What determines the economic strength of a nation ? Well an economist will tell you the right answer. Often it's determined by the GDP. To the contrary, for a weird techie like me, its not the GDP but the the number of N-series mobile that the countrymen use!
There's nothing to be astonished about. Come to my native hometown, Nabarangpur, a district head quarter with roughly 50K odd population with the poorest of the world living there and I will show you auto-rickshaw drivers using N-series mobiles. How they click pictures, and take the memory card to the photo developer studio to take a print out. All in five minutes.
When I purchased a Samsung C100 mobile in Bangalore way back in early 2004, there was no mobile network setup in my hometown. When I carried mobile there, it was a piece of attraction it moved from hand to hand to make them understand how a mobile looks like. With no network out there, it just helped them felt that mobile is not a phone, but a video game, a kind of music player and just a calculator ! Today I do not carry my mobile in my hometown, not to mention - to avoid embarrassments from almost everybody - my friends, the shopkeepers, even my sisters and in-laws.
Globalization has done at least one good thing in India, it has given junks ( sorry joonks ) like me money, and others the business. The so called feel good factor is all about packed wallets and nothing else. And when you get more than you can spend, obviously and often you find yourself using a N-Series mobile.
My sister is in trouble, for she is quite apprehended about that ubiquitous demand ( a N Series mobile ) from her daughter Jolly. Peer pressure what you call it. Jolly's friends have already started using it, and poor Jolly still talks with a Nokia 2600. When they purchased that mobile, they asked me because they know that I work in mobile domain. I advised them to go for a Nokia 1100 or 3315. Not to my surprise, my suggestion was turned down with a “cheeeeee...”. Black and white mobile. ?? who use that in Nabarangpur anyway ? Since then I have never been able to convince them that even my company directors use those phones and we have only four to five N-Series mobiles in our office!
My native town suffers with one more problem. The problem is that everybody knows everybody. If you wish to, I am sure, you'll be able to know the dish that got cooked at my home day before yesterday. Do I complain.. ? No. Whenever I call my friends, following are the few questions I always ask:
Who's having affair with whom ?
Who eloped with whom ?
Who died recently ?
Genes. I can't help !
Am I unhappy with the changing scenario ? Again No ! Whenever I see somebody using those gadgets, it gives a sense of pride, it gives me a immense confidence in my countrymen who prosper in spite of poor statistics of health, education, child-mortality rates, dowry deaths. I salute them, for they know how to live the life every moment. They dont have the money, but they know how to spend. I have the money but I dont know how to spend !
~Swarup
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