Tuesday, 30 August 2011

On cell phones: Am I the only one who finds this peculiar?

Cell phones have been in India for many years now and have taken the country by storm.  Even the
poorest of the poor have a cell phone (receiving calls is free once you buy a phone).  SMS are
also very low cost.   This has transformed the lives of people. Even the poor sabzi walla (vegetable
seller) has a cell phone.  However, I find two things a little peculiar.

1. People seem to always rush to answer the phone, no matter what the situation. In the middle
    of a havan (religious ceremony) people will answer their phone while the panditjee is speaking.
    This makes no sense to me. They will usually talk for a short while, and then say I will call
    you back.  I'll only take the call in this situation if God is personally calling me (and I am
   still waiting for that call).
   Why not just NOT answer the phone, or better still turn it off and just call the
    person back later. They can see who tried to reach them. I was in a movie theater and people
    were answering their phones in a movie theater!!

2. Guests take calls while visiting  you for dinner, sitting on the table. Again it would be better
    to get up and leave the table while you are talking so others can continue their dinner
   conversation. I rarely know where to look, or do, when a guest starts talking loudly on their
   phone while eating dinner.


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