'Dedication'.. #lovefornokia

Much has been said of India’s rise in the last twenty years, and if there is one success story that cannot be denied, it is the mobile revolution in India. Our one true success story.

And while the Congress keeps attributing it to Rajiv Gandhi’s Computer or TV revolution, the true champion was this Finnish company that made phones that Indians could relate to.

Personally, I got into the game very early. I was doing wonderful, in a atlas made cycle attending Physics, chemistry & Maths Tutions that time.

It was 2004, When I finally got my first cell phone. The phone was a Nokia 3310. There were however games like Snake, Bounce on the phone and once I learnt of the magic number (*#06# & *#0000#), there was no stopping me. I looked into my phone every few seconds, typing messages, deleting them and typing them again.

Its 2013 now. Microsoft takeover Nokia. It was difficult to digest, being a lifelong Nokia fan boy.

As Nokia is sold, it is not difficult to understand why the brand was such a rage in India. Like Bata, the other brand that is surprisingly not Indian, it serve the Indian customer’s needs. Sturdy, long lasting, cheap. It could run for days in a country when power was not a daily commodity. It provided communication and safety, and in the worst case scenario, you could throw the phone pointing enemy’s head, and be guaranteed of a bleeding!

And now, once you buy a smartphone, it is a never-ending spiral. There is no peace of mind. Just when you work out the best phone in your budget, there will be this new phone that does everything your phone does, and masturbates you when you’re bored. A never-ending spiral that goes on and on, on and on.

And today, when the world is flooded with phones that can do everything under the sun, and some over the moon, I am reminded of the days…..

When the first thing you saw on your phone were those two hands connecting to each other. And the next hour would be spent in deciding the ringtone. When a little blinking snake was my companion in times of boredom.

When missed calls became the communication code of a generation. When the only thing you needed on your phone to look cool was that sticker at the back, which glowed when there was a call coming.

To the time when I would wait for the sticker to glow, to send a flash message. To set my favourite song, reinterpreted in monophonic tones, as my ringtone. The secret indulgence of setting a separate ringtone for my girlfriend, so that I would know when it was her calling.

To the time when the words ‘incoming’ and ‘outgoing’ made a world of difference. Running to a shop, buying a small card, scratching it eagerly, squinting into it, dialing a number, and smiling.

To the times of college, and first loves.

It has been a long, eventful journey, my friend.

You have been taken over by a company that is not really known for its aesthetics, but reaches out to the most number of people in the world. Much like you did, at one time.

I now wish I could turn the time around and go back to you again. My life at present is not bad at all. But then there is something…

      Something that makes me want to run back in time. But no matter how hard I wish to go back in time, the truth is that I can’t do so.

I don’t really know if I am going to use you again. But when I look at the ‘Low Battery’ message on my phone, I think of you longingly.

You were a good friend.