Alo Alo

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One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about human beings was their habit of continually stating and repeating the obvious, as in, "It's a nice day," or "You're very tall," or "Oh dear, you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well: are you all right?" At first Ford had formed a theory to account for this strange behavior. If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, he thought, their mouths probably seize up. After a few months' consideration and observation, he abandoned this theory in favor of a new one. If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working. After a while he abandoned this one as well as being obstructively cynical and decided he quite liked human beings after all, but he always remained desperately worried about the terrible number of things they didn't know about.

~Hitchhikers Guide
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Spent close to 5 hours on the phone yesterday!!! At office , in the cab , even on my bed while I was trying to sleep ... Its always made me wonder why people would want to talk to me ... Its not like I have a solution to any of their problems ... I am not an expert on any particular topic pertaining to philosophy , literature , fine arts, advanced science or anything else for that matter... I am not even a good listener coz I keep changing the topic every 5 minutes ... and sometimes when I get bored, I start making knock knock jokes right in the middle of a conversation.
And yet, I find myself discussing architectural plans with my dad, dental problems and advantages of flossing with Trillian, Diwali rush and its impact on the airline industry with my sis, pros and cons of relative grading with N, Fusion Chinese Marathi cooking with P (he wants to introduce fortune Modaks in the US market) and life in general with G... All topics I have absolutely no idea about...
I knew the day I bought my first cell that this is not a gadget which would bring me much joy...
Following is the very first conversation I had after I bought my cell and I quote

Me - hey this is my new cell ... just bought it... Write down the number
Person at other end - They blew up the world trade center
Me - What!!!

Yep... I bought my first cell on 11th September 2001 and that was the first conversation I had ...Bloody terrorists stole the thunder from my new cell phone...
Over the years I lost/broke a few handsets until I got the one I have now ... Its a nokia 7210 I picked up in England ... Its totally busted now and looks like a relic from the Harappa Civilization , but the fact that it can still make and receive calls makes it tough for me to throw it away ...The other day, I went to a Nokia store to buy a new phone ... They started showing me cameras which could make phone calls ... I told him I already have a camera and a mobile cellular instrument is what I am interested in ... They then started showing me palm tops which could make phone calls ... I reinstated my requirements ... Now they showed me MP3 players which could take photographs and could probably make phone calls (he wasnt too sure about the call functionality) ... I walked out of the store ... I wonder why people need a camera in their phone ... Apart from MMS scandals ,I have never come across any productive use of a camera phone ... neither do I foresee a requirement for me to be connected to the net while bouncing in an auto on linking road... Actually what I really need is a phone which could answer my calls and talk about architecture, economy, dental hygiene and life ... Now that is something I could really use...

Neways the reason for this blogpost (Trillian I told you my posts have a reason and logic behind them) is a series of unfortunate events on tuesday night. It all started when the battery of my cell died ... I was having dinner with P and his fiancé... At that very precise moment, G had the sudden urge to talk to me about something (told you they all love talking to me) ... Having exhausted himself after 2 failed attempts, G called up Marvin to check if she knew my whereabouts ... The paranoid android of course took this for an emergency worth dropping everything else at hand for ... The chic launched a massive manhunt calling all my friends in Mumbai... all 3 of them!!! By what I can only term as freakish coincidence, Trillian runs into me at the restaurant I was at!!! So Trillian tells Marvin and Marvin tells G and order is restored ... In the mean time, yours truly is unaware of it all and has to face the music the next day. G is upset that I use a brick for wireless communication, S and A want to know who I was "actually" having dinner with and "why" I wasn’t picking up my phone... and Marvin is generally upset without any reason in particular ... I guess I should stop being cheap and get me one of those camera/Palm Top/MP3 player/Cell phone. If an electronic contraption is gonna dictate my life, at least it should be a flashy one...