Lost and Found!!!

I lost my mobile the other day and I cried. More than the resposibility of losing it I felt s dread that I was going to miss it. A mobile is an elctronic isntrument used for communications and my feelings for it seemed childish- like a child who lost his favorite toy. But I set pondering on what was in my mobile that made its loss so deep. I mean I had alreasy lost a 3310 a year back but my recollections are vague nor did I feel its loss so keenly. The following is meant to serve as its eulogy:

It was a nokia 3120- no camera, no radio, but it had color. I had downloaded some of my favorite wallpapers in it. When I first got it, my brother used his sim to download tunes into my handset. I remember us fighting over which song I liked versus which song he wanted to download. Later we resumed sending each other the sms jokes. It was fun. My brother has a proclivity to electronic goods while I suffer aversion. This phone was sleek- metallic greay cover, color display- I had fun jamming with my bro over technology that didn't overwhelm me. Sure it took a little while getting used to the keypad n settings, but it was worth it.

The second most cherished memory of my mobile was collecting all my friends' numbers. The last one only had a few numbers- those of my PG classmates, but this one had ppl from my eighth standard right up to engineering professors. It was like a greeting- whenever you see someone you know, you whip out your cell and swap numbers, irrespective of whether you use them or not. Having a big contact list was like having a big family. So many people that you can call and swap stories with. It gave me a sense of belonging in this big wide world.

Setting ring tones and organising my friends list occupied most of my time- creating caller groups, consolidating multiple numbers for the same person, setting new wallpapers and altering the display settings were the things i could do best without being noticed in class. Not to mention framing exquisitely long smses with verbose statements and sending tit o people who were asleep so as to wake them up, in addition to giving them missed calls. Yeah, missed calls were a rage. There would always be this one person who had forgotten to silence his cell. And when you caught him the result was jarring!!! Through the monotonous drone of the lecture, the shrill ringtone would pierce the air, shocking all those who were hitherto in a semi soporific state. The ringng would prolong as the hapless individual would fumble more than ususal in haste to switch it off, caught under the glaring eye of the professor. Yep, those were the days...

Another feature of this phone that I loved was the games section. Snake had been my game of choice in my previous nokia, and I wasn't sure I would enjoy the color version of this game. But soon, it had me hooked, I was playing all the time, not stopping for lunch or dinner. In fact I made my highest score the day before i lost my mobile, which makes it all the more poignant :(

Lastly holding the mobile after hour long conferences with close friends or long distance calls makes the handset seem like a person who has shared all those experiences, jokes and trivias with you, someone who's been there and heard it too, a passive companion who listens to all you and your frends say, who needs charging and refills, who can fit in your pocket, who you can accessorise as you deem fit.. A close friend who'll wake you up in the morning with the tune of your choice, who'll remind you of events year after year, who although you manhandle and scratch him, doesn't speak a word against you and continues to serve you in the same special way. Dear God, thank you for sending this phone in my life and I pray that whoever gets him keep him well. Amen.......