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| Tuesday, 4 June 2002 |
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A Royal headache ! Poor Queen Elizabeth! Instead of being able to dine in right royal silence, she had to hear the noisy cacophony of mobile phones ringing out of the pockets of her royal staff, till in pure frustration, she stamped her spoilt, pretty, queenly feet and issued a royal decree that cell phones would henceforth be banned within the precincts of her different manors, palaces and castles.....! I wish, like her royal majesty, we could do the same...... Once upon a time the ringing of a telephone was confined to certain distinctive zones. . . . A telephone booth. An office table. . . . An operators desk. . . . but now. . . . .....There she is, a beautiful woman, in the arms of her beloved, savoring each moment, and wondering when the elegantly moustached month will hover over her own passionate lips, when the tune of 'Sare gama, pada,nesa. . . ' flows out of his pocket. . . he jerks away from her, as if his mother or if married, his wife, has caught him in clandestine act, and with no thoughts whatsoever for the woman, places the intrusive cell phone onto his waiting ears..... And she knowing that the moment has passed, and knowing that those moustached lips belong to another, scowls in frustration, and grimaces furiously at the instrument that her man, is so intimately making conversation with. How, she wanders, has such an inanimate object got such a spectacular hold on her man? What seductive powers. . .? What bond? What stranglehold? Does the mobile have that it can with such hideous sound pull him out of her tight, sensual embrace? And like that woman, the whole world now fights the charms of that tiny instrument........ A once interesting opera, sees more heads bowed, talking furtively into palms, holding hidden sets, then eyes looking up and watching once alluring dancing scenes....... And the sound of the ringing phone......... High pitched, low pitched, popular melodies, Songs, patriotic numbers and others that try to imitate the chirping of sparrows or a cacophony of other indescribable noises, that disturb all those who are sitting nearby. Not the owner though, who with a knowing smile, allows the phone to ring while he peers at welcome number, to see who it is who dares beg his indulgence.... And if, God forbid, the owner be myopic and cannot see the little numberson his mobile screen then those around will have to bear with the melodic, angelic, nay hellish, devilish sounds, till he decides whether to answer it or not..... The mobile phone, a boon to the user, a curse to those around.... Couldn't Her Majesty have banned the damned instrument throughout the whole wide world.....and not just around her royal self..? |
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