I Felt The Pinch For The First Time In My Life

Though I have come across news articles on how people find it indispensable, consider it as an extension of themselves, how they couldn’t live without it; I have never felt anything like that, towards it. I still don’t even now. That’s the reason why I probably felt the pinch for the first time in my life.

For 24 years I resisted it. I did not want it. I felt free, no responsibilities. People around me couldn’t fathom why. They probably felt that I was missing out on the revolution, which I rather dismissed it as “Mass Hysteria”. They took it upon themselves to hammer the advantages of owning one into my head. I won. They gave up.

I have seen it all. The anxiety of not receiving a message, checking every other minute to see if any near or dear ones have messaged them. Some even couldn’t resist the urge to take it out every now and then to check the remaining balance. One probably felt that in order to look and feel important, one had to own one of those, taking it out of their pockets and follow the rituals mentioned above. I never understood, nor did I try.

But it happened. I was coerced into buying one, and people around me, with a wry smile acknowledged that I had finally entered into the world of “Mobile Phones.”

They looked at me as if I had been lost for a long time and finally made it back to the civilization. Does Rip Wan Winkle ring any bells? Some even chastised me for resisting the urge to buy the so called “god sent gift” to humanity. Some even took it upon themselves to educate me on the modalities, etiquettes, and what not…of owning a mobile phone. I listened, with my ears and not my mind. I hated it and I still do.

But I was slowly getting sucked into the quicksand, and weirdly I did not resist. What is that these little things possess? Slowly I felt enchanted by them. The bug had bitten me for good this time. So with the change in job and a higher salary beckoned me to satisfy the urge to own a classy, sexy high end model.

What the hell, I went ahead and blew my first two months salary on a Motorola Razr 2 V8. It cost me 15 grand. I had no regrets.

Eight months down the line, yesterday I had lost it. It was stolen. My colleagues surrounded me, trying to figure it out, how, who and all that. Time and again, they looked at me and somehow I got the feeling that they were trying to convey their sympathies at losing something precious, something that was an irreplaceable part of my life.

I tried to tell them that I felt all right. Its just a cell phone. But I could not. I felt the pinch for the first time in my life and even now I am not able to put that into words.

This was the first time in my life that I have been a victim of a robbery. This was the first time that I had been careless.

Though I could buy myself another one, probably a better one; I wish I could turn back time and get my Moto back. This was also the first time that I was happy to pay a bribe of 200 rupees to the cop, who registered my complaint, hoping that it would make the cops to do their duty promptly and that I would get my phone back. The cops also ensured that I got an earful from them on how careless people are and how the rising incidents of Mobile Phone thefts have made their life a living hell.

A familiar feeling which I had felt a long time ago coursed through me. It was the feeling of Freedom. I felt that I was free again.

Here’s to freedom, from mobile phones!