where the mere ringing of it can annoy people – cinema halls, hospitals, airplanes. Please please, show some concern about those around you.
Just remember:
IT CAN WAIT ANOTHER 10 MINUTES
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krsnaKhandelwal says...
The other side of coin is that one thinks of responding immediately in case of the cell phone ringing for it may be some sort of distress call or an ‘SOS’. Ignoring such a call even once would be disaster, it should be practiced in fact that we do not call some just at drop of hat. The caller’s restraint is more important.
Shylaja says...
Although I do agree that cellphones are not the be-all and end-all of our existence, the current lifestyle demands it. And yes, it does not need to be answered at all times, either. But there again, people have differing views.See, with easy accessibility, people are reachable at all times now.
Assume that my TV set needs to be repaired and I have to call the service helplline.So, if given a choice between waiting the whole weekend to place a service request call through a landline or catching the service guy on the first two rings on his cellphone on a Friday evening, I would opt for the latter.
Also,Nitesh, I find your blog interesting, though a bit on the offensive side.No harm in having an opinion,but try and air it more positively. Even anger can be expressed constructively. This again, is just a suggestion.Please do not take it the wrong way.
gurpreet_fucker says...
hey,nitesh, c i m here readin ur view on social issues. again , as usual, i my thots are very much in agreement with yours. this post of urs has made it more easy for me to further put a thot about quitting my cell phone.well written, keep it up dude.
Anorak says...
Nitesh, I have come back just so that you get Amisha and live happily ever after. No other difference that I make will ever match up to this noble act of mine. Just out of interest, if Amisha asks for it, do you plan to give her your cellphone number or land line number?;-)
Anyway, I do agree with everything you say in your post here. Also, there should be a serious fine (minimum Rs. 1000) for using cellphone in places such as hospitals, offices, colleges, schools, places of religious importance, on trains, cinema halls, cars, aeroplanes, lavatories et al. Now, that is practically every where, isn’t it? As for doing my bit, I don’t have one and I don’t miss it.
Nitesh says...
@Anorak
Thanks man.. I’ll surely invite you to the wedding
If Amisha asks for my number.. I’ll buy 3 new cellphones from 3 different networks (Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance) and give her all 3 numbers. Just in case she calls, I don’t want to be talking to someone else, out of battery, or out of network
Anorak says...
Woha! Easy Tiger! I hear she is all ready to take the plunge too…with her millionaire boyfriend Kanav Puri. Don’t shoot the messenger.