Mobile Mania

I love it. You might call me crazy. But I love it. I didn't have it for the first 19 years of my life. But when I finally got it, I fell in love with it right away. Yeah, its my mobile. Am addicted to it, like alcohol.

1100 was my first one. I love exploring every single feature in a mobile. Black and white, it was. The best thing about the set was, it had a feature where one could create their own ringtones. The technology was awesome. Being a carnatic singer from my 2nd standard, it was not difficult for me to create ringtones. Latest songs, any songs, I could reproduce it through my fingers right away. But I don't know why, I never kept those ringtones as my caller ringtone. My friends would ask me to create one for them. And when I did, they were thrilled. Am not good at anything else. In studies, am average. In sports, horrible. But anything related to music am good at grasping it. I still remember those days, when I was so excited to send messages till late night and sleep off without my own knowledge, only to wake up in the morning to find out that my message memory was full. And when it was full, deleting previous messages was a misery. I hated deleting messages. Be it a forward, or a joke, or a thought. But I had to. Its something like life, you have to give up the past to explore the future. Though it was monophonic, I liked the tune. I had kept a general ringtone for everybody and special ringtones for special people in my life.

And don't even ask me the number of times I've played "Snakes" in it. I was an expert. And my fingers kept on moving. I could operate my mobile with my eyes closed. I could operate it in front of my professor, through my apron pocket. My relatives wondered how could anybody type so fast. My sister would get annoyed when the rubber keypad would make that noise in the night. So I would use two or three folds of the rug to muffle the sound. But I never gave up messaging. Be it home, college, lab, or even the bathroom, it was always with me. 100 free messages per day were useless for me. I even got a condition called "texting tendonitis".The orthopedicians call it so. It is a new condition found mainly amongst youngsters. The doctor laughed when I explained my symptoms to him. He sent me to a physiotherapist who was doing a thesis on this condtion. It is severe pain in the hand because of excessive messaging. I had to give up messaging, excessively. That was the only treatment for this problem.

The next one my dad got me was a Samsung set. It was a flip one. A colour monitor. Space to store more messages. Metal keypad. New set of games, new technology to explore. I would change the wallpaper everyday. Everytime I changed one, my phone would get a new look. Like trying a new dress on your little baby. I loved it.

The next one I got was a 6681. My dad had got it for himself but he didn't like the look and the size of it. He gave it to me. I was thrilled to the core. 1.2 megapixel camera, bluetooth, a memory card, space to store even more messages, an earphone to listen to songs and talk, it was the best thing that happened to me, I felt. I activated the gprs and had the entire world right in my hand. The first time I activated it, it felt like a miracle. Now I started messaging less and browsing more. I downloaded themes. Good ones, bad ones, sexy ones, cartoons, all kinds. I had to try all of them on my baby. Wanted to see how it looked.

This particular phone even got misplaced in an auto, on one gloomy morning when I had just woken up and was heading to the hospital. I tracked down the fellow with the help of other auto fellows and got this "baby" back. My joy knew no bounds. It is one of the luckiest days of my life.

All these mobiles must have fallen 221 times from my hand, on the road, stairs , and even in the bathroom. But it was healthy and strong as usual. But one day 6681 said " I give up" and for the mildest fall ever, the screen cracked. It was a disaster. But it was fixable. But believe it or not, I used this cracked-screened mobile for over a month. I could see only 1/3rd of the entire screen. But I managed it somehow.

Then later my dad gave me a Samsung slide phone for the time being. It was not as good as 6681. But it had an amazing 2 mp camera. But other than that it was not great. Couldn’t use gprs at all. Some serious problem with the crappy software. But one thing I liked in this phone when compared to 6681 was that when a wallpaper was alloted, it would cover up the entire screen. In 6681 it wasn’t that way. Only 4/5th of the screen would be covered with the wallpaper. But a horrible thing in samsung was there was no option of changing themes. So I was stuck with the same look on my phone for ages.It gets boring after sometime.

April 2008, my dad took me to a mobile shop in Shimoga, and asked me buy anything that pleased me. It is one of my best days ever. My dad is the most awesome dad in the world [ not just because he buys me stuff, but for everything he is ]. I got this amazing Sony Ericsson, aka SE, k770i. Guys. Seriously. If you are planning to change your mobile, go for SE. It is simply the best. Amazing camera, radio, bluetooth, music player. It simply suited me, in the best way ever. Sleek, chocolate brown coloured, sophisticated looking baby. Its been over a year and am still stuck to it. And though there are higher versions available, am satisfied with this. I was always satisfied with what I had, actually. God just gave me opportunities to discover new technologies that’s all.

I've given it for servicing. And since its been over a year after I bought this phone, the service charges are not covered under warrantee. It'll be about Rs.1000, she said. There is some liquid damage itseems. They have to replace something inside. But I don’t mind spending for my baby. Its with me all the time, and am supposed to take care of it.

It entertains me. Kills my boredom. Iti is always with me, in good times and in bad. It connects me to people. It connects me to the world. And everything is just a click away. Stores my memories in visual form. Answers my most difficult questions. Always brings a smile on my face.

The servicing of my mobile isn't over yet. And am using one of my friend's mobile, motorola, for the time being. Its good. A basic model. Only has things that are necessary. Nothing compared to my SE.

Like most people feel, " once you get used to living in a city, it is not easy to live in a village". I miss you SE. Am waiting eagerly for you.